Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, the Service Economy and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise on the opposition side to put on the record our strenuous objection to the way in which this process has been brought about by the Rudd Labor government. The introduction of the Tax Laws Amendment (Luxury Car Tax) Bill 2008 and associated bills really demonstrates in a number of respects a bastardisation of the process when it comes to the way in which the Rudd Labor government is going about conducting itself.

As the shadow minister for tourism and small business, I have spoken to so many tourist groups and so many small businesses that are very angry at the way in which the Rudd Labor government has brought about the introduction of this new higher tax level without even consulting the tourism industry or the small business sector. It is extraordinary, because we see today in the Australian how this Labor government does not know whether it is Arthur or Martha. We heard the previous speaker talk about how the Prime Minister does not understand whether he is Arthur or Martha. No surprises then that, as a direct consequence of a prime minister who is so busy engaging in media spin, the government does not have any understanding of what its policy position is going to be. The case in point is illustrated in today’s Australian where we see that only two weeks ago or thereabouts the Labor government heralded its budget as being some great revelation, a budget that was going to change Australia to reform it to the Labor mould and a budget that was going to put downward pressure on inflation even though in reality most respected economic commentators recognise that this budget will actually put upward pressure on inflation.

The bill we are discussing today is directly a case in point. This new tax that is being introduced by the Labor government is going to put upward pressure on prices, and that apparently is anti-inflationary. That apparently is Labor’s solution to putting downward pressure on inflation, by increasing prices. We see it in so many instances. We also see upward pressure on prices as a result of what fundamentally, when you get to the brass tacks of this Labor budget, is a budget that is the traditional Labor Party budget: big-spending, big-taxing Labor. That is what they did throughout the first half of the 1990s. That is what they did from 1983 until 1990. It is big-spending, big-taxing Labor all over again. The difference this time, though, is that they have moved into government at a time when after 11 years the coalition put the Australian economy very firmly and very strongly on the record as one of the leading economies throughout the world. Labor left us with $96 billion of debt last time they were in office and we paid that off in full. We reduced taxes in the last seven budgets. And what do we get from the new Labor government? In their very first budget an increase in taxes. In fact, when you look at the increased taxes that the Labor government have introduced, you see that revenue over the forward estimates under the Labor government is anticipated to increase by $19.5 billion.

We heard as recently as yesterday the reckless Treasurer that Australia now has, in the form of the member for Lilley, saying that the Labor Party were responsible because whenever they increased spending they cut coalition policies. My feeling is that if that were true that would be okay. But what we actually see in the government’s budget is that Labor cut $15.2 billion off coalition spending programs, and that is a good thing. But they increased spending by $30 billion. So this much-vaunted budget was going to cut spending and put downward pressure on inflation, and they stand up and say, ‘We have cut $15 billion of coalition spending.’ That is fine if you had left it at that. But what we actually see is that, although they have cut spending by $15 billion in terms of coalition initiatives, they have increased Labor spending by $30 billion. Likewise, we see that there is $19.5 billion of increased revenue because this Labor government is putting up taxes for the first time in many years. They are putting up taxes despite the fact that the Australian economy has basically never enjoyed so much economic sunshine. The first act of the Rudd Labor government is to put up taxes, and it is an absolute disgrace. It is a disgrace because of the unintended consequences—or perhaps they are intended; I am giving the benefit of the doubt to the Labor government—of these increased taxes.

Some examples are most strongly felt in Australia’s tourism export business. Tourism exports are a key part—

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