Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Tax Bonus for Working Australians Repeal Bill 2013. This bill repeals the Tax Bonus for Working Australians Act (No. 2) 2009, commonly known as the tax bonus act, to ensure that the Commissioner of Taxation does not make any further tax bonus payments, which were commonly known as the $900 stimulus cheques. It may come as a surprise to many people listening to the debate here in parliament today to discover that those $900 cheques, which were designed to stimulate the economy back in 2009, are still being given out today, and they are still being given out with borrowed money. This bill brings this sad period of waste, this reckless spending, to an end.

In fact, if we look through some of the numbers, we find out that in the last financial year, 2012-13, the previous Labor government sent out 15,000 additional $900 cheques. Where did they get the money from? They borrowed every cent. So to save us from the GFC back in 2009, this Labor government, while still borrowing money, was still sending out $900 cheques in 2012-13, and they sent out no less than 15,000 of them.

Going back to those original $900 cheques, it is worthwhile considering what they were actually spent on. I found an interesting section in one of the local papers from Cairns. They went around the CBD at the time the cheques were being given out and asked locals what they were going to spend their $900 on. I will quote a few of the responses.

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