Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, we abolished the carbon tax and we kept the tax-free threshold. One in five Australians pay no tax. If you earn between $18,200 and $37,000 a year—24 per cent of Australia do that—that is 2½ per cent of our tax take. If you earn between $37,000 and $80,000—which is 37.3, as the Leader of the Opposition said—that is 28.7 per cent of our tax take. Here is the kicker, 18 per cent of Australia sit in the demographic earning $80,000 and above, and they pay 70 per cent of the tax in this country. That is where the equality lies.

The problem we have is sitting on the expense side, because of the structural budget deficit that I have explained. In the next four years, welfare expenditure in this country will move from $159 billion a year to $192 billion a year—an increase of $33 billion. Health expenditure will increase from $71 billion a year to $80 billion a year—an increase of 12½ per cent. Inside welfare, out of that $33 billion, pensions will increase from $63 billion to $73 billion—there is $10 billion; there is a third of the $30 billion. The NDIS, which was left unfunded by those opposite—a $5 billion black hole—will move from $33 billion to $53 billion. There is your $30 billion increase in those two categories alone.

We have real issues in this country. The one thing I agree with the Leader of the Opposition on is that we have issues confronting us moving forward. However, there is no magic pudding economics. The troubles are real. They are demographic. We have fertility rates sitting at all-time lows. You need 2.1 children per woman under the age of 49 to replace yourself in this country. That is just replacement. Our fertility rates are sitting at 1.5 to 1.6—historic lows. It is not unique to any other First World economy; we are just getting there later. We are there, and we need to work together.

The Leader of the Opposition wants division and he wants to sit here and offer all sorts of opinions up about the Trump campaign and the Clinton campaign. Well, I will tell you for the eight weeks of the campaign in Reid every morning within a half an hour of getting to a train station, I had people turn up in black shirts, green shirts and red shirts. I had people from the CFMEU yelling abuse to the point where I think they actually won me votes, but I felt like I was in the front lines of a US election campaign. Yes, he spoke about casual jobs. Why are there casual jobs—160,000 of them since September 2015? I will tell those opposite, because they have never run a business. You need flexibility since the GFC. You cannot increase prices, because of uncertain demand, and you need the flexibility of having casual workers so that, if the trade is not there, you can send them home. Why? Because, if they are there and you are not taking revenue, you lose money. I have spent four years in this place. I agree that so much of the US does flow this way—

Ms Husar interjecting—

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