Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite very much like to talk about the tax cut that they're bringing in in four days time. They've spoken about it for five months. They've spent $40 million of taxpayer money selling those tax cuts. On the same day that we found out about that $40 million of taxpayer money they're spending, we also heard their announcement that they were prepared to spend $14 million to support food banks all across the country. So, as the member for McEwen said, let's not look at what they say; let's look at what they do. What they do is spend $40 million to spin politics to suit their own agenda and $14 million to actually help the Australian people. That tax change is $15 a week for the Australian people. It's $15 extra, and, in this cost-of-living crisis created by this Prime Minister and this Treasurer, every dollar counts.

The other little part that they don't like to talk about—and they get very upset when we talk about this fact. Many Australians will remember this: last year when they put in their tax return they were waiting for that big tax return. They were waiting for about $1,500 to hit their bank account. It got quite viral on social media because people were so upset. That $1,500 wasn't there. It disappeared. It wasn't there, because this government made a choice to let that low- and middle-income tax offset lapse. They chose to let it lapse because they were in government. They will try to say: 'It was already in the legislation. We didn't have a choice.' Well, guess what? You lost that argument when in February this year the Prime Minister broke his word and changed the stage 3 tax cuts. If you can change the stage 3 tax cuts, guess what? You can change the low- and middle-income offset and give the Australian people an extra $1,500. So do not lecture us about the cost-of-living crisis and do not lecture us about the changes that you've made when last year you walked away from the $1,500 that would have made a difference for the Australian people.

Those opposite like to talk about the surpluses that are coming. They talk about the two budget surpluses they delivered. What they don't talk about is how they got delivered. Under FOI from the AFR we can see the RBA did an internal analysis. This is what the RBA actually think, because it's internal. They didn't think it would become public. The government tried to hide it. The FOI brought it out. They said:

… revenue upgrades in 2023-24 were due to external factors, including strong commodity prices …

That means it was nothing to do with the government. They inherited commodity prices through mining that put revenues up:

Over the forward estimates, policy decisions are expected to result in a cumulative deterioration in the underlying cash balance of $24.3 billion …

That means budget policy decisions. That means the decisions of those opposite are driving spending up:

Policy decisions since [the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook] have reduced the underlying cash balance by around $10 billion in each of the next two financial years.

The analysis goes on to say that the budget is:

… slightly expansionary …

That's from the RBA. What that tells you is that, at a time when inflation is already above the band, if you spend more money and you drive an expansionary budget you see results like Wednesday, when inflation jumped from 3.6 per cent to four per cent. They will spin a top line number of a surplus that they had no control over. They got lucky because of the mining sector's increased taxes from bracket creep. But their decisions, from the RBA's own analysis, show that they're running an expansionary budget. That is why inflation is continuing to go up, and that is why there is a risk and why economists are saying we could see an interest rate rise in August. Let's be clear: if we see that interest rate rise in August, it's on this Prime Minister, it's on this Treasurer and it's on this government because it's their decisions that are leading to that interest rate increase. (Time expired.)

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