Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always good to have you in the chair, Mr Deputy Speaker Murphy. I welcome this opportunity to address tax reform in this parliament and congratulate the Treasurer on convening a successful tax forum last week. It was great to see real policy debated, competing parties politely presenting competing ideas. See, Alan Jones, it can be done! You do not have to yell loudly. You can actually put your point of view forward politely.

All Australians know that we cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend that our tax system is perfect. Neither can we pretend that there are no inefficiencies or inequalities in the system. I heard the member for North Sydney very quickly pooh-pooh the forum because he does not want to be part of the constructive conversation to better our economy. This is the same shadow Treasurer who refused to talk about economics after the budget and today oversees a $70 billion black hole in coalition policy. Meanwhile, Treasurer Swan convened a tax forum which showed just how positive discussions on tax reform can be when people come together with good will for the good of the nation.

It was not just politicians but also around 200 business, union, community representatives, tax experts and state Treasurers—Liberal and Labor—who came together. The forum provided a frank and open discussion on everything from business taxes, state taxes, personal taxes through to GST distribution and taxation governance. I particularly commend the contributions of my Queensland Treasurer, Andrew Fraser, and his Liberal counterpart from New South Wales, Mr Baird. These discussions and ideas will inform rational public debate as we continue to sensibly reform our taxation system.

Already the Treasurer, Mr Swan, has announced a business tax working group to review the tax treatment of losses and to look at longer term reform. Queensland and New South Wales state governments will come together to put political differences aside to develop a plan for long-overdue state tax reform. And the Labor government will also work to further increase the tax free threshold to $21,000—a boon for the hardworking lower paid people in our communities. The Gillard Labor government continues to deliver major reforms to our tax system because we know how important it is to modernise our economy. That is why the Treasurer commissioned the Henry tax review. In fact, over the last two years we have delivered 32 reforms in response to the sensible recommendations of the Henry tax review.

First the Rudd and now the Gillard government are following in the steps of the Hawke-Keating governments in driving reform. That is what the Labor Party does. There is no better case in point than the introduction of superannuation. Millions of Australians now rely on superannuation for their retirement. In many respects it is taken for granted today, but it was not introduced without a tough fight from the then coalition opposition. They lacked the courage to introduce tough reform then and they lack courage today. I hope for more ticker from the genial morning TV champion, the member for North Sydney, but I am starting to think that he might be all grin, no grunt.

I know it is pretty hard for the opposition to comprehend legislative reforms that are not about shoring up the short-term electoral cycle, but we must act in the best interests of our nation's future for the long term. Our reforms are about responding to the unique needs of our patchwork economy: reforms like getting a better return for Australians from the non-renewable resources that they own through a profits based tax; cutting business tax to help struggling firms with a company tax; and a billion-dollar tax break for small business. Big business and small business, all will get a cut—but they would actually get an increase under Mr Abbott's plan for maternity leave. It would be a 1.9 per cent increase. There are reforms like better preparing for an ageing population by investing in higher superannuation contributions, and promoting workforce participation by tripling—yes, tripling—the tax-free threshold from $6,000 to $18,200.

Of course, yesterday and today the parliament passed the historic Clean Energy Future package, surely a momentous day for the future of this nation, for our children and for our children's children. All those with vision recognise that. For the first time, the Australian economy will include a price on pollution. This major reform to our economy will facilitate a shift to a low-carbon future and also position Australians to embrace the clean energy jobs of tomorrow—a point made very deftly by the member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, in his speech overseas. He had to go that far away, to London, to be able to make the point that the Chinese are stealing a march on us already in some of these low-carbon future jobs. He wants Australians to be better positioned, and thankfully we have brought in the legislation today to make sure that that occurs.

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