Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Australians need a tax on billionaires, because Gina Rinehart, Clive Palmer, Gerry Harvey, Kerry Stokes, Frank Lowy and Anthony Pratt owe us. Billionaires pay politicians, but they don't pay their fair share of tax. We've seen, in stunning leaks from the United States, that billionaires don't pay their fair share of tax, and some don't pay any tax at all. When billionaires don't pay tax, we all have to pay for them. So it's either us or them, because, while tax law might be complicated, the morality is not. Emergency nurses are paying more tax than corporations owned by billionaires. The system is cooked. When people are starving, anxious, alone and afraid, these hoarders are hoarding wealth. They're out of control, and Australians are angry. The establishment parties are fighting to get their feet under the billionaires' table and take their donations, but we just get insecure work, wage cuts and rising costs on life's essentials. We don't accept that. We will fight for the future. We demand a tax on billionaires. We demand dental and mental health care in Medicare. We demand a guaranteed well-paid, secure job, an affordable home and a safe climate for all of us.

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