Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The mendacity of the Turnbull government has been on display for the Australian people in the question time which we just witnessed. The trickiness, the willingness to engage in the lowest of standards that the Turnbull government is prepared to engage in was on display for the Australian people over the last hour.

But it is not just the saga of the Special Minister of State. It is not just the saga of the Ashby affair in which we see those low standards and that mendacity. It goes to the living standards of the Australian people as well. It goes to this government's plan to hit the living standards and the cost of living of the Australian people. There is one thing that is clear about this government's approach: they want to increase the GST. They want put it on fresh food, health and education and they are going to be mean and tricky about it as they go.

The term 'mean and tricky' was coined for a former Treasurer, but it should, perhaps, have been kept for this Treasurer because it is even more applicable to him. He has been at the dispatch box over the last 48 hours, Inspector Clouseau-like, saying he knows that the previous government had modelling on increasing the GST. Maybe he knows that because we told him! Maybe he knows that because the previous government had an inkling that the Liberal Party would propose increasing the GST and said to the Australian people, 'Here are some of the impacts.' Maybe that is how he worked it out!

What he did not tell the Australian people is that he has modelled it as well. He said, 'The only people who've modelled the GST are the Labor Party—nothing to see here.' It turns out there is something to see here. You can see that in The Sydney Morning Herald, which says not only that the former Treasurer, Mr Hockey, had modelling done of an increase in the GST but that it is 'now with his successor, Treasurer Scott Morrison'. It is a cracker of a read, if you have not seen it so far, Mr Speaker. I would recommend to you the entire edition of today's The Sydney Morning Herald.

It is not just that, because the Treasurer has now provided us with an alibi. He says, 'Well, maybe I did get it modelled, but the states made me do it.' It is all at the request of Mike Baird. 'I didn't really want to do it,' said the Treasurer. 'The states made me do it.' That is all very convenient. He has not released his modelling, he has not released his plans, and I suspect I know the reason—because it is not pretty reading, because we know enough from what is on the public record of the modelling of an increase in the GST what impacts it would have. Somebody on an average income would lose $3,100 a year or $60 a week, and somebody on an income of $50,000 would lose $2,100 or $40 a week. These are people who cannot afford this loss. We know that is the case under this government, which, as recently as today, is threatening to cut family tax benefits. We know that is the case under this government, which has seen lower wages growth and which has seen living standards fall.

We also know that people will lose not just from an increase in the GST but from it being applied to more things. A very big proportion of the household budget, of the weekly shop, is fresh food—and so it should be, because it is very important to our nation's health. A big proportion of the budget of many families is health—large families dealing with health issues. We know that if the GST is applied to these things, people whose income is in the lowest 20 per cent will pay seven per cent more but those whose income is in the top 20 per cent will pay just three per cent more. We know that is a fact. I suspect the Treasurer's modelling tells us that as well—or tells him that, at least.

We know the Treasurer's other alibi. He says, 'Don't worry that. There is nothing to see here, because we're going to cut taxes as well.' But we know from the NATSEM modelling that if a five per cent tax cut is provided across every tax bracket then that is going to make the package even more regressive; it will hit low-income earners even more compared with just increasing the GST. So it is time for the Treasurer to come clean, to lay out not only his modelling but his plans—his plans to hit the Australian people and their cost of living. We know that this is not just about the hip pocket; this is also about the health of the Australian people—something the member for Ballarat has been particularly active in pointing out and particularly effective in doing so. The President of the AMA said:

A GST on health would penalise the poorest and the sickest in the community when they are ill.

…   …   …

Ensuring that the Australian people have affordable access to high quality health and medical services is a core function of responsible governments.

The Government must rule out introducing a new regressive tax on health, and instead concentrate on increasing its investment in the high quality health services and hospitals that are needed to meet growing demand.

So we know what the AMA think of putting a GST on health. The Rural Doctors Association has said:

To add a GST of 10% or 15% onto the cost of a consult at the local doctor's would literally be too taxing for many rural and remote patients, with the danger being that many may decide not to seek treatment from their local GP.

We heard a lot from the National Party in yesterday's MPI, because they were sent out as the alibi because no Liberal wanted to do it. Let us hear from the National Party on this MPI as well, saying that a GST should be put on health in rural and regional areas. Let us hear the National Party disagree with the Rural Doctors Association. It is not just about a GST on health; it is also about a GST on fresh food. The President of the Public Health Association, Professor Heather Yeatman, put it well when she said:

Now is definitely not the time to be considering a GST on basic healthy foods. Diet-sensitive chronic disease due to unhealthy eating is now the greatest factor affecting overall burden of disease in Australia, even greater than tobacco. With funding already cut to many of our preventive health programs, it is not the time to add further to the burden of disease. The GST exemption for healthy foods in Australia must be retained.

So we know this to be the case. We know the impacts of an increase in the GST on family budgets and on family health, yet this Treasurer and this Prime Minister seem determined to do it and not to be honest about it, not to be up-front with the Australian people, not to be clear about their plans to engage in a mendacious campaign at this dispatch box. That is what this Prime Minister and this Treasurer are determined to do.

Then there is the impact on the economy. We saw in the national accounts today growth of 0.9 per cent. That is better than last quarter; that is welcome. It was a terrible quarter last quarter. We are glad that it is better than 0.2 per cent. We are concerned that net exports contributed 1.5 per cent to growth, so it would have been a very bad set of figures indeed without net exports. Domestic activity is very troubled under this Treasurer's watch. We know what a GST would do to the economy as well, because we have the lived history.

In the year 2000, when the GST was introduced, the wholesale sales tax was abolished, so taxes came off as a new tax came on. So its inflationary impact was less than putting a GST of 15 per cent on fresh food. This would be more inflationary than the GST itself was 15 years ago. We know that when that happened 15 years ago the Australian economy went through its worst six-monthly performance in 24 years—worse than the global financial crisis. Following the introduction of the GST there was a miserly 0.1 per cent growth in the September quarter and a negative quarter of 0.4 per cent in December. We saw the then Treasurer rush to stimulate the economy, as he was desperately concerned he would have a recession on his watch. We saw unemployment grow from about six per cent in June 2000 to about seven per cent in June 2001, as the GST was being introduced.

The Treasurer has the gall to stand there and lecture us about jobs and growth when we know the impact of his policies on both jobs and growth. That is the impact that we have seen before—90,000 people added to the unemployed list. So many times we have seen the Turnbull government trying to say, 'Yes, but the last two years is all in the past. Don't worry about the patchy economic performance of the last two years—it is all in the past. It was not us.' 'It wasn't me, Guv,' says the Prime Minister. I have to tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker, that I am not a very good golfer—I don't actually play golf any more. The member for Watson is a good golfer—

See this speech in context