Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Let us just say theoretically that, if we were to take the decision to bring forward the 1 July tax cuts, what that would deliver to a taxpayer on $30,000 is $150. What our proposal delivers is an additional $800, making $950. That is fiscal stimulus. It is the fiscal stimulus which was recommended by authorities right around the world. The IMF said again on the weekend that if you wanted to stimulate demand directly the best way to do it was through direct payments as soon as possible. But of course the Leader of the Opposition somehow thinks that delivering $150 to someone on $30,000 is a fiscal stimulus. We all know that he lives in a different world from the rest of us, and he has proved it here again today. He made the remarkable statement that consumers or taxpayers out there would either save or spend their payment. That was a blinding truth. It is obvious. The trick here—and the important thing for Australia—is to pay the money to those people who have the highest propensity to consume, and that is exactly what we are doing. Of course, it is exactly what the government did in the package of last October, which was delivered from 8 December. We had it from one over there—

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