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

I sense a theme emerging on the part of those opposite. It has been prosecuted with subtlety, it has been prosecuted with finesse, it has been prosecuted with the back handle of an axe. I say to those opposite, when it comes to the future of tax reform: in response to the business community and the 2020 Summit last year, in response to the representations of the Business Council of Australia and many other peak industry groups, the government believes that the right thing to do is to have a root-and-branch review of the tax system. That is why we have commissioned the Secretary to the Treasury to do so. Furthermore, I say to the shadow Treasurer, the member for North Sydney: when it comes to the future of health and hospital reform—I assume he has read the report produced by Commissioner Bennett—one of the recommendations which was put forward by the commission relates to an increase in the Medicare levy. Therefore, I would say to those opposite, before they go into ‘ha-ha’ mode—‘Here is a possible discussion about a further tax’—that the commission is quite upfront about the fact that there is one possible way of funding a future approach to the reform of dental care and their particular proposal for denticare. I say to those opposite, as they engage in a fear campaign on debt and deficit, a fear campaign on tax, a fear campaign on health and hospitals, a fear campaign on industrial relations, a fear campaign on climate change and a fear campaign on employment, that what the Australian public would like is a mature national discussion about the options which lie before us.

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