Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise and talk about last night's federal budget. Last night's federal budget was a fantastic budget for people right around Australia. Last night, for those hardworking people in Petrie and right around Australia, we saw tax cuts and lower taxes delivered. We are very proud of that. For those people that are working hard, those couples that are trying to get ahead to pay off their mortgage, to raise their kids, we saw reward for effort—where we will hand back their money. We're looking after the environment. We're guaranteeing essential services. We are able to do all this because of a strong plan that the Liberal-National Party took to the last election, and that was a plan for jobs and growth in the economy.

The Labor Party would have you think these things happen by accident. If you listen to the member for Rankin: 'It's a global upturn; it's all an accident. That's why you have another $40 billion in income this year.' The member for Rankin misses the point that the coalition had a dedicated plan around free trade agreements, around business tax reductions, around defence manufacturing, around innovation and bringing manufacturing back. All of these things we took to the election, and we have seen 400,000 jobs created in the last 12 months—75 per cent are full-time—and one million jobs since 2013. These things don't happen by accident, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Last night's budget was a great budget, because we are rewarding those Australians. We want to see them keep their own money. In Petrie, 66,223 people will receive a tax cut starting in two months time—that is, in the 2018-19 financial year, 66,223 people in Petrie will receive a tax cut. That's a high school teacher earning $75,000 a year who will have an extra $530 in their pocket. A shop assistant in Petrie, someone on a minimum wage of $45,000, will have an extra $440 in their pocket. Yet the shadow Treasurer of this country, the member for McMahon, kicks off this MPI today, and it takes him seven minutes and 30 seconds to acknowledge that tax cuts start in two months. This same shadow Treasurer, the member for McMahon, and the member for Jagajaga don't even know the difference between the retirement age and the pension age, yet they're the ones that voted to put the pension age up to 67. They really are clueless when it comes to that.

Despite the fact that the costs of essential services like education and health go up every year and are increasing this year, the member for Rankin says that they're actually going down. No, they're not, Member for Rankin. Australians remember that 690 days ago, at the last election, the Labor Party said that the government would sell Medicare, yet bulk-billing rates and health investment are up right around the country. We saw massive investments last night in mental health services, which is fantastic. It's really good news. None of this stuff happens by accident. I say to people in my electorate: we're able to do that because of the plan we took for jobs and growth.

Let's look at tax cuts. We know that we want to reduce tax. In the next seven years, starting next year, we want everyone in this country who earns under $200,000—we believe that it's fair for the government to take one-third of your earnings in tax. We want to limit it to one-third. Ninety-four per cent of Australians will pay one-third, 32½ per cent, of what they earn in tax up to $200,000. We think that's fair, and we budgeted for that last night. Why are we reducing business tax for small and family businesses and company tax? They would have you believe that we just give this away. Do you think we like to give tax away for the fun of it? Do you think we come up with a policy in relation to business taxes just to go, 'Let's just give it away.' They use this figure of $80 billion. Why do we give it away? Because we know, and we have evidence from the last 12 months, that jobs are being created. It's all about the people of our electorates. It's all about Australians, and last night's budget delivered in spades.

See this speech in context