Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Just a few weeks ago, I was with the honourable member in his electorate, where we saw firsthand the benefits of a stronger economy, a stronger economy that makes everything we seek to achieve in our economic plan possible. It means businesses have the confidence to invest and create jobs, to create, last calendar year, the most jobs in any calendar year in our nation's history—over 415,000 jobs. And it's why our policies are focused on delivering every incentive and encouragement we can for Australian businesses. More than a million jobs have been created since the coalition was elected in 2013—overwhelmingly private sector jobs—in less than five years.

Our budget is the next step in our national economic plan. It's a budget that provides tax relief for hardworking Australians, for families and households—lower taxes, better services. We're able to deliver this while balancing the budget a year ahead of schedule because we've made the responsible decisions and restrained spending, and the government has lived within its means. And that means we're able to deliver lower, fairer and simpler taxes for middle and lower income Australians: 4.4 million will be receiving relief of $530 next year, and around 10 million Australians will be benefitting in total. Because of the comprehensive nature of our personal income tax plan, it deals with bracket creep. By the time the plan is complete in 2024-25, 94 per cent of Australians will never face a marginal tax rate of more than 32½c. That means that middle-income earners will be vastly better off under our plan than what the Labor Party has attempted to offer up as an alternative. We're talking about teachers and nurses, electricians and mechanics—these are the types of occupations who will be substantially better off under our plan than Labor's alternative, because they will only be paying a top marginal rate of 32½c, which Labor is refusing to support now, having voted for it in the House. They now say they'll oppose it in the Senate. And yet it is Middle Australia that will benefit from this, to the tune of thousands of dollars, in many cases. These are the people the Labor Party used to claim to defend but have now abandoned. Our tax plan offers fairer, simpler, more equitable taxes, and, above all, it gives people more of the money they have earned. It's their money, not the government's, and they're entitled to keep as much of it as they can. (Time expired)

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