Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Now for some good news,' said the member for Parkes a minute ago. I thought he was referring to the new members who had defected from the government to the National Party. They are going up by 15 per cent, too. There is a 15 per cent increase in the National Party along with their prospective increase in the GST. My constituents are going to be very interested if this government imposes a 15 per cent increase in the GST, because 64 per cent of kids in my electorate attend private schools—probably the most in a Labor electorate in this country. Kids in grade 6 at St Mary's, St Aloysius, St Columbus, Mount Scopus, Sholem Aleichem, Yavneh, Beth Rivkah, Wesley, Grimwade House and Caulfield Grammar are all going to see school fees increase by an enormous amount—in some cases by $1,000—if this government imposes a GST of 15 per cent. It will be even worse if, as the member for Newcastle said before, there is going to be an increase on fresh food. That would be a terrible message to send people this Christmas and next Christmas. I think of the many people across the electorate who for the first time are going to enjoy a big celebration and a big feed. It would be terrible to put 15 per cent on fresh food. In particular, I am thinking of parents and the schoolchildren in all the great schools in my electorate who are going to have an extra $1,000 put on their school fees by a GST.