Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate those coalition members that have spoken previous to me in this debate and in particular applaud the amendments that have been moved by the shadow Treasurer. If there is one compact that we as parliamentarians have with the Australian people it is to be responsible with the use of their money. If there is one critical condition of the contract formed between the members of this place and the people whose tax we take off them it is that we will use their money effectively for the best interests of this nation. With that in mind I am very upset that the Labor Party Assistant Treasurer refuses to undertake these simple amendments, which would go to the very core of ensuring that we as a parliament deal with that central compact of our agreement with the Australian people.

The shadow Treasurer made very clear in the lead-up to the last election that, if elected, we would provide Australian taxpayers with a receipt and that this receipt would detail information about the way in which their money was being spent. We think that is important. We on this side of the House make no apology for the fact that we believe that both history and common sense show that we are better managers of taxpayers’ money than the Australian Labor Party. A short, cursory glance of history will tell us that it is the coalition that pays down $96 billion of debt, that it is the coalition that provides for the future through the Higher Education Endowment Fund, through the Medicare fund, through the Future Fund. It is the coalition that brings down taxes, with over $150 billion in personal income tax cuts. That is our track record. Contrast it with that of the mob opposite, who in the short course of less than three years took Australia from a net savings position to now being mired with a forecast net public debt of around about $95 billion. So I think it is understandable that Australians want to know how their money is being spent.

A tax receipt like this one—the sample that was provided by the shadow Treasurer—does exactly that. It outlines the way in which taxpayers’ money is being spent. This receipt is not a great burden on the ATO. It is not much of an imposition on the ATO because we already know that information is returned to taxpayers by the tax office when they complete their tax return. And it does not matter that it does not deal with other forms of taxes paid to government, such as company tax, because this receipt details information specific to a taxpayer. It details, based on the amount of tax that you pay, how your money is being spent—not what proportion of tax you are paying relative to companies, not how company tax is being rolled out, but how every dollar that you spend is being spent by government.

I think the real reason why the Assistant Treasurer does not want this transparency, the real reason why the Assistant Treasurer runs from providing information to the Australian people, is what this actually would show. Take, for example, this line item, ‘public debt interest’. On this notional tax receipt of $20,000, it accounts for 540 bucks. I suspect that, after another couple of years of this Labor government, it would probably be the single biggest bar on the chart—up there with welfare, up there with what we are contributing in terms of transfers to state and local governments.

Australians have a right to demand of their parliamentarians the effective use of their taxpayer dollars. After all, it does not sit comfortably with coalition members to think that we know how to spend money better than they do. We do not. We actually think they as consumers have a better idea of how to spend a dollar than we do. But there are some areas where of course government must step into the role—national security and defence are of course top line.

The reality is that those opposite have a very different view. Those opposite believe in their beating hearts that they know better how to spend a taxpayer’s dollar than the taxpayer themselves, because what else would explain their insatiable quest and the insatiable appetite that Labor members have for taxing taxpayers and spending their money on their own little pet projects? That is exactly the reason why the coalition will stand up for taxpayers and will say in plain English: let’s provide the taxpayers of Australia with a receipt that explains exactly how their money is being spent so that year on year they can see whether or not the way in which this particular government—or indeed any subsequent government—spends their money is the way that they would like to see their money spent. If they have a problem with it, they might look at alternatives. But I think it is a great shame that the Australian Labor Party does not have the courage to provide this transparency to taxpayers.

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