Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's astonishing to listen to members opposite trying to justify the indefensible when it comes to doing some serious work on tax reform in this country. Having not lifted a finger in this regard, they have got the gall to come in here and try to attack Labor's initiatives and leadership in this area.

Since the 1970s, the top 10 per cent of Australians have seen their wages grow at three times the rate of the bottom 10 per cent. The richest 20 per cent of Australians own more than 62 per cent of household wealth, while the bottom 20 per cent own just one per cent. Workers' share of income is at its lowest in half a century. Inequality is as bad as it's been for 75 years. Inequality is, in fact, everywhere you look in this country: in wealth, wages, taxes, housing, health, education and life outcomes. No amount of government spin can counter the lived reality of Australian men and women who are struggling to keep their heads above water in the face of falling wages, ballooning household costs and skyrocketing power bills, but still those opposite perform some pretty desperate rhetorical manoeuvres at every opportunity. Some go on the attack, like the member for Bowman who labelled Labor's discussion of inequality as 'nasty egalitarianism'. He wanted to show how truly removed he is from the experience of millions of Australians when he said, 'Inequality is staring over the fence and noticing the other guy's got a jet ski when you don't have one.' Unbelievable.

I am proud to stand in this house as a nasty woman for equality, as a Labor woman demanding a policy response to a growing inequity in Australia. Shamefully, the Treasurer himself tried the 'nothing to see here' defence and claimed inequality is a myth despite all of the data to the contrary and the Governor of the Reserve Bank, I might add, saying precisely the opposite. Others are so desperate to avoid any discussion that might force the government to actually do something about inequality that they refuse to engage at all. Instead, they point to the person who has been so audacious as to suggest that the parliament should make decisions on the basis of fairness and equality and screech 'class warfare'.

You know what? These people are right. There is a form of class warfare being waged in this country, and it's being waged by the Turnbull government against millions of low- and middle-income Australians as it backs in the big end of town above everybody else. This is the government that's engaged in a relentless agenda of driving down pay and conditions by supporting cuts to penalty rates, opposing increases to the minimum wage and doggedly attacking workers' ability to secure better outcomes through working with their unions. This is a government that refuses to do anything about negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions that are driving up house prices. It delivers more and more support for rich property investors at every opportunity rather than extend any assistance to Australians buying their first home. This is a government that wants to hike taxes for workers earning $21,000 a year while it gives the top two per cent of income earners a tax break. This is a government that squibbed on its multinational tax avoidance policy and fought against transparency measures that allow Australians to see how little tax some companies are paying in this country. This is a government that is levying savage tax cuts to health, education and vital public services so it can pay for its exorbitant $65 billion of tax cuts for big business.

But there is another way. Labor is showing we can get the budget into balance with positive measures that decrease the debt without having to resort to savage spending cuts. We want to create a fairer tax system for all Australians, not just those who have got the means to access generous deductions and subsidies. We want a system that reins in unfair tax concessions that force low- and middle-income earners to subsidise tax breaks for property investors. We want a system that closes loopholes that are letting multinationals shift profits offshore and a system that caps the amount that people can claim as a tax deduction for managing their tax affairs. It's time this government gave up on its thoroughly discredited trickle-down economics agenda and started governing for all Australians— (Time expired)

See this speech in context