Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I have not seen the article in question but I accept the honourable member’s rendition of it. The first thing to be said about the tax cuts introduced by the Australian government is that they flow to all families: $46.7 billion worth of tax cuts. Then if you go to the range of benefits that flow to people who, for example, may be eligible for family tax benefit A, you have got another 1.7 million Australian families. They of course benefit from family tax benefit A. They also benefit from the education tax refund. They also benefit from new entitlements which flow in the case of dental services to children—teenagers obtaining new dental services. But you see, Mr Speaker, overall what we believe is that in helping working families we must make sure that the economy is in first-rate working order. That means fighting the fight against inflation and making sure that you are not contributing to the lax fiscal policy which we inherited from our predecessors, and, secondly, bringing in tax cuts which flow to all Australian families. That is an important measure, including for all those families who may not be the beneficiaries of the particular measures which are contained in the income support measures brought in by the government.

This is a very difficult question in terms of $150,000 and obviously it is a very difficult question for those opposite. The member for Wentworth says it is a fair benchmark for means testing but the Leader of the Opposition says it is not. I would like to know where the Liberal Party stands on this.

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