Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the requested amendments be not made.

I simply note in the interests of time that there were other matters discussed in the other place today regarding subsequent changes that would be made and put forward by the government to deal with freezing any increases in the passenger movement charge for another five years. That will be done by a separate bill, which I will seek to introduce on Monday. So the matter we are dealing with here right now is simply the message from the Senate in relation to the requested amendments that the Senate has asked this House to address. I have put to the House that the requested amendments not be made. That is the position of the government.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: "the requested amendments be made".

Today the government has a chance to end this rolling mess. Today the parliament have a chance to put this government's rolling imbroglio, which has gone on since the 2015 budget, to an end. Today we can fix this government's incompetence by telling this government it has got it wrong, and the House of Representatives can agree with the Senate. Today the government lost a vote in the Senate. It has lost its position that the backpacker tax should be at 19 per cent. The Senate has resolved that it should be at 10½ per cent. Today the House of Representatives should agree with the Senate and put this issue to bed and give Australia's farmers, horticulturalists, growers and tourism industry the certainty that the parliament has finally put this government's incompetence on this issue to an end. Today the House of Representatives can say to the government that it has got it wrong consistently and the government can finally admit it.

This is a measure not from this Treasurer's budget; this is a measure from the budget in 2015. This has rolled on continually since then. It is already causing backpacker numbers in Australia to decline. You would think that the Liberal Party, the party that pretends to understand business, and the National Party, the party that pretends to understand regional Australia, would finally take this chance to listen. On this side of the House we know that not only are backpackers necessary in certain industries in Australia but they spend what they earn in regional Australia. They spend it on tourism operations. They spend it on hospitality. They spend it in the towns they live in where they are working and earning money. Those towns are suffering and will continue to suffer under this Treasurer unless he recognises the error of his ways.

The Deputy Prime Minister was out this morning fulminating in his normal calm, rational and sensible style that this was some sort of breach of a settlement. I am not sure who the settlement was between—the Deputy Prime Minister and the Treasurer perhaps, but nobody else was invited. Certainly the agriculture sector were not invited and certainly the tourism sector were not invited, because they know that 19 per cent is too high. Here we have Treasurer Morrison arguing for higher taxes today in this House and this side of the House saying: 'You've got it wrong, Treasurer. We should have a competitive tax rate with New Zealand. We should have a tax rate that says that backpackers can come and work here and can be competitive.'

I want to deal with one particular problem that the government has put up in this debate—one particularly egregious error—that somehow the Labor Party's compromise proposal sees Australian workers paying more tax than backpackers. That is just not true, and not only does the government know it but, I tell you what, the Minister for Finance knows it because he was just asked a few minutes ago on Sky News to agree with the Treasurer and the Deputy Prime Minister and he did not. He would not. I say this of the finance minister: the finance minister knows that there is a problem when you tell an untruth on Sky News. It can come up and you can be reminded of it. The finance minister was not that stupid. The finance minister was smart enough not to back his Treasurer. The finance minister was smart enough and honourable enough to tell the truth.

I have talked about the government and the opposition. I say this to the House this afternoon—through you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Earlier in the week, National Party members were prepared to cross the floor to allow more shotguns into Australia, they felt so strongly about that issue. I say to the National Party: cross the floor today and stand up for regional Australia. Cross the floor today, right now, and say to your sectors, your industries and your regions: 'We've delivered for you.' Otherwise, the member for Dawson, the member for Mallee and all of them have to go home this afternoon and say to their communities: 'We voted for 19 per cent. We voted against 10½. We voted against a more competitive tax rate.' That is what the National Party members will have to explain to their communities on the weekend. They will have to explain why they refused to see this rolling sore come to an end—because I tell you what, Mr Deputy Speaker: if my motion does not pass the House today, the government are going to have some serious thinking to do next week. They are going to have some serious explaining to do next week to those sectors and to those industries. The government next week just might want to reconsider their position because, otherwise, there is going to be a 32½ per cent tax applied in this country—and, despite the Treasurer's denials, it will be his responsibility.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the amendment. Mathias Cormann, the Minister for Finance, in an interview with David Speers this afternoon, threw the Treasurer under a bus not once, not twice and not three times but on no fewer than 10 occasions. He threw the Treasurer under a bus. This government is dysfunctional, it is incompetent and it is in chaos. There is no better example than the matter we have before us this afternoon, a matter that has been dragging on now for 18 months. Eighteen months ago, the then Treasurer of this government announced a $540 million backpacker tax. They thought that was a wonderful idea, at a time when backpackers were already deserting Australia. Can you imagine? Farmers, growers and tourism operators in this country were already struggling back in early 2015 to secure the backpacker labour they needed, and what did this genius of a government do? They put a 32.5 per cent tax on them. It takes a special sort of genius to come up with that plan.

When asked about this in an interview at the time, the now Deputy Prime Minister said, 'This is all about putting Australian workers back on a level playing field.' They thought they could get away with a $540 million tax revenue grab and make it about protecting Australian jobs. They were wrong and, by midway through the most recent election campaign, they worked out they were wrong—and what did they do? They walked both sides of the street. They announced a review, which, by the way, allowed the taxation commissioner to defer the introduction of the 32.5 per cent tax until 1 January of next year. So what did they do throughout the balance of the election campaign? They kept the $500 million in revenue and continued to spend it throughout the election campaign—

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So did you! So did you!

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

while implying or suggesting that they would abolish the tax after the election campaign. The Treasurer is absolutely wrong because on no fewer than 10 occasions, the same number of times Mathias Cormann threw him under a bus today, I said publicly that he was—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Hunter will refer to ministers and members by their correct titles or he will not be speaking.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will, Mr Speaker. I said publicly that, if he was prepared to announce pre-election, which would have given growers immediate relief, that he would give up on his backpacker tax, we would back him. But we were not going to fall for the pea-and-thimble trick of allowing him to lie to the Australian people and suggest to them that he would get rid of the tax post-election but spend the $500 million all the way up to the election.

In the Senate today, after consulting through a Senate inquiry and after talking to their constituents, particularly in Tasmania, senators did the right thing. They heard the growers of Australia. They understood that, at 19 per cent, the growers cannot compete. That fruit is going to be rotting on trees. They heard what the growers had to say. Labor, the opposition, has heard what the growers have had to say. We understand that this 19 per cent backpacker tax is going to destroy many of those growers and other farmers, and, of course, those who work in the tourism industry.

It is time for one other group of people to get on board, and they sit opposite. People like the member for Hinkler and the member for Hume purport to represent people in rural Australia. Yet, what are they doing? The member for Hume is one of the biggest supporters of the $50 billion tax cut for big corporate multinationals in this country. What he is doing is putting the big corporate multinationals ahead of his local farmers. He is putting the big corporates ahead of national farming. It is a disgrace. Jack McEwen would be rolling in his grave that he would be putting the big banks, for example, ahead of his farmers and growers. The member for Dawson and others sitting up there—the member for Hinkler and Mr Broad from Mallee—need to come in here and stick up for their farmers: cross the floor and back the 10½ per cent backpacker tax.

I want to say one last thing. Fiona Simson was elected president of the National Farmers' Federation today. I have the highest regard for Fiona Simson. She is a good woman; she is a good leader. Now, she has an opportunity. The National Farmers' Federation has stuck like glue to the government on its 19 per cent backpacker tax, despite that fact it is hurting growers everywhere. I say to Fiona: congratulations; here is a wonderful opportunity for you; show some leadership, get with the rest of us and back a backpacker tax rate of 10½ per cent.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The original question was that the requested amendments be not made. To this the honourable member for McMahon has moved as an amendment:

That all words after ''that'' be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: ''the requested amendments be made''.

So the question now is that the amendment be agreed to.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to move an amendment to the bill.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kennedy will resume his seat. The member for Kennedy is entitled to move amendments, as he well knows. But he cannot move it until we have disposed of this amendment.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will speak to the bill.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay. The member for Kennedy can speak to the bill.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I fail to understand how anyone could be so stupid as to put forward the proposal that is coming forward here. In fairness to the Treasurer, he inherited this stupidity. If you were going to act on some issue that is going to be extremely detrimental to a large number of your members of parliament, then surely you would check it out beforehand. As I say, the Treasurer inherited this. I think he has just had to go forward with it, whatever he might say. But let me be very specific. I probably represent more backpackers that any other member of parliament, so I would be the one that would know most about it. If you take the backpackers out of my area, people would go out of bananas, for example, and move into sugarcane because they cannot get enough labour to do the job. We have thousands of jobs for locals, but there are not enough workers to do the job that needs to be done. That is why we need the backpackers.

There are two targets for tourism in Australia—some really great targets. There is Far North Queensland—the Cairns region—and the Gold Coast. People from overseas go to other places, but these are actual tourist destinations. Twenty-five per cent of that tourism industry comes from backpackers. If you take that 25 per cent out, there is a huge hole torn in our tourism package. Also, they are all the young people. They are down there on the Esplanade in Cairns. There is a big, giant swimming pool there. They are all having a terrific time. There are buskers and people playing guitars and having a really good time.

Debate interrupted.