Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, what a performance by the shadow Treasurer. I've never actually seen him in full flight. He hasn't asked a question in six months. I've not had the amazing opportunity to see him in full flight, and what a performance it was. I mean, did he talk about the Australians who are struggling? Did he talk about ordinary Australians that need cost-of-living relief? No. It was just a bunch of hollow talking points.

I remember the Treasurer in question time talked about the dregs of the former government. The shadow Treasurer was reaching into the dregs of the talking points, the hollow talking points he was referring to. That was probably one of the worst performances I have seen. Not once did he mention the needs of the Australian people, the people who are feeling the pinch. Now, we, as a government, know it's getting harder and harder for many Australians to pay for the essentials. We know hard it is to pay the rent, the mortgage, the food and the bills, and that they're feeling the financial pinch. That's what we're focused on—the needs of the people that we represent.

We know some Australians are having to choose between paying rent or seeing their GP or paying for essential medicines. We don't need to be told that there is a cost-of-living challenge in our economy. We know that. Everyone is seeing it. Everyone is feeling it, maybe not the Shadow Treasurer, but we certainly are. We know some of this is not in our control. The war in Ukraine has raised energy prices even higher, and the problem in supply chains post pandemic has pushed up the cost of goods. We know that. They are just facts. Despite the challenges, many Australians rightly expect a good government to do whatever it takes to support them, not to play politics with this but to support them, and that's what we're focused on.

This bill includes policy reforms that are fair for working Australians. The Labor government is, and always will be, the party of progressive policy and reform. That's why every single Australian will get a tax cut under Labor's tax cuts. The two amendments to the Treasury laws are being introduced for the purpose of ensuring more Australians are better off. That's what we're focused on. The first relates to cost-of-living tax cuts. Many Australians, including many of my constituents in my electorate of Wills, have been talking to me, writing to me and calling my office, expressing their angst and their issues with Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party's stage 3 cuts. Many were worried about these cuts worsening services and placing additional pressure on lower-income Australians, who are already struggling. Many were worried about the cuts resulting in increasing income inequality for Australians. Many expressed concerns about the Liberals' benefits only reaching the top percentile of income earners. The message has been loud and clear: the majority of Australians wanted the Albanese Labor government to take action to reduce that pressure on the cost of living.

We on this side agree, because we're focused on the needs of the people who we represent. That's why we understand the policies that we're putting forward; the changes to these Treasury laws are so impactful and important to relieve that cost-of-living pressure. Most of us, I would say, ran for political office to support, put forward and advocate for policies that ensure a fairer and more equitable society for all Australians. That's what we're here for—at least, I think I can safely say that about those of us on this side. I've always advocated for Labor to implement tax cuts that will benefit millions of working- and middle-class Australians. When the former coalition government brought these tax cuts to parliament, the stage 3 tax cuts of Morrison, I called on them publicly to split the tax cuts bill so that Labor could support the passage of tax cuts to low- and middle-income earners. When it became obvious that they were all about politics—that's all they were about—and that the former government were not going to split their tax cut bill, then federal Labor, in opposition, made the decision to support the tax cuts in full so that working-class Australians wouldn't suffer or miss out. It was so that low- and middle-income earners wouldn't miss out on those tax cuts.

We were given an all-or-nothing situation because that's all former prime minister Morrison did: play politics. That's what the former government was about. And I see no difference in the comments and statements in the speech of the shadow Treasurer—it's more of the same. We did what we could do to advocate for low- and middle-income earners. We did what we could in opposition to push for progressive tax reform, because we wanted to ensure that working- and middle-class Australians did not miss out on tax benefits. That's why, now that Labor is in government, we're putting these tax cuts forward for low- and middle-income earners. Eighty-four per cent of all Australians are going to be better off with our policy, with every Australian still getting a tax cut.

These cost-of-living tax cuts are part of a broader plan by the government to provide relief for the Australians that we represent by boosting incomes, reducing costs and putting the budget on a stronger footing. We will deliver a bigger tax cut for all of middle Australia. It's going to help with the cost of living. These are real challenges—not that I heard any of that discussed by the shadow Treasurer. These changes are critically important for people, day to day. As I said, 84 per cent of Australians will get a bigger tax cut and be better off because of the changes that we're putting forward in this place.

Under the Liberal's tax cuts, these Australians would have got absolutely nothing. We managed and we did the work and the hard yards—great credit goes to the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, the economic team and the Prime Minister for actually having the courage to find a better way to provide more cost-of-living relief for more Australians. Of course, the opposition leader, the shadow Treasurer and all those opposite said they were against these tax cuts, even before we announced them. I think it's probably true to say that the coalition and the Greens political party have a choice. Are they going to stand with Labor and vote for a tax cut for every Australian, and for more tax cuts for 84 per cent, or are they going to block relief for working Australians and force us to keep Scott Morrison's 2019 cuts?

I cannot stress enough the importance of these cuts and the significance of making them now. In my electorate of Wills, 78,000 people will receive a tax cut and 85 per cent will receive a bigger tax cut under Labor. We know for a fact, too, that single women over 55 are undergoing the greatest rental distress. That demographic is feeling the greatest pinch from the cost of living.

There's a woman in my electorate by the name of Freema. She's one of those women. She's a teacher living in my electorate. She's an immigrant and a single parent. She has remained a renter, and, in October last year, her rent went up by $282 per month. At the start of this year, she was forced to sublet one of her rooms to ensure that her rent was being paid. She has two daughters—a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old. She is on a single income of $80,000. Women like Freema will be able to receive up to $1,700 in tax cuts. That's up from $875 under the coalition's plan. That means something. That additional cost-of-living relief means the world to Freema and her daughters. At $1,700 in tax cuts, it's almost double the tax cut she would have received under the Morrison government's plan. This means Freema is better able to manage her rent as well as the increases in the cost of living. It's worth highlighting that 90 per cent of women who pay tax in this country will receive a greater tax cut under this new plan. That means a lot to them.

I'm part of a government on this side—on the Treasury benches—that ensures that those under the greatest pressure receive the biggest cuts. That's the difference between us and them. We actually care about the people that we represent. We know the pain that they're going through, and we're targeting our efforts and policy at supporting them. All Australians—Australians like Freema—will benefit from the Albanese government's reduction of the lowest rate of income tax from 19 to 16 per cent for those low-income earners. This means that every working Australian will pay less tax on the first $45,000 that they earn. This means that part-time workers earning $40,000, such as waiters and waitresses, retail workers and cashiers in grocery stores, will get a tax cut of $654. That means a lot to them. Under the Morrison tax plan, these people would have received absolutely nothing.

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