Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to put on the public record my concern about the opposition’s plans to cut the Public Service and the particular impact that may have not only on my community but also across many parts of rural and regional Australia. I am talking about the opposition’s budget reply. Today I particularly want to focus on the Australian Taxation Office because I think it is a good example of an agency that provides a service nationally but which can often be delivered in many parts of regional Australia, including in my electorate of Corangamite. I am told we have some 20,000 people working for the tax office, of which about 160 of these are based in Geelong. People working in the ATO do a raft of work that focuses on the collection of around $264 billion. That is a very significant amount of income that, down the track, then goes to the provision of services, whether it be health, education or a wide range of other services, particularly in supporting some communities that may be in crisis or stress. I again think of the Victorian bushfires.

With respect to the coalition’s budget cuts, I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary some questions. What will these cuts actually mean for the provision of a strong taxation service? What will they mean in terms of having a sustainable revenue base? What impacts may occur with these proposed Public Service cuts that the coalition are proposing in the delivery of a quality service in areas such as Geelong, Darwin and in many other parts of the nation?

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