Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

What a great day for Australian workers. What a great day for every Australian who, year after year, day after day, gets up, gets on the train, gets on the bus, gets on the road to go to work. They pay their taxes. They miss out on important family events in order to pay ever-higher taxes. It is a remarkable achievement today that we provide, immediately, tax relief to 10 million Australians. Over time, we will provide tax relief to every single Australian.

The only people unhappy, the only people who are down in the mouth about Australian workers getting a tax cut today, are those opposite. The only person who looks like he lost $5 and found 5c is the Leader of the Opposition. He walked in here glum because he didn't want to see hardworking Australians, people who work hard every day, who are law-abiding, who pay their taxes, get a tax cut. Why doesn't he want them to get a tax cut? It is because those taxes fund his irresponsible spending. They fund his pork barrel around the country. But 10 million Australians, from 1 July, will get relief.

Then, in step 2 of our tax plan, Australians will be relieved of bracket creep. Bracket creep is a technical phrase used in this House too much. In essence, it means that people out there are getting taxed more on the same effective amount of income with a lower purchasing parity. We're saving them from paying higher taxes in step 2. Then, in step 3 of our tax plan, which this parliament supported and passed today, every single Australian will get a tax cut. We will get rid of an entire tax bracket, which means 94 per cent of people who work hard every single day will not face a marginal tax rate higher than 32½ per cent.

It is extraordinary today to see the Labor Party opposing this. The Labor Party, who we have spoken about time after time, the so-called party of the workers, have completely abandoned the men and women who I've said work hard every day, fund the system, fund the essential services that we all rely on. This is just another step in our plan to harness aspiration, another step in our plan to fuel the growth in the economy. And what have we seen? We have seen even more people, due to the policies of this government, who will be spared ever-higher taxes. That's the additional one million people who are in a job today who are paying taxes, and who will now get tax relief. But they have a job because of the policies of this government—415,000 Australians last year received a job. They worked for it. They did it. They are the ones who went out and made it happen. But the government creates the environment where those opportunities are there for Australians to grasp. We create the circumstances that give them the opportunity, with their own get-up-and-go, to go out and get that job, work hard every day and pay their taxes. So it doesn't happen by accident. None of it happens by accident. I know the Labor Party thinks it's all a big accident.

The Labor Party had very terrible luck while they were in government. They took a $20 billion surplus to a $50 billion deficit and they took an accumulated net debt position of over $70 billion to rising debt in their six years, all due to bad luck. It was all just bad luck for the Labor Party; it was all very, very bad luck. Well, no, it doesn't happen by accident. None of it happens by accident. It happens because we have a plan. We have a plan for a stronger economy. We have a plan to ensure that Australians are encouraged. Aspiration is a concept that's a bit mystifying to those opposite. We have a plan to ensure that we harness that aspiration, that entrepreneurialism.

What have the Labor Party done? We've seen it very, very clearly in recent days. The Labor Party have run around the country for many years, whether it's the Leader of the Opposition or the shadow Treasurer, trying to run some fake class-war campaign: 'We're going after the big multinationals. We're going after Apple and Google, and we're going after all those terrible, nasty millionaires and billionaires.' I know the Leader of the Opposition knows a few billionaires. But, instead, they've squibbed it. They're not going after them at all.

Regarding the $270 billion of additional taxes, it's not the millionaires and the billionaires and the Apples and the Googles and the big, nasty multinationals they're going after. No. Today, we now have the trifecta of who the Labor Party are going after. Who are the Labor Party attacking to fund their irresponsible spending? Firstly, they're going after pensioners and retirees. The single biggest contribution to their big pork barrel is going after low-income retirees, including pensioners who have self-managed super funds. They're going after pensioners; they're going after retirees. They're the big, nasty millionaires and billionaires: retirees on $20,000; retirees on $30,000, who might be losing up to a quarter of their income. They're the biggest target Labor are going after.

Who is the second target Labor's going after? Labor's going after small business people. Time and time again, Labor want to attack small businesses—small family businesses. Whether it's a shop, a retail store, a cafe or a hairdresser, the Labor Party want them to pay higher taxes; the Labor Party want to deny them a tax cut. That contributes to their big bucket of money for their pork barrel. Today, we saw the absolute trifecta of who Labor are going after. Again, is it the big multinationals? Is it Apple? Is it Google? No, it's everyday Australians who will contribute. If they were in government, their policy is to roll back tax cuts—$70 billion of additional personal income tax on everyday Australians.

The Labor Party think that if you earn an average income and you have a mortgage—you might have two or three children—you're rolling in it; you're a millionaire or a billionaire who doesn't deserve a tax cut. We disagree. Those are the people who fund the entire system of government. Those are the people who get up every day, work hard, pay their taxes and are law-abiding citizens, and today, against the wishes of the Labor Party, they will get a tax cut—delivered by this government, with the vehement opposition of the Labor Party. What a great moment for Australians. What a wonderful moment for Australians.

The Labor Party's spending, which is out of control, means that they have to make these decisions. I'm sure there are so many people in the Labor Party who instinctively know it's just wrong. It's just wrong what you did today. It's absolutely wrong that you would deny hardworking Australians a tax cut. It's absolutely wrong. I know there are a lot of good Labor people who are very embarrassed about this position and, sadly, they've been locked into it. Sadly, this Leader of the Opposition—this unprincipled, untrustworthy Leader of the Opposition—has led them down this path. I know they're a bit ashamed. They should be ashamed. They should be ashamed, again, that the people who fund their irresponsible pork barrel are the people who can least afford it: everyday Australians who work hard, retirees, small business owners. Why go after those people, the people who contribute to and fund the system that we provide?

All of these decisions—whether it's personal income tax, trade deals or company tax reductions—which have contributed to the record jobs growth we've seen over the last 4½ years, create an environment where the government all of a sudden has the means to be able to provide the services that Australians expect. In question time today we saw the Labor Party with a bit of a guilty conscience, I think, because the Minister for Health outlined what the real consequences are of not running a budget surplus. For six years, with a worsening budget position, with a weakening economy, with increasing unemployment, the Labor Party couldn't provide those services— (Time expired)

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