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

We don't agree with this amendment because there's a big difference between this so-called plan that the shadow Treasurer and opposition leader have come up with and our plan—we took our plan to an election. The members opposite seem to have forgotten that, six weeks ago, the Australian people repudiated the outrageous taxes that this shadow Treasurer was intimately involved with. This shadow Treasurer wants to wash his hands of $387 billion of proposed higher taxes. We all remember the very presidential-looking photos of the economic team. We see that, rightly, every member of that economic team has been demoted in one form or another except for the shadow Treasurer, who somehow got promoted through all of this. We see the shadow Treasurer talking about the urgent need for stimulus, but when, just six weeks ago, he was very, very freely using terms like 'top end of town'—I didn't notice 'top end of town' in his speech this time—he was arguing to rip $387 billion out of the economy that he apparently now believes needs so much stimulus.

So the Labor Party have learnt nothing. The man who was at the centre of every single hopeless economic decision that they made in opposition has been promoted. He should have been punted down the end of the bench or to the back bench, because we all remember that the shadow Treasurer is really most famous for being Wayne Swan's brain. It's not a compliment to be referred to in that way. We all remember the line that he very famously drafted for then Treasurer Swan—'The four surpluses that we deliver tonight.' How many of those surpluses eventuated? Zero. Anyone who's been in this House knows what happened to those surpluses. So we are not going to take lectures from the shadow Treasurer. We are not going to agree here to amendments hastily thought up in the panic in between Sky News interviews and the opposition's caucus meetings, because our plan was taken to an election. Our plan was endorsed by the Australian people.

To give credit to the shadow Treasurer, he has fronted up today. He is showing a brave face. We know that, as the co-architect of the disastrous economic policies that the opposition took to the election, he should be hanging his head in shame, but he's got more chutzpah than anybody in this House. So, no, we are not going to be taking any lectures from the shadow Treasurer on the plan that we took to the election, the plan that's been endorsed by the Australian people.

What is that plan? That plan, in the end, will mean that 94 per cent of taxpayers won't pay more than 30c in the dollar. That means, most importantly for this week, 10 million Australian taxpayers will receive up to $1,080. For couples, it will be $2,160. I'm very pleased that the Labor Party are on board. I'm very pleased that they are supporting that part of the plan. But what they don't understand is that, in long-term tax policy, everything hangs together. You cannot cherrypick parts of a plan that you like. You can't then come up with hasty plans in between panicked meetings of the leadership and in between caucus meetings and Sky News interviews. No, we have a well-thought-through plan developed by our Treasurer, an outstanding Treasurer, somebody who is delivering for the Australian people and who next week will be delivering to 10 million Australian people, which is more than this hopeless shadow Treasurer could ever claim or ever be able to put on his CV.

So the answer to the Labor Party today, which will be echoed by all of the speakers—and I'm going to keep my contribution short to allow those on our side to get an opportunity to speak—is, 'No, we won't agree to your amendments because the difference between your plan and ours is we took ours to an election; and the difference between this Treasurer and this shadow Treasurer, who was the co-architect of the disaster of the Labor Party, is stark; and the Australian people put much more faith in this Treasurer.'

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