Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always good to hear members of the opposition talking about their past record as the highest taxing government in Australia's history, and it is great that the member for Casey took the opportunity to remind us again. He should not be so modest, though: it was not one year that they were the highest taxing government in history; they held the record for four years in a row. It is a terrific record, and we love the way you always come out to remind the Australian public. We love the way that you remind them that your government was the highest taxing government in Australia's history and it has been this government that has gone about reforming tax to make sure that ordinary Australians are not slugged to the extent that they were when those on the other side had the Treasury benches.

I am not sure that I would necessarily be making the boast about being the highest taxing government in history, but that is something the member for Casey obviously likes to remind us about on many occasions—and I encourage him to continue to remind us about the former government's record in relation to tax!

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