Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Here we go again: Labor is back with big budget deficits and new taxes. ‘It is a good tax’. That is quite an amazing statement by the member for Blair. Two points I will pick up. The member for Blair raised the Whitlam government. How appropriate when we see, after 12 months, a budget going into deficit already. How appropriate that we see a budget with new taxes. Understand this, Mr Deputy Speaker: they inherited the best budget position in the history of the Commonwealth. They inherited a $22 billion budget surplus; they inherited no net government debt. In fact, they inherited $60 billion in savings because of the hard work that was done for 12 years by the Howard-Costello government. It is quite extraordinary to have a situation where, after 12 months, we are entering into deficit with new taxes, including a new tax on an industry which is already struggling. This tax is designed to damage the Australian car industry. The effect it will have is to damage the Australian car industry at a time when it is already struggling.

But let us start with the bill. These amendments are to fix mistakes in Labor’s own bill. We are debating today the Labor incompetence bill. It is an amendment designed to fix their own stuff-up in their own bill. The flaw that we are correcting is so serious that up to 60 per cent of the farmers and tourism operators Labor claim would be eligible for the rebate on the tax are not eligible. This is a mistake by Labor that we are spending time on in the House again today. The member for Blair said this was a well thought through plan when the Treasurer announced it in May. As I understand it, the Treasurer had not consulted with the car industry. The industry directly affected by this had not been consulted. How is that a well thought through plan? It is quite extraordinary. It really does point to the way that this government is managing this economy at an important time and it is very concerning.

I will give a little bit of history about this tax. The member for Blair claimed it was a tax introduced by the Fraser government—not a prime minister I have a lot of time for. In fact, it was not; it was a tax introduced by the Hawke government back in 1986—Labor in government, new taxes. We had the spectre of the Whitlam government raised in the previous speaker’s speech, and I think it is very appropriate that we had that government raised because that is where we are heading with higher taxes and big budget deficits. That is what Labor stands for: higher taxes and big budget deficits. They do not manage the economy well; they do not know how to make the tough decisions required to keep the budget in surplus. For 12 years the Howard-Costello government made the tough decisions to pay off Labor’s debt and to keep the government in surplus. Within 12 months that has disappeared. We saw yesterday the Prime Minister slowly and quietly mention into the Hansardhe sort of snuck it in there towards the end of one of the most boring speeches the parliament will ever record. After about 24 or 25 minutes, I think, he added in there a ‘temporary deficit’. A temporary deficit? Is this like the temporary deficit introduced in 1990 by the Hawke government, which lasted until 1996 when we had to pick up the pieces when we came to government? This is what it is about. There is no such thing as a temporary deficit with Labor. There will be higher taxes, and this bill is part of the higher taxes, and there will be big budget deficits. This is what Labor will do in government.

The member for Blair says that we have not accepted the loss of the election. We have accepted it all right. The Australian people voted for the Labor government. Labor are governing and the people are dealing with the consequences. And the consequences are that they are dealing with the incompetent management of our economy at a time when we cannot have incompetent management of our economy. They have introduced new taxes when they had a $22 billion budget surplus hand-delivered to them, and with savings unseen before in a Commonwealth budget. But we know what Labor is like; we know what they are about. They are about deficit budgets, they are about higher taxes. It is the same in my home state of South Australia, where the budget is a disaster. The mismanagement of the South Australian economy will damage South Australia for years to come.

Let us look at New South Wales: one of the most extraordinarily mismanaged, corrupt governments in the history of our Commonwealth—probably the worst government in the history of the Commonwealth—to the point where a major daily paper used their front page to say ‘Sack yourselves’. That is all because of the mismanagement of the economy. The New South Wales economy is dragging the Australian economy down, because it is in deficit and the government are putting new taxes on. Where is the familiar ring? The familiar ring is here, in this place, with this bill. It is another example of the mismanagement of this economy: higher taxes, big budget deficits. That is what Labor stands for: higher taxes, big budget deficits.

We saw it yesterday. The Prime Minister announced that we will have a temporary deficit—or, as the Treasurer would like to say, a ‘negative surplus’. It is only temporary though; it will only last the Australian people five, maybe 10 years and it will damage them for however much longer, and it will require us in government again to fix it. Someone with the competence of the Leader of the Opposition understands how to run an economy; he understands how to make the tough decisions—like the members Higgins and the former Prime Minister did for 12 years.

The government inherited the best budget position in the country’s history, yet they put a new tax on the car industry at the wrong time. Can you understand the consistency of handing the car industry $6 billion with one hand and applying a new tax with the other? It is a tax which wholly and solely hits the Australian car industry. I note the member for Makin is in the House. South Australia’s reliance on the car industry, particularly in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, is vital. Holden is a vital part of the South Australian economic fabric. This sort of tax will put pressure on them remaining viable in Australia. Can you imagine a government putting a tax on this industry at this time but on the other hand handing them $6 billion? The inconsistency is breathtaking. But it is what Labor do—big budget deficits and higher taxes. That is and always has been the Labor way. Those on the other side are the most remarkably trained spinners of all time—they are the Shane Warnes of the parliament. They come in here and they have been handed their Hawker Britton talking points in the morning—the hollow men in the PM’s office have worked hard overnight. High tax is good; budget deficits are okay. That is what we will hear from the other side—black is white, white is black; budget deficits are good and higher taxes are good—and we will hear how economically irresponsible we are for standing in the way of higher taxes. I will tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker: I will always stand for lower taxes; I will always stand for budget surpluses.

When there is economic growth—and the Treasurer’s own MYEFO statement says that the government expect the economy to grow by two per cent—under no circumstances should there be any room for a budget deficit. Under no circumstances should there be any room for a budget deficit when you are putting on a new tax, and that is what this is. We are debating an amendment bill about a new tax. It is quite an extraordinary bill. Have no doubt about the position of the budget when the new government came to office. They formed a budget in May this year with the best set of books that they could dream of. The Prime Minister must have woken up on 25 November, had his briefing from Dr Shergold and Dr Henry and said, ‘I’ve just walked into candy land.’

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