Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand here today on behalf of the families and workers in Herbert to say no to the Medicare Levy Amendment (National Disability Insurance Scheme Funding) Bill 2017. I cannot support a bill that increases taxes for the poor and lets the top end of town get away with not paying their fair share of tax. I am sick and tired of the relentless attacks on workers by the Turnbull government.

I stand with Labor in opposing the Turnbull government's proposed increase to the Medicare levy for workers earning less than $87,000. This is a tax hike for more than seven million Australian workers earning less than $87,000 each year. And while the Turnbull government are increasing taxes on Aussie workers, they are also giving a $65 billion tax cut to big business. Allow me to repeat that: a person working in construction on the Townsville Stadium, serving coffee at McCafe on the Lakes, the local subcontractor, nurse, or teacher at Thuringowa State High School will receive a tax increase and big business will get a $65 billion tax cut from the Turnbull government.

The Turnbull government is asking Australian families and workers to pay more tax whilst allowing companies like Chevron and Google to get way with not paying one cent of tax to this country. How is that fair? How is it fair that billion-dollar companies do not pay their fair share of taxes in Australia whilst the local subcontractor pays more in tax? This is the current situation in Australia, and I will keep on repeating these facts until the Turnbull government actually does something to stop the growth in inequality and support Australian families and workers.

Inequality is at a 70-year high. More than 105,000 people are homeless, one-third of pensioners live in poverty and 32 per cent of unemployed people live in poverty. The HILDA report shows that child poverty in Australia is growing. Wage growth hasn't been this low since records started being kept. Since 1975, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has collected data on earnings inequality. Profits have gone up by 40 per cent and wages have gone up by less than two per cent. Real wages have grown by 72 per cent for the top 10 per cent. In 1975, the top 10 per cent earned twice as much as the bottom 10 per cent, but by 2014 they earned nearly three times as much. If low-wage earners had enjoyed the same percentage gains, they would be $16,000 better off a year.

The richest one per cent of Australians own more wealth than the bottom 70 per cent of Australians combined. For every dollar a male earns, a woman earns 82c. Six hundred and seventy eight corporations have paid no tax. Forty eight millionaires paid no tax. The latest corporate tax transparency report by the Australian Taxation Office in 2014-15 showed that 36 per cent of large firms had zero tax payable in 2014-15. I would be very grateful if someone from the Turnbull government could please explain to me how these statistics are fair. Can the Treasurer or the finance minister outline what they are doing to ensure that these companies pay their fair share of tax? They won't, because I suspect they can't. When your mates, and your experience, are big business you can never have an understanding of what it's like for a working Australian on a low income.

It's dumbfounding that, at a time of low wages growth and high cost-of-living pressures, the government is already pursuing a cut in penalty rates for low- and middle-income workers and the Treasurer is prioritising an income tax hike for those same workers. The Turnbull government's plan to increase the Medicare levy would increase the tax burden on vulnerable Australians earning as little as $21,000 a year. This government's tax increase will mean a worker on $55,000 would pay an extra $275 in tax, while someone earning $80,000 would pay an extra $400 in tax. A worker earning $85,000 a year will lose the full benefit of last year's tax cut and actually end up paying more income tax.

This is a government that pretends to give you money with one hand while stealing it from you with the other. And whilst they're giving $65 billion tax cuts to big businesses and increasing the taxes those earning $21,000 a year, in this bill they're also making cuts to the Education Investment Fund. The Education Investment Fund was established to provide capital investment in higher education infrastructure and vocational education and training infrastructure, including renewal and refurbishment in universities, research facilities and major research institutions. Since 2008, and until the Turnbull-Abbott government abandoned the program, around $4.2 billion was provided to co-finance the updating and modernisation of Australia's vocational, higher education and research facilities across 71 projects. Universities Australia said that losing the EIF, which has $3.8 billion remaining, would make it harder for the sector to create new jobs, generate research breakthroughs and compete for international students. Because of the abolition of these programs universities, TAFEs and research institutions have said they will either cancel or postpone plans for infrastructure investment and upgrades.

These cuts will cost jobs in my electorate of Herbert, an area that can afford neither job cuts nor cuts to higher education. On top of these cuts, $37.1 million in funding will be lost to James Cook University, and $30.1 million will be cut from Central Queensland University. It is internationally recognised that education is a key factor in lifting people out of poverty. A strong education system equates to a stronger middle class. A strong middle class means a strong economy. When the government is making such severe cuts to universities and is cutting more than $2 billion from TAFE, on top of increasing taxes for Australian workers and families, it is clear that the Turnbull government is not helping workers but, in reality, destroying them. We see cut upon cut upon cut by the Turnbull government to the people who need the most support.

The Turnbull government's treatment of the NDIS is abhorrent and shameful. The NDIS is the biggest transformational social change this country has seen since Medicare. The NDIS has the potential to make amazing and transformational changes to the lives of people who live with a disability, and to give those people, who have been socially isolated, the opportunity to engage in their community. The NDIS is the opportunity for people with a disability to achieve a life of choice, purpose, meaning and citizenship, just like other members of the community.

I have seen a young 14-year-old girl's life turned completely around. Her physical health was very poor. She was spending many months each year in hospital. Her physical health is now so much better. She is actively engaged in life, which has taken enormous pressure from her mother and family. In this young woman's case, the NDIS has been life-changing.

However, sadly, this is not always the case, because it is very hard to deliver consistent quality supports to vulnerable people when the system is being developed on the run due to the government's lack of planning, preparedness and ability to assist those most in need and the most complicated cases. I have a man aged 42 who is a veteran living in my electorate who has a devastating acquired brain injury and very bad physical health. He has a wife and three children but he cannot live at home because his care needs are very high. His wife is beside herself, and has become very depressed, because he is now caught between the aged-care system and the NDIS. He is living in the ABI unit, and this is simply just not good enough. I am working with the NDIA to address this situation.

I stand here as a proud member of the Labor Party and I vow to the Herbert community that, together, Labor and I will fight to protect the NDIS. Labor created the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and we know how important the NDIS is to improving the lives of people with disabilities and their families. Labor has a plan to ensure the full and proper rollout of the NDIS, and it does not include taxing the most vulnerable Australians.

Labor has a plan that is better and fairer for the budget. Labor's plan raises more than $4 billion—more than the government's proposed tax rise over 10 years—by increasing the Medicare levy for individuals earning more than $87,000 a year and keeping the deficit levy on those income earners earning more than $180,000. Independent research from the Australian National University shows that twice as many households would be worse off under the coalition's plan than under Labor's plan. We are 100 per cent committed to the successful rollout of the NDIS. We are 100 per cent committed to looking after Australian workers. We are 100 per cent committed to supporting Australian families. The question is: are you, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull?

These cuts and all of the benefits to big business highlight one thing: that the Prime Minister is completely out of touch with Australian families and workers. With an estimated worth in stocks, shares, properties and trades of $200 million, of course this Prime Minister could not possibly comprehend the day-to-day struggles of someone earning $50,000 a year. The Prime Minister is out of touch and seemingly incapable of understanding the needs of Australian families and workers. I will never support taxing the poor and giving large tax breaks to the very rich. Stagnant wages, falling living standards and record levels of underemployment and unemployment all mean that low- and middle-income Australians are less able to pay more tax than they have in the past. Only Labor will stand up and fight against inequality. It has only ever been Labor, and will only ever be Labor, that gives families and workers a fair go.

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