Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I can only quote the head of the Melbourne Institute, responsible for the HILDA data which demonstrates that it is true that household incomes have been flat in this country. That remains a very serious concern for the government and that is why the government is taking the actions that I just outlined to grow the opportunity in this economy for people to get jobs and earn more wages. You cannot boost someone's wages by reducing someone else's. That's the Leader of the Opposition's plan. He talks about redistribution of income. Australians should be very clear: what the Leader of the Opposition wants to do is redistribute the income you have earned back to the government to spend willy-nilly, as Labor governments always do.

The other thing we should bear in mind when we look at household incomes, after you take into account tax and transfers of welfare payments, is that both of these systems are progressive tax systems and a welfare system that provides a safety net is intended to protect against rising inequality. As the HILDA data definitely demonstrated and as has been observed since the global financial crisis, our tax and transfer system has protected against rising inequality. They are the facts. But the question for Australians is this: we know that household incomes are flat. So there is a question: are you going to have your income raised? Are you going to have your wages increased by the Leader of the Opposition taxing Australia out of business and taxing Australians out of jobs, or are you going to have your incomes lifted because that's what matters? If someone else's income goes down, that does not mean yours goes up. With a government focused on growing the economy, that is how people's wages increase. Those opposite simply want to let taxes rip and tax Australia out of business and tax Australians out of a job.

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