Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The amendments we are putting forward today are based upon an important principle: that the people of Australia have the right to know how their tax money is spent by government on their behalf and that as a modern, accountable government, we—all of us in this place, all of us in the people’s house—have a responsibility to do everything we can to make it as clear and simple and transparent as possible.

It is very hard for anybody to get their head around the fact that tax revenues four years ago were $278 billion and that tax revenues this year are budgeted to be $320 billion. Those are enormous numbers, but when it is broken down—as we are proposing in this very sensible, user-friendly, customer-responsive amendment—into a proportion of the individual tax payment by an individual Australian then it makes it much easier for citizens to understand how their money is being spent and what purpose it is being put to.

I could give an example that might appeal to the Assistant Treasurer. If he thinks back to his days as a private schoolboy at the elite Xavier College in Melbourne, before he set out on his Labor-for-the-top-end-of-town career path, he might well reflect on how valuable it would have been for his parents—

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