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

I move the following second reading amendment:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"the House declines to give the bill a second reading as this bill is a stunt and a broken promise that will increase taxes on low and middle income Australians."

Deputy Speaker, the Prime Minister while he was in opposition repeatedly said, 'what you will get under us are tax cuts without new taxes'. But in this budget we have seen 17 new or increased taxes levied on the Australian people. The Prime Minister said from opposition that this would be a 'no surprises, no excuses' government but we have seen more surprises and more excuses than from a bunch of toddlers at nap time. From this government we have seen a tax-to-GDP ratio that is higher under the coalition than at any point during Labor's term in government. This is despite the Prime Minister saying in August 2013:

Taxes will always be lower under a coalition government.

In August 2013, then Leader of the Opposition Mr Abbott said:

There will be no overall increase in the tax burden whatsoever.

But his own budget papers put the lie to that. When Labor was in government, tax receipts averaged 20.8 per cent of GDP. Under the coalition today tax receipts average 22.6 per cent of GDP over the budget forward estimates.

This is a government which has failed its own tests on economic management. Few economists would say that the hallmark of great economic management is your management of debt and deficit. But that was the test Mr Abbott set himself from opposition. How well has he managed to meet that test? Upon coming to office, this government doubled the deficit through decisions such as giving $1.1 billion back to multinationals and scrapping a range of sensible savings proposals, as well as giving $9 billion to the Reserve Bank of Australia which they had not asked for. In this latest budget, the deficit has been doubled again, doubled for the forthcoming fiscal year from $17 billion to $35 billion.

The government claimed, when in opposition, that it was necessary to drive debt trucks around the country to illustrate the sheer scale of the debt and deficit disaster in Australia. But since coming to office they have done a deal with the Greens for unlimited debt and now, if they were being honest with themselves, they would buy a debt ocean liner and put it out to sea. The decisions made by this government have not only failed their own economic test but they have failed the economic tests that most economists would set—that is, equity and efficiency.

On the equity point, NATSEM modelling shows that nine out of 10 of the wealthiest families are a smidgen better off, while nine out of 10 of the poorest families are substantially worse off. A low-income family with a couple of school-aged kids can lose $6,000 a year under this budget and it increases taxes by $228 for Australians with an income of between $22,000 and $37,000.

On the issue of confidence, the Westpac consumer confidence number is still seven per cent lower than when the coalition won office. Unemployment is forecast to be over six per cent right out to the end of the forward estimates. The Reserve Bank has lowered rates to a level well below what Joe Hockey called 'emergency levels' back in 2013. So much for the statement made by—

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