George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And too bad about the North Queensland coal workers who got thrown under a bus!

When the opposition leader opened another round of class warfare earlier this month, it was pensioners and low-income retirees in his sights. Despite claims of targeting millionaires, 97 per cent of those slugged by Labor's retiree tax have taxable incomes below $87,000. More than half of Labor's retiree tax slug will come from people who earn less than $18,200—people who should not be paying any tax at all. Among those people badly affected in my electorate are 88-year-old Jolyon Forsyth and his wife, Enid. His and his wife's income depends on the cash flow from share dividends. Labor's retiree tax would mean his income would be reduced by about $10,000 a year—possibly up to $12,000. Because their income does not place them in the same tax bracket as the tax applied to companies, they are overtaxed. When ordinary workers pay more tax during the year than their level of income requires, they receive a tax refund, and so should retirees.

It's no coincidence that, while robbing pensioners for a vote-buying slush fund, Labor's retiree tax also hurts self-managed super funds, which are the enemy of the union-controlled industry super funds. TheDaily Telegraph reported last week:

CFMEU slush funds and Labor-aligned campaign groups have been given secret exemption from Bill Shorten's plan …

Unlike pensioners and self-funded retirees, they vote and donate to Labor— (Time expired)