Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let me say to the member for Goldstein that hard work is not just applicable to the wealthy top end of town. People working in aged-care facilities are generally casual. They don't get enough hours. They don't have the money to buy shares. So get that into your head. Let's be very clear: this Prime Minister has his priorities completely back to front. He is giving himself a tax handout of a minimum of $7,000 after he has already given himself another pay rise, yet he is cutting the wages of more than 700,000 Australians. Shame on this government! Is it any wonder how out of touch they are when you have Senator Lucy Gichuhi saying $200,000 is not much money. Is she kidding? And, of course, Senator Pauline Hanson supported the tax handout to millionaires. It would be great if Prime Minister Turnbull and One Nation would stop lining their own pockets and would actually give a damn about Australian workers.

The Turnbull government needs to come down from its ivory towers and understand the needs of Australian workers and their families. This is how out of touch this government is: it is including a worker on $40,000 a year in the same tax bracket as someone earning $200,000 a year. Outrageous! How on earth can it be fair for a nurse on $40,000 a year to pay the same tax rate as a doctor on $200,000, or for a cleaner to pay the same tax rate as a CEO? How can it be fair that, under this tax experiment, the doctor who earns five times as much as the nurse will get 16 times more tax relief. Research has revealed that, under Turnbull's plan, $6 in every $10 will go to the wealthiest 20 per cent. Sixty per cent of the benefit will go to the wealthiest 20 per cent. Outrageous!

This is a tax plan for Turnbull's millionaire mates, not a tax plan for Australian workers. Under Labor, you can bet that we will look after Aussie workers and middle-income earners and their families. A Labor government will deliver bigger, better and fairer tax cuts for 10 million working Australians. Under Labor, working Australians will pay less income tax, because Labor believes that they are worth far more than multinationals, the big banks and big businesses. Everyone earning less than $125,000 a year will receive a bigger tax cut under Labor compared to the LNP.

What does this mean for my electorate of Herbert? The median weekly personal income in Herbert is $672. Under Labor, a person in Herbert on the median weekly personal income will be $350 better off—that is, $150 better off than under the Turnbull government's plan. Families will also be better off. The median weekly income for a family in Herbert is $1,640. Under Labor, families in Herbert will be $928 better off—that's more than $398 better off than the Turnbull government's plan. Let's put professional workers into perspective with Labor's tax refund. A teacher earning $65,000 will be $2,780 better off under Labor—that is $928 extra a year. A married couple, one serving in the defence forces earning $90,000 and the other working in aged care at $50,000 will be $5,565 better off under Labor—a combined $1,855 each year under Labor.

The reviews are coming in fast regarding Turnbull's wealthy tax handouts and they're not very pretty. Mark Hayes from my electorate wrote to me and succinctly said:

How do we as a country afford to give these Tax cuts to the rich and famous?

We know that they will not generate one single job but go into the owners pockets.

Well, Mark, we don't. And the Turnbull government is doing so at the expense of funding infrastructure, hospitals, schools and universities. And then there's the comment from the Australian Council of Social Services CEO:

The tax cut package is gambling the future of our medical services, aged care services, disability services, and social security payments most of us rely upon at some stage in our lives.

Under Labor, working and middle-class Australians will pay less tax, and we certainly won't be giving an $18 billion tax cut to big business and banks. Labor have our heads screwed on right. With the Turnbull government's tax plan nor millionaires, it's very clear that those opposite have completely lost their minds.

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