Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan) Bill 2016 which relates to the government's budget measures to reduce company tax. Talk about living in a parallel universe! I was listening to the member for Petrie as he was spruiking all the government's lines about this bill. But if you turn to some of the media speculation today, it looks like they are about to shelve most of it. It is quite interesting. I think it is quite symptomatic of the absolute chaos and mismanagement of this government. It is interesting, if you look at one of those reports in The Australian, to see that it says 'Company tax reform shelved in bid to save small firms' cut'. It says the Turnbull government are preparing to shelve most of the $50 billion company tax cut. The AFR article today says, 'Doubt grows over future of company tax cuts.' Yesterday, the Prime Minister and Treasurer were asked about that. Of course, they refused to give any clear statement. So we really can see that the government are in absolute chaos and that maybe they are about to abandon their great plan for jobs and growth. It certainly does reflect the chaos and mismanagement that we see from them.

The measures of the government in this bill are ones that we disagree with. We disagree with them because we know it is a matter of priorities. Our priorities are different to their priority—a $50 billion tax cut for multinationals and big business. Let's also look at the context of this bill and how long it has taken to get to this point. Months and months after the last budget was delivered, this, the absolute centrepiece of it—the so-called great economic plan—is finally before us. It has taken months and months to get here. The government have dragged their feet for a very long time, and who knows what will happen now with all this speculation that we are seeing. Make no mistake: this is an economic plan in which the Treasurer's response to the deficit is to actually increase the deficit by $50 billion over the next 10 years. That is his big answer to reduce the budget deficit—make it bigger. That is it. It really, again, highlights the government's economic mismanagement and their very chaotic state.

As I said, budgets are all about choices. On this side of the House we make very different choices to those opposite. We make choices that are based on assisting all Australians, not just the very wealthy, corporates and multinationals. We choose budget repair which is fair—for example, through reforms such as our negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms. We took those to the last election and there was a very positive response. I know in my area there was certainly a very positive response to those proposed reforms. Our priorities are based on better and fairer funding for our schools, hospitals and families. We make the choice to not to give away a $50 billion tax cut to multinationals and big business, because it is essentially unfair. We also, very importantly, prioritise and choose to ensure there is proper funding for rural and regional Australia such as my area on the north coast of New South Wales. It is only Labor that support and stand by those country areas and deliver for them.

As I said, this bill gives effect to a series of budget measures. It has taken months and months to get here. You would not believe, would you, that an economic plan could take so long to actually reach the House?

We are not opposed to sensible tax incentives for business, but what we are opposed to are cruel cuts to the most vulnerable in our community whilst the government are out there spruiking its $50 billion of tax cuts for multinationals. The government continue to pursue this at the expense of those who can least afford it. That is why we are opposed to this bill and, of course, why I support the amendments put forward by the shadow Treasurer. The bill sees the government giving that $50 billion in tax cuts to the big end of town whilst, at the same time, slashing funding to the most vulnerable individuals and organisations in our community.

Out of this $50 billion tax cut, this government are going to hand over a $7.4 billion gift to the big banks—the same banks that the government refuses to hold a royal commission into, despite the very widespread community concern about the need for a royal commission. I will continue to advocate for that. Many locals constantly approach me about the need to have a royal commission into the banks, and we will continue to raise it in the parliament and the community. Those on the other side continue to block it.

At the same time that they have this tax cut underway, we are seeing their massive cuts to family tax benefits and pensions. We are also seeing this government continuously slash funding for education. I also note a recent statement by Goldman Sachs, who said that around $30 billion of the government's $50 billion corporate tax giveaway will actually go overseas. That is 60 per cent of the funds that could be invested into Australian jobs, health and education. That is truly shameful. That is $30 billion that this government would rather see go offshore. There will be few, if any, tangible benefits to Australian families but lots of big benefits to the multinationals and big business. The fact is, this corporate tax rate is not going to generate the jobs that any of them claim—at all. It just will not happen.

As I said at the beginning, the government are completely devoid of an economic plan or a jobs plan. There is just chaos and mismanagement throughout the government. I would like to point out some of the areas that they should be prioritising and funding—areas that are very important in my electorate and, indeed, throughout the country.

They should be investing in Medicare but, of course, they are not. It provides a very stark comparison of our side of the House with theirs when I look at their priorities and how they are really hurting many Australians. We have always been committed to properly funding Medicare. We understand how important universal health care is and we believe that your health care should be determined by your Medicare card and not your credit card. We made it clear before the election that we are committed to lifting the government's very cruel freeze on the indexation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule. Let's just take a step back and remember what this government did. They tried three times to introduce that GP tax. They were very keen to do that. They could not do it, so they imposed a GP tax by stealth, by freezing the indexation on those rebates. They are still very much committed to that. Remember, in the Prime Minister's first budget, how much they ripped out of Medicare by extending the freeze even more. The reality is that this makes going to the doctor unaffordable for so many Australians. Labor understands that, and that is why we are committed to changing it, because that is what drives our health policy—we created Medicare and we will always fight to protect it. The government should be investing in Medicare and not investing in the $50 billion in tax cuts.

Another area where they have been particularly harsh with their cuts has been those welfare cuts. We have seen the cuts to family tax benefits and paid parental leave, with a lot of families worse off. We have seen other cuts—such as the cut to the energy supplement to pensioners, people with a disability, carers and Newstart recipients—across the board, to those most vulnerable. We even saw that late-night deal last night in the Senate with some of their cuts. How shameful was that, when they are cutting $1.4 billion from Australian families? Of course, this latest cut is straight from the horror 2014 budget, in which we saw a freeze on the family tax benefit payment rate for two years. How harsh is that going to be for families across the country? These cuts will affect every single recipient of family tax benefit, leaving 1.5 million Australian families worse off. It is truly shameful. We saw the Liberals—and let's not forget our old friends the Nationals, of course, who were right there—voting for it. That is what the Nationals do. I have said it many times and I will repeat it again: National Party choices hurt. They hurt people in the country when they choose to do things like this, when they choose to vote to cut family payments. They have certainly done it again and they should be very ashamed of what they have done to cut the family payments to 1.5 million Australian families.

We have seen that this government does not have a plan to help families either, except for cutting all of those benefits. It is certainly right across the board. It is only Labor that has been standing up for Australian families, to try and protect them from these very harsh cuts. We will continue to do that, because we understand how important these family tax benefits are in providing for families. Obviously, the government do not understand it at all. Instead, they are just committed to making sure that they have that huge $50 billion tax cut for big business.

Education is another very important area, and we have seen some massive cuts from this government. In fact, nationwide, they are cutting $30 billion from our schools. That is like sacking one in seven teachers. If we look at my electorate of Richmond on the New South Wales North Coast, our schools will lose more than $20 million. That is absolutely devastating. It means fewer teachers, less one-on-one attention and students simply being left behind. When we look at some of the education outcomes for those in regional and rural Australia, we already have a lot of challenges, particularly in accessing higher education. With the cuts to schools that we have and the government's plans for $100,000 university degrees and cutting funding to universities, it makes it extra hard for our children from those regional and rural areas to actually get the education that they do deserve. Those cuts to schools that I mentioned mean that students are getting less help with the basics. This is where it is truly annoying: this government cannot find money to fund a very needy regional school but, again, they have that $50 billion tax cut for big business. It really shows how twisted their priorities are.

On this side, we believe getting a good education is vital for accessing all of the opportunities throughout your life. We also believe it is absolutely critical to ensuring that we have a strong economy and secure jobs by making sure we have fully funded, needs-based education systems. That is why we are absolutely committed to the Gonski reforms. We understand it is important that we have funding so that every child in every school gets the support that they need. On top of those cuts to schools funding and plans for $100,000 university degrees, we have also seen them decimate the TAFE sector with their cuts to apprenticeships and training.

Another area that I would like to focus on, in terms of the government's twisted priorities, is their cuts to community legal centres and what that means for my community and my electorate. Again, they can give that massive cut to big business, but the cuts to community legal centres across the country mean that the Northern Rivers legal centre in my area will have funding cuts of nearly $180,000.

Some might say that is not a lot of money, but I can tell you the impact of these cuts will be very harsh on the Northern Rivers legal centre. What it means is that from 1 July their Tweed office and its outreach service at Pottsville and Murwillumbah will be forced to close—that is, essentially three offices that will be closed because of this government's harsh funding cuts. The Northern Rivers legal centre and its dedicated staff have been helping our local community since 1996. Now their funding will be cut by 23 per cent so it will seriously jeopardise their ability to actually operate and to provide those services. They provide free advice and services to individuals and groups in financial hardship and, indeed, to some of the most disadvantaged in our community.

The community legal centres across the country help hundreds of thousands of people in need of free legal assistance. They are in the front line sometimes in assistance for those who are fleeing domestic violence or for people with tenancy disputes or employment issues. There is a whole array of financial issues they assist people with. I know that in my community the centre has been utilised right across the board.

I would like to take the time to thank the shadow Attorney-General for recently visiting my electorate, meeting with the representatives of the Northern Rivers legal centre and hearing firsthand what those cuts are going to mean for our community. I asked the people in the Northern Rivers legal centre, 'What happens now when you have to shut these outreach offices? They said, 'These people will just not get help.' One of the lawyers said they were mediating a family law court dispute. What happens to those people? How do they get access to any financial assistance?

I will continue to call on the Turnbull Liberal-National government to reverse these cruel cuts as a matter of urgency. Throughout the country, these cuts are devastating but, in the regional areas, we just have no capacity to get access to those legal services at all. I sometimes think those on the other side do not understand how vulnerable and disadvantaged people are or how really severely impacted by these cuts they will be, so I will continue to call for that funding to be restored.

I want to touch on another example of this government's twisted priorities—that is, the failed roll out of the second-rate NBN. This is really hurting people right across my electorate whether it be their business access, their home access or their educational access. The government used to say their second-rate NBN would only cost about $29.5 billion. It later went to $41 billion. It is now $56 billion. But of course their second-rate copper NBN is a complete failure and, like the government, is in total chaos. We know the NBN is the largest and one of the most important infrastructure projects in this country and it is important that it is done properly. In my electorate, thousands of households are still waiting for the NBN. I have a wonderful creative hub of people who desperately need the NBN to be able to communicate worldwide so they can run their businesses effectively. All small businesses need it. From an educational perspective, people need it. It tends to be in complete chaos because this government are not able to manage anything. Their internal dynamics are so chaotic—

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