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

This is the modern Labor Party. They are not even capable of running an effective class war. What do they want to do on the retiree tax? If you are a wealthy investor and you have lots of investments and you get some franking credits from your listed stocks, you can use those franking credits to offset your other tax liabilities. You can do that.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

The honourable member opposite is very happy with that. But he's a very confused class warrior because if, on the other hand, you are a retiree of modest means and you are not paying tax—you have a superannuation fund; it is a retirement account and it's not paying tax because of those superannuation rules—and you get some dividends with those franking credits, you don't have other tax liabilities to offset them against. So, from around the year 2000, with bipartisan support—it was Labor policy as well as coalition policy—people in that situation have been able to get the tax credit refunded. That has been fair; it has been obvious. But what the member for Gellibrand, his leader and their whole team want to do is cut retirees' incomes by 20 per cent, 28 per cent—as one lady in her 80s told me—and right up to 30 per cent. How many people are there in Braddon who will be hit by that? The answer is 3,534. In terms of company tax, Tasmania is experiencing a strong economy. There are over 8,000 businesses in Braddon— (Time expired)

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