Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I have just explained why we modelled it. Even a young person like you, member for Mitchell, might start to understand the realities of Australian politics and understand it is prudent to look at what the opposition proposes. It might well be that you actually do need to cost it and find out what it means for the budget.

What we have heard today from the member for Watson is that the government's own proposals would cost $123 billion. That is the total cost of this exercise on the budget. It would mean that they would be $63.5 billion out of pocket. That is what the black hole would be for them to pay for their compensation measures. Nothing will compensate the people of my electorate for the stupidity of proposing a 15 per cent GST—an increase in the GST by 50 per cent. I do not understand why any member of the National Party or any regional member in this House is not saying to the government, 'It's improper, inappropriate and bad news for us if you increase the GST on regional Australians.' Regional Australians are the poorest of Australians; they are sickest of Australians. They are the ones who will pay more as a result of an increase in GST on every aspect of their lives, and yet National Party members sit here and say nothing, except that they support it. Let's just say this: we understand precisely what they mean.

In my own electorate of Lingiari, where the poorest of Australians live, the NT government's Department of Health publishes the Market Basket Survey, which compares prices in each region of the Northern Territory with the prices in the major centres of Alice Springs and Darwin. For comparison, both the major supermarket price and the corner store price were used. The results are very sobering. The average cost of the food basket was $824 in remote communities, $726 in district centre corner stores and $558 in district centre supermarkets. If you add an extra 50 per cent for an increase in the GST, the average cost of the food basket would become $865 in remote stores, $762.30 in district centre corner stores and $585 in district centre supermarkets. That means, on average, a family living in a remote area of the NT—there are close to 200 remote communities across the NT—will be paying an extra $280 for the same basket of goods that would be purchased by their brothers and sisters in Darwin or Alice Springs. The difference would be even greater for those who live in Sydney or Melbourne. These are the people who suffer as a result of an increase in the GST to 15 per cent. These are the sickest of Australians.

We all know that the AMA and every other reputable health organisation in this country has said that we should not be contemplating an increase in the GST because of the health impacts. An increase in the GST by 50 per cent is a massive health tax. It is a tax on the health of every Australian, particularly those who live in the poorest communities and those who are the most vulnerable to illness. You do not have to be Einstein to work out where they are. As a former minister for Indigenous health, I can tell you. They are sickest of Australians. They need food security. They need to be able to buy good food at good prices. What we are seeing here is an exercise that would increase the likelihood that they would become sicker and would die earlier because they could not get access to good food as a result of this GST increase. That is the likelihood here.

Let's be very clear about it: this is not something which should be just brushed off. If you do not want to have this GST, if you are not going to increase the GST by 2½ per cent or five per cent, or whatever you might be going to do, say so. And for the Prime Minister to stand here in such an arrogant way as he did today—smug, arrogant and patronising: what he ought to do is take the Australian people into his confidence. If you do not intend to increase the GST, tell us now, and let's make sure we do not live with the pain of wondering how much it will be and what it will mean to those poor Australians living in remote and regional areas.

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