Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises positive effect of the Government's measures to assist more hard working Australians to:

(a) earn more through the tax system, in particular by:

  (i) legislating tax cuts for middle income earners to ensure they are not pushed into the second highest tax bracket;

  (ii) introducing to Parliament the Enterprise Tax Plan, which will extend small business tax concessions to businesses up to $10 million from the outdated $2 million threshold; and

  (iii) supporting employers to invest more, provide more hours and increase wages through a more competitive international tax rate;

(b) save more for their retirement through increased flexibility in the superannuation system, in particular by:

  (i) abolishing the so called '10 per cent rule', which prevents anyone earning more than 10 per cent of their income from salary and wages from claiming a deduction for personal superannuation contributions; and

  (ii) introducing catch up concessional contributions to provide assistance to those—particularly women—who have interrupted work patterns, whether to raise children, look after elderly parents, or seek to boost their retirement savings just before retirement; and

(2) notes with deep concern that the Opposition:

(a) refuses to support tax relief for small business, while at the same time advocating tax cuts for foreign workers;

(b) seeks to abolish measures to improve the retirement savings of hard working Australians, particularly those on low incomes and with interrupted work patterns; and

(c) has no plan for jobs and growth, despite having previously advocated for a more competitive tax rate for employers.

It is a pleasure to stand in this chamber today and speak about the government's positive measures that we are seeking to implement to assist hardworking Australians, in particular in relation to the tax system and the tax cuts for middle-income earners but also in the area of superannuation. The government is committed to substantial economic reforms with the sole purpose of putting more money into the pockets of hardworking Australians. Everything we are doing is designed to reduce the financial burden on families and ensure that Australians are not punished for working hard and can retain more of the money they earn. That is why the government is focused on keeping taxes as low as they possibly can be.

We are doing this through good economic reform that provides tax relief to middle-income Australians. By increasing the middle-income tax bracket from $80,000 to $87,000, more than half a million full-time wage earners will be better off. This tax relief will prevent taxpayers from moving onto the higher 37 per cent marginal tax rate and keep the average full-time wage earners in the lower tax bracket of 32½ per cent for longer. This tax relief will save individuals some $315 a year and demonstrates that, where possible, the government is focused on rewarding and encouraging hardworking Australians. We want to see people take the opportunity to pick up that extra shift, to take that promotion or to get a higher-paying job. We want to see their efforts rewarded; they should not be worrying about the fact that they'll be pushed into a higher tax bracket as a result.

The challenge for any government is to ensure that as many people as possible are contributing to a stronger economy and participating in work. We have seen that over the past 12 months with record growth in jobs in our economy. Over 400,000 jobs were created by the economy over the past 12 months. That is a wonderful reflection of the fact that, as a government, we are seeking to put in place, and have put in place, positive measures which create the incentive for business to grow and invest and, through business growth and investment, the opportunity for people to get a job as these businesses grow and take advantage of the opportunities that have been provided.

We have also sought to help small-business owners, employees and contractors better save for their retirement by abolishing the so-called '10 per cent rule', which prevented anyone earning more than 10 per cent of their income from salary and wages from claiming a deduction on personal superannuation contributions. This will help more people claim a tax deduction for personal contributions to superannuation, benefiting some 800,000 Australians—in particular, people who are freelancers, self-employed contractors and individuals employed by small business. We know that this is critically important because many of these people put everything they have back into their businesses to continue to grow them. Giving them now the opportunity to save for retirement through superannuation gives them another incentive to build and grow their business but also, importantly, accumulate the savings and the funds for when they want to retire so they have financial security in retirement and they are not relying just on the sale of that business.

The ability to accumulate savings during their working life is critically important. That is what these changes allow these people to do. They're helping individuals through the tax cuts or the more flexible superannuation measures. We can see that through supporting people who take these opportunities and in the economic growth it provides through the small-business tax concessions we introduced previously. We are helping build and create opportunities for all Australians.

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