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

My question is to the Prime Minister: The Prime Minister and his government claim they support lower taxes. So why did the Prime Minister, his ministers and every member of the backbench vote against Labor's plan for lower personal income taxes for 10 million Australians, a tax cut of up to $928 a year, last night? That's what they did. How can the Australian people believe anything this Prime Minister says, when last night he voted against bigger tax cuts?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The only tax reform that was voted for last night was the government's reform of personal income tax.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Members on my left!

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh yes, it was—and the Labor Party, apparently to their regret, voted for it. The reality is that the Labor Party are threatening Australians with over $200 billion of new taxes and, most shamefully of all, $5 billion a year raised by raiding the savings of older Australians, raised by raiding the savings of grandparents, self-funded retirees, by going after their tax refunds from franking credits to which they are entitled both in law and in justice.

What they are doing is, yet again, discriminating against hardworking Australians who have saved for their retirement and want to have the dignity of some independence in their retirement. Labor loathes that, just as they loathe the enterprise of all the hardworking Australian businesses that, encouraged by our tax cuts for small and medium family businesses that are already in operation, are seeing record jobs growth across Australia. Labor is the party of higher taxes, less investment and fewer jobs.