Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

July is a very big month for national days of countries I feel strongly about: 1 July, Canada; tomorrow, 4 July, USA; and 14 July, France. But, this year, 1 July was a big day for Australians—not quite Christmas in July, but even the scrooges opposite that have been lining up to speak must be looking forward to going home and telling their constituents, over the next five weeks, about those tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer. Thirteen point six million Australians will get a tax cut from 1 July. The average worker will be $1,500 better off. And for the nontaxpayers—there could be a few of them—every household will get that $300 energy bill relief. One million small businesses—I think you remember small businesses?—will get $325. Two point six million low-paid workers are getting their third consecutive pay rise.

Surely, these scrooges opposite want to tell people about this or about the 880,000 jobs created since Labor came to government, the cheaper medicines, the stronger Medicare, the bulk billing incentives, the two weeks extra paid parental leave, the cheaper child care, the student debt being wiped off, the fee-free TAFE or the over 400,000 Australians who've been investing in themselves. I know you don't have time for a lot of things, but take my speech and send it to your constituents. It covers all of the topics. It will save you a lot of time.

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