Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I find it extraordinary that the blue team gets so agitated about Labor's policy to reduce that differential between income that is earned by the sweat of one's brow and income that is earned as a result of capital investment. We have had a system for a long time that privileges income that is earned on capita What Labor are seeking to do is to reduce that, to make that balance fairer between those who earn their income on the back of the sweat of their labour and those who earn their income on the sweat of capital. And we are not alone. This is not an idea that has come entirely from us; this has come from people from our side of politics who recognise that we have this growing inequality in our society. That inequality is not just in income earnt. There is a vast differential in the wealth. The wealthiest 20 per cent of Australians hold 71 times the wealth of the bottom 20 per cent. So we have this massive and growing differential.

As Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz noted, this extreme inequality threatens to destabilise our democratic institutions. (Time expired)

See this speech in context