Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like the members for Adelaide and Wills, I acknowledge that on 1 July this year all Australian taxpayers received a tax cut under this Labor government—the end of the final countdown. But, much like the Swedish rock band Europe in 1986, this government didn't just deliver on the final countdown. Just prior to that hit single, Europe would release Rock the Night, and just a few months prior to these tax cuts the Albanese Labor government would rock the night, and you'd better believe it's right.

This government committed to bigger, better and fairer tax cuts than those slated under the old coalition government, ensuring that changes to the tax regime this financial year would benefit the majority of taxpayers and that all taxpayers would share in these benefits as well. That is 13.6 million Australians receiving a tax cut, with 11½ million benefiting from a larger tax cut than they would have received under the Liberal plan. On average, that is 11½ million Australians receiving an extra $800 a year, with their total tax cut estimated to be $1,529 on average under this Labor government.

There are people in this place who cry foul over such 'lies', devastated that this government would step in when needed to deliver cost-of-living relief to those who need it most. They would prefer legislation based on an Australia five years ago, before a once-in-a-century global pandemic and global conflict and uncertainty would put Australians under unprecedented cost-of-living pressure. Instead of living in the past like those opposite, this Labor government takes action in the present to deliver a future made in Australia.

To those who are against this notion, let me ask you: of the nearly $22,000 that the average Australian will have saved by 2035 due to these changes, would you rather that money going into your own pocket? As earners in the highest tax bracket, would you prefer the thousands of dollars every year redirected to cost-of-living relief under this Labor government to end up with you instead? That's what the Liberal plan would have resulted in. I, for one, am pleased that the money did not end up with me, because it is the 84 per cent of taxpayers with the bigger tax cut, thanks to this Labor government, who need it most.

Somehow there are representatives in this place who have said they would rather a bigger tax cut for themselves, at the expense of the everyday Aussies who elected them. One of those representatives is One Nation leader Senator Hanson, who said earlier this year on Sky News: 'I was wanting my tax cuts. I'd rather put the money in my pocket.' She was 'furious' that the situation had changed, to quote the One Nation senator again. That kind of attitude is not what Australians expect from their elected representatives, regardless of your thoughts on tax reform and wealth redistribution. It goes without saying that those who enter this building as representatives ought to work for outcomes benefitting people outside of it, rather than themselves. I am proud that our Labor government has done so—not just in delivering a tax cut for all Australian taxpayers but in establishing a better regime that ensures cost-of-living relief is received by those who need it most.

Our government's No. 1 priority is exactly as stated in the motion before the House: to tackle the cost-of-living pressures facing Australians by ensuring they earn more and keep more of what they earn. That is especially so in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, providing 91 per cent of taxpayers in the electorate of Spence—one of the most disadvantaged metropolitan areas—with a bigger tax cut, compared to the Liberals' plan. That is 67,000 people in the north who are better off under Labor than they would have been under a coalition government, with an average tax cut for all taxpayers in my electorate estimated at over $1,200. That is money in the pocket of Aussies saving lives at Lyell McEwan Hospital, money in the pocket of those working hard in the Elizabeth City Centre, and money in the pocket of staff educating our children at Gawler and District College. That is what good governments deliver. They adapt to the circumstances of the nation to deliver policy which meets the needs of the nation, and that is exactly what happened under the Albanese government on 1 July.

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