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

I would like to acknowledge those who have made a contribution to this debate on the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Working Holiday Maker Reform) Bill 2016 (No. 2). I acknowledge the member for Mayo, but I want to say to her that she needs to understand that we are in the dilemma we are in at the moment purely and simply because of the government's own work. On the night of the 2015 budget, Treasurer Hockey introduced this tax. If there are currently backpackers picking cherries in your electorate, they are paying zero tax. The fact that you may not get sufficient workers this season is purely down to the uncertainty created by the government in the 2015 budget. There is no other reason.

There has been very lacklustre performance from the bunyip aristocracy in the National Party. They have done next to nothing to look after the interests of workers in their communities, or the businesses in their communities. That is what they are.

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