Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to give a shout out to the more than 100,000 people who rallied in my electorate of Melbourne today in support of the campaign to change the rules. They know that the economy is rigged, that our workplace laws are broken and that this budget, with its attack on our progressive tax system, will make inequality worse. The gap between the rich and the rest is growing, and the government's tax cuts will make inequality worse, because tax cuts are hospital cuts, tax cuts are school cuts, tax cuts are welfare cuts, and tax cuts will leave a vulnerable, unsustainable budget that will fail to tackle the big issues. These tax cuts are skewed to the top end. Someone on $50,000 will get $540 a year, but someone on $200,000 will get a whopping $7,225 extra a year, and millionaires will get it too. The tax cuts will give away $120 billion, primarily to the wealthy and the big corporations. Yesterday, thousands of people took to Twitter, opposing the tax cuts, saying 'You can keep my $10 and spend the money on government services and investment instead.' One of my favourites was from the ACTU leader, Sally McManus, who said, '#keep my $10 and stop neoliberalism.' The Greens are here to stop neoliberalism, and I know that the thousands of people who rallied today in my electorate are too.