Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Speaking directly to that expenditure item, my concern is the lack of information forthcoming from the government about the number of public office holders affected by the salary freeze. The parliamentary secretary has failed to demure from the minister for immigration's suggestion that PEFO is when officials tell the truth and that the government's budget should be measured not against its last budget update but against the state of the books when it took office. The parliamentary secretary's failure to differ from the minister for immigration on that suggests that he truly believes that the baseline is the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook, and it must therefore follow that this is a government which has made the deficit worse, not better. For all the government's talk of 'debt and deficit disasters', this is really a government which does a great line in alliteration but a terrible line in deficit reduction, and it has in fact increased the deficit, not decreased it.

The income tax levy is just one example of that. Nearly half the revenue in the first year will be lost to a fringe benefits tax loophole. I ask the parliamentary secretary whether the government agrees with recent reports that around half the revenue from the income tax levy will be lost as high-income earners shift income into fringe benefits in order to avoid this tax.

See this speech in context