Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State (House)) Share this | Hansard source

The other thing Paul Keating was right about is something we're very proud of: the Labor Party is the party of aspiration. The Labor Party is the party of aspiration. Those opposite wouldn't know the first thing about aspiration. They don't have the necessary affinity with working people that we have to understand that aspiration is fundamentally about working hard, studying hard, getting ahead, providing for your family, looking after your community, making a contribution to your community and making a contribution to your country, as the member for Jagajaga said. What our parents wanted for us we want for our kids and for every Australian kid: the opportunity to get ahead in this country. The government don't have the necessary affinity with working people to understand that. They don't understand that the key to this country and the thing that makes this country extraordinary is social mobility. The fact is that someone in a suburb like the one I was born in, like the member for Lalor's electorate and like all of our electorates can work hard and get ahead in this country. They just don't get it.

What we were treated to today from the Prime Minister was the sickening spectacle of a Prime Minister who, from that despatch box, thinking he was being clever—he had the angry teapot out and he was doing all of those sorts of moves—boasted that, 'I've seen a lot of wealthy people in my time.' How sickening is the sort of stuff that he goes on about! The thing that really stuck in our craw was when we asked him about a 60-year-old aged-care worker, and the Prime Minister of Australia said to a 60-year-old aged-care worker, 'If you don't like the tax cut you're getting, go and get a better job.' A disgraceful slur! A disgraceful slur on the aged-care workers of this country! They just do not understand.

For a party that likes to talk about how much they hate the redistribution of wealth, those opposite sure are doing a lot of it. The key fact about the tax cuts that they want to impose on this country is that 60 per cent of the benefit goes to the wealthiest 20 per cent in this country. That's redistribution. By anyone's definition, that is redistribution. That's what they are into.

Australia will continue down this dangerous and perilous path of rising inequality and less social mobility for as long as these characters are on that side of the parliament. That's why the member for McMahon was so right to say that there are two ways to resolve this big barney we're having about tax right now in this parliament. One is to split the bill so that we can vote for genuine tax relief for 10 million working Australians. But we can also have an election and take it to the people. Let the people of Australia resolve this. Let the people of Australia choose between our bigger, fairer tax cuts and the trickle-down Reaganomics proposed by members opposite. (Time expired)

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