Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My advice to the member for Petrie is to go and have a gander at the papers and see that the Treasurer has abandoned this tax cut that the member for Petrie is still arguing vehemently for. You are generally a couple of days or a couple of weeks behind. I will let you catch up.

What we have got in the omnibus bill that was in the Senate last night, what we have got with the government's support for wage cuts for low-income earners, is an extraordinary contrast not just between this side of the House and that side of the House but also an extraordinary contrast between what they propose to do on that side of the House and the fair go that we cherish in this country. What they want to do over there—the member for Petrie and all of his colleagues over there on that side of the House—is make the fair go in this country an aspect of Australia's history and not an aspect of Australia's future. We will not stand for it. That is why we are proud to oppose these tax cuts that are about to hit the fence anyway, no matter what the member for Petrie says. The member for Petrie can charge into the debate saying they still should be going ahead; at the same time the Treasurer, in his office right now, is trying to work out how to slink back from these big business tax cuts.

Whether the tax cuts stay or go, they will remain an aspiration of those opposite. They will remain a symbol of the government's intention to take money from the most vulnerable people in our community and to shower largesse on the wealthiest people in our community. They will remain a symbol of this redistribution of wealth that they drool over, which is to take money from people who are on family payments or take money from the NDIS or take money from people who work on Sundays to serve them coffees. They want to see money come out of the pockets of ordinary working people, and they want to see it go to the bottom line of the big four banks. That is a disgrace.

For as long as they have that view, the Australian people will continue to turn on them. Some of them will continue to look for political alternatives in the extremes of our politics, but, mostly, people will judge them harshly for an agenda that takes money off the weakest in our community and showers largesse on the strongest. That is the main reason why are we oppose these big business tax cuts. We do not think that money should be showered on the biggest companies. We do not think that the big banks should get $7 billion tax cuts. It is very important to us. When the budget is in the mess that it is in, when the deficit has been tripled by those opposite and debt has blown out so substantially, the country cannot afford a $50 billion tax cut.

The fact that so many speakers have dropped off the list for those opposite shows they know, as we know, that these tax cuts are probably going to hit the fence. We know that when that happens not only will they be humiliated—particularly if they stand up in a moment and defend these tax cuts—but also the Treasurer will be humiliated. If the government is not prepared to cling to the Treasurer's own policy, it is hard to see how the government will cling to the Treasurer himself.

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