Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the matter of public importance. Tasmanians, and, in particular, those within my electorate of Bass, need to hear about this government's abdication of its responsibilities to the state of Tasmania and its failure to understand what matters. There is nothing in this budget which demonstrates that the government understands the challenges facing Tasmania or, indeed, the economic challenges facing this nation. This government is incompetent; it prefers the interest of those who are from the so-called big end of town to those of ordinary Australians. Nevertheless, when it seeks to tax the big banks with a levy, something Labor will support, it cannot even get that right. There is a black hole. The Treasurer's calculator needs to be fixed again.

The government appropriates the language of fairness whilst not understanding the concept at all. It does not understand that those in low-paid or insecure work need protection. It has failed to stand up for those in receipt of penalty rates who, on 1 July, may stand to lose significant amounts of money—money that would be spent in regional communities sustaining the jobs of other workers and businesses within regional Australia. The government warns about low wages growth but does nothing about it. It does not regard the interests of low-paid workers in securing better pay and conditions as important at all. It does not understand the fact that underemployment within regional Australia means that small businesses are at risk of losing the livelihood of their existence—the disposable incomes in the pockets of average Australians, which are spent each week on sustaining daily life.

There are real consequences, not just in the wider economic sense, in ignoring the interests of lower paid and middle-income earners in our communities. I know that the experience in Tasmania following the loss of jobs in the forestry industry was that there were significant rounds of secondary job losses in supermarkets and small businesses as a consequence of the loss of jobs in regional communities. It is perfectly appropriate for leading economists, including those from the big banks, to warn about the risk of low wage growth to the economy generally. This will mean lower tax receipts. But, in small communities like those in my electorate of Bass, the loss of penalty rates for retail and hospitality workers may mean a loss of up to $12 million in income—money that would be more likely spent on consuming goods and services locally, week in and week out. Small business in my electorate understands that loss of wages or loss of entitlements has a direct consequence in reduced economic activity.

This government proposes a tax increase on low-paid workers in the form of an increased Medicare levy whilst bizarrely giving those who are on higher incomes a tax cut in the abolition of the deficit reduction levy. A person on a $60,000 per annum income will pay $300 more as a consequence of this budget. The government also prefers to give the largest corporations in Australia an expensive, unfunded tax cut. This government is so incompetent that it sought to avoid disclosure of the yearly cost of this unfunded tax cut and, when pressed, finally disclosed the cost per year would ultimately exceed $16.5 billion in one year and $65.5 billion over 10 years. This government has the cheek to lecture Labor about funding for the NDIA but is prepared to give an unfunded tax cut in the hope that trickle-down economics will generate a wider economic benefit. We know that if choices are to be made—and they must be made—a better choice to drive growth is to invest in education rather than rip $22 billion from funding schools whilst claiming additional or increased investment.

In the Tasmanian context we know that the Tasmanian economy underperforms average gross state product per capita of the other states by something approaching 27 per cent. Saul Eslake has pinpointed the fact that a leading cause of underperformance in the Tasmanian economy is a lack of educational attainment. Slugging students more to attend university and making them repay their HELP debt earlier does not address that. The Liberals are so proud of their investment in fairness, their investment in education and their investment in Tasmania that not one—no single minister or assistant minister—has bothered to travel to Tasmania to talk about the benefits of the budget for Tasmanians.

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