Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Senate is faced with a big choice this week: to look after the national interest, or to look after the interests of this government.

What we're looking at is a $65 billion handout to corporations and banks—a $65 billion handout that they do not need. It's a $65 billion handout at a time when they are recording record profits; a $65 billion handout that is better invested in hospitals, in schools and in national infrastructure. This is the choice facing the Senate this week.

And how does this government intend to pay for this $65 billion corporate handout? By putting up taxes for Australian workers earning less than $87,000 a year. That's what this government's agenda is: handouts for the rich, tax slugs for the workers. That's what this government does.

What we heard today in this very House was an extraordinary admission from the minister about what they're doing to widows. They are taking $1,300 from widows. And how many widows are we talking about? Thirty widows, each to lose $1,300. That's this government's grand plan to pay for their $65 billion handout in corporate tax handouts: to take money from widows and to take money from workers. They should be ashamed of themselves.

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