Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

1. recognises:

a. the positive effect of the Government's measures to assist more hard working Australians to earn more through the tax system, in particular by introducing to Parliament legislation to provide tax relief that encourages and rewards working Australians; and

b. the Government's measures to deliver a stronger economy through tax relief for businesses so that they have the opportunity to invest more, hire more people and pay higher wages; and

2. notes with deep concern that the Opposition:

a. sought to reverse $70 billion in tax relief for working Australians;

b. refuses to rule out reversing the tax relief already legislated for small and medium businesses with up to $50 million turnover; and

c. plans to tax Australians and the economy with more than $290 billion of higher taxes.

I'm very pleased to rise in this chamber today to speak about the government's tax relief package which passed parliament last week. This income tax package and the relief that it provides will better support hardworking and aspirational Australian families. Going forward, Australians will now be paying less tax and their efforts for working hard and getting ahead will be better rewarded now and into the future as we take less from their pockets each week.

I've assured my constituents that, while this budget includes tax relief measures so working Australians can keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets, importantly, this tax relief is budgeted for and costed. In my electorate of Forde in South-East Queensland, which has a diverse range of small businesses, service industries and hardworking families, some 74,000 taxpayers will stand to benefit from the low- and middle-income tax relief in the upcoming 2018-19 financial year. This government's tax relief plan is about encouraging and rewarding working Australians by making income tax lower, fairer and simpler.

Whilst we see those opposite continually call it a cash handout, most people, including many in my electorate of Forde, are looking beyond those political games and seeing it for what it is—a measure to ensure working Australians keep more of their hard-earned income. Why should anyone be punished for taking on extra shifts, earning overtime or being promoted? Why should the end result of that push them into a higher tax bracket? We don't want to see people lose more of their hard-earned income if they aspire to work harder and build their wealth for their families.

Some of those opposite can't seem to comprehend what aspiration even means, but to the rest of the country these measures make sense. It will put to an end bracket creep so that working Australians keep more of their money to help pay their bills and save for their future—and, importantly, many people will spend these extra funds in our local communities. The coalition's tax plan is affordable and it will provide tax relief to lower and middle-income earners, and over time will provide a simpler and fairer tax system for all taxpayers. Why is this important? It's important because we need a system that keeps taxes under control so that we remain internationally competitive. We don't want a system that puts a greater burden on hardworking Australians. The more the tax burden hurts individuals and businesses, the more it hurts our economy and job creation opportunities.

On that note, I would like to commend the government for the efforts we've made to help small businesses reach their aspirations to grow and expand beyond being just small-to-medium businesses, through the tax cuts that we have provided. Small-to-medium business tax cuts are benefitting three million businesses that employ over half of all working Australians. In my electorate of Forde, these tax cuts are helping some 15,500 local businesses. Sadly, we have seen the spectre today of what those opposite will do to many of those medium-size businesses in my electorate by reversing the tax cuts this government has instituted. They seem to forget that small-to-medium business is a major employer in this country and generates the wealth necessary to employ people. It's through the generation of that wealth and employing people that those individuals can build wealth and a future for their families. But it's typical of those opposite. It's just an agenda of ever higher taxes. I think the count is over $300 billion in higher taxes after today's announcement.

The damage that those opposite would do if they had the opportunity in the Treasury benches again is not worth considering. The opportunities for Australians to build wealth, to grow their businesses and invest and aspire for the future rest with the coalition government, and that is why we'll be taking the tax measures that were announced and passed last week.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor believes in a fairer Australia. We have a plan to build a brighter future for all Australians. We have a plan to bring the fair go back to the heart of our nation, a plan to properly fund health and education, a plan to boost wages and a plan for real tax cuts to help the families that need them most. We can afford to do these things because our plan doesn't give an $80 billion handout to big business and multinationals and it doesn't give the biggest tax cuts to the highest income earners. Our plan doesn't give the big four banks a $17 billion handout.

Last week, Malcolm Turnbull gave himself a tax cut of $7,000 a year and battlers a tax cut of 10 bucks a week. That shows just how wrong his priorities are and how wrong the priorities of the Liberals are. But we in Labor have our priorities right. A Shorten Labor government will deliver permanent tax relief for the Australians who need it most, ensuring tax relief goes back into the pockets of 10 million middle-income and working Australians. Australian families with flat wages growth and facing massive hikes in electricity, education and health bills need relief, but Malcolm Turnbull wants someone on $200,000 to pay the same tax rate as someone on $40,000. Under the coalition's tax plan, 10 million working Australians will get around $10 a week. You can't even get a cup of coffee every day for that amount. The government has its priorities wrong. It clearly has with its personal income tax skewed to upper income earners, and it clearly has with its $80 billion tax cut for big business.

Under Labor's bigger, fairer tax cuts, everybody earning up to $125,000 will receive a bigger tax cut compared to under the Liberal Party's plan. Many people will get almost double the tax cut that they will get under the Liberals, because we believe in directing the biggest tax cuts to those who need them most, the people at the low- and middle-income levels, to assist them to make ends meet. Under our plan more than four million people will be better off, compared to under the Liberals' plan, by nearly $400 a year.

We have a plan to properly fund hospitals, schools and the safety net. We will ensure every Australian gets the life-changing opportunity of a properly funded, quality education. The government has cut $17 billion from schools across the country, $28 million from Parramatta schools, yet it has a spare $17 billion to give in tax cuts to the big banks. A $17 billion cut to schools and $17 billion to the big banks—that's not exactly the right priority that our families need at this point in time. Labor will put back every dollar the Liberals have cut from schools. The government has cut $2.2 billion from universities, $98 million from Western Sydney University alone. It is denying the door to university to 200,000 extra students, and the Liberal freeze on university funding means 10,000 fewer places will be available next year. Labor will uncap university places and will ensure 200,000 more Australians will be able to get a university education.

We'll ensure proper funding for TAFE. This last budget saw another $270 million in cuts to TAFE. The government has cut 120,000 apprentices out of the system. Since September 2013 Parramatta has lost 1,123 trainees and apprentices. That's 46 per cent gone since 2013. We will invest $100 million in a rebuilding TAFE fund to renovate campuses and workshops, and will waive up-front fees for 100,000 TAFE course places.

Under the government's childcare package, 279,000 families around Australia will be worse off. The families who stand to be worse off are families in the lowest income cohort—that is, families who have a family income of less than $65,000. In Parramatta this means 2,600 families will be worse off.

The government has cut $750 million from our hospitals. It has locked in a further cut of $2.1 billion to hospitals across the whole nation. In Parramatta, funding to Westmead Hospital has been cut by $12 million. The average waiting time for elective surgery is the longest on record. But this nation can properly fund and fix our hospitals if we get our priorities right and if we don't give $80 billion in tax cuts to big business and skew the personal income tax cuts to the highest earners in the country. Labor will reverse the Prime Minister's cuts to hospitals and create a $2.8 billion better hospitals fund. Labor can afford to do more to help 10 million Australians because we're not giving $80 billion to big business and the big four banks. We have our priorities right. That's why we can fund our schools, TAFEs and universities, fix our hospitals and look after the health of the nation. That's the reason why Labor can create a better and fairer future for all Australians.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite do not seem capable of understanding the difference between a taxation rate and the amount paid in tax. They just don't get it. I don't know whether they just don't get it or whether they're being deceitful, as they often have been. Let's just look at the situation in relation to the Turnbull government's tax. Those opposite talk about taxpayers on $40,000 paying the same rate of tax as someone who is earning $200,000. Someone who's earning $200,000 pays 13 times more tax than someone on $40,000. I can't be any clearer than that. Someone earning $200,000, under the Turnbull government's tax plan, which has been approved and passed by the parliament, is paying $60,007 in tax. Someone who is earning $40,000 pays $4,492. How can that be regarded as the same amount of tax? It's not. It's calculated on the same rate, but someone who earns $200,000 is paying 13 times the amount of tax.

This is just another example of the Labor Party being dishonest in their messaging. They think that the politics of envy will win them the next election. They are trying to scare the average Australian into thinking that we are doing wrong by the average Australian, that we're charging them the same amount of tax. That is fundamentally wrong. It's time they get called out, just as we call them out in relation to their allegations of cuts to hospitals. That is fundamentally false. It is a lie. In Queensland, for example, people are walking around and driving caravans and signs around in the electorate just south of mine suggesting that the federal government is making cuts to the Caboolture Hospital. That is a lie. That is not happening. We will call out every single time that Labor make up these fabrications. It's a falsehood. It's misinformation. It's a lie, because it's not happening. We're funding hospitals in the north coast region of Brisbane at record levels, while the state Labor government are making cuts. Yet those opposite never talk about those, because they want to peddle misinformation. Shame on them. It's an absolute disgrace. But we will continue to call it out for what it is. If you want any further truth, don't look at what they say, but look at what they have done. Mediscare is a classic example. They absolutely lied through their back teeth, and we'll continue to call them out.

The tax cuts that we introduced just last week and passed through the parliament are absolutely historic. No bigger tax cuts have passed through the parliament than what was announced and passed through the parliament last week. I am just one of the members of parliament who were extremely proud to be on the government benches to see those cuts. They will have a great impact in my electorate of Fisher. We call upon the crossbenchers and we call upon those opposite similarly to pass these corporate tax cuts, because we believe that the best form of welfare that you can get is a job and, by passing these corporate tax cuts, you will get more jobs, you will see more growth, and that is what we need for Australia. (Time expired)

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's be clear. No matter what this motion pretends, this Turnbull government has never been and never will be a friend of Australian workers. It has slashed penalty rates, sacked thousands of public servants, conveniently attacked workers' pay and conditions in a consistent manner, waged war against the unions, ignored wage stagnation and argued against an increase to the minimum wage. But recently we've seen a conga line of government members lining up in this place to earnestly claim that their tax cuts will miraculously help working Australians.

I'd like to get one thing straight now. Under Labor's plan, every single Australian earning less than $125,000 will get a bigger tax cut. That's right: under Labor, every single Australian earning less than $125,000 gets a bigger tax cut than they are going to get under this Turnbull government package. This isn't an argument, a suggestion or a proposal; it's the incontestable, indisputable and undeniable truth. Under Labor's plan, people in my electorate of Newcastle—64,000 Novocastrians, in fact—will be up to $928 a year better off than they are now.

Unlike the government, Labor will deliver bigger tax cuts to the vast majority of workers, and we won't be taking the axe to health, education or public services, and we intend to be paying off debt. We'll pay off more debt than the government is proposing to. We can afford to do all of this because Labor has a very carefully targeted tax plan that costs far less than the government's plan. Labor will largely help the low- and middle-income earners in Australia. Sixty per cent of the benefits of the government's plan go to the high-income earners in this country. Under Mr Turnbull's plan, a retail worker earning $30,000 a year will get a tax cut of just $200, while a lawyer on $200,000 gets to save a staggering $7,225.

This is because the government is undertaking a radical overhaul of our tax system. If this government really cared about the plight of working Australians, it would have voted for Labor's plan, but it didn't. In fact, this government held tax cuts for low- and middle-income workers hostage, refusing to have them voted on separately, even though it knew very well Labor would have waved those through. It held them to ransom until the parliament agreed to tax cuts for people earning up to $200,000 a year. That's despite those cuts not kicking in until 2024-25.

This demonstrates the core character of the Turnbull government. No matter the policy area, no matter the issue, they will always act in the interests of the top end of town. Whether it's their $140 billion worth of tax cuts that largely go to high-income earners, their $80 billion worth of cuts for big business, multinationals and the banks or their squeals of hostility at the mere suggestion of reining in exorbitant tax breaks for the wealthy, this government can always be counted on to back in power and privilege. But, make no mistake, this reckless and damaging plan will blast a $140 billion hole in the budget, in addition to the $80 billion that the Liberals are already ripping out for the big-business tax cuts.

These breathtaking acts of economic vandalism confirm what we already knew—that the Liberals don't give a rat's about debt or deficit except, of course, when they need an excuse for vicious cuts. And that's exactly what we will see if they get their way. They'll starve the budget of revenue. Then they'll tell us that the only way forward is savage cuts to health, education and vital public services. This is nothing short of a national heist, especially given that our debt recently crashed through half a trillion under those opposite. Let's call this out; let's call it for what it is. This is a cruel hoax on the Australian people. (Time expired)

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Where does one start after that performance? 'The Liberals don't care about debt and deficit.' Let's go through a quick history lesson, and let's start back in 1996. The coalition government, just by coincidence, inherited from the Labor Party a deficit, and a debt of $96 billion. And do you know what happened? Every single year, the coalition did the hard yards and paid that back. Not only did they pay back that $96 billion debt that the Labor Party ran up; they also paid back $54 billion in interest along the way. After they paid back the debt and the $54 billion in interest, they then put $20 billion in the Future Fund for a rainy day. And they also had the budget another $20 billion in surplus. That is because we on this side care about debt and deficit.

Then, of course, we had the brilliant economic management of Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan. What economic management we had! So good were they, they had to get rid of Kevin Rudd and replace him with Julia Gillard. She gave them a greater mess and greater devastation, and they put Kevin Rudd back in. By the time the mist and the ashes and the smoke had cleared, there was debt and deficit as far as the eye could see. This mob have not actually struck it for one single budget in surplus since—when was it? The 1980s? Is that the last time they cracked it? We on this side are doing the hard work. We are doing the same hard work that's been done before. We are doing the hard work that falls upon coalition governments when we inherit the debt and deficit mess that is left by Labor governments. We do the hard work and we get budgets back into surplus. And that's where we're headed. And, every time we do it, do you know who stands in the way of every hard decision we make? That mob over there. They stand in the way and block us every single time, but we'll continue because we know what's right for this nation.

Today, we have seen the remarkable comment by the Labor Party that they are actually going to go to the next election with a promise to increase taxes for small business. They want to increase taxes for businesses with a turnover between $10 million and $50 million—and they may be able to give us some insight here into whether they'll also increase taxes for small businesses with a turnover between $2 million and $10 million. Have we had any updates that they may inform us of? This is where we see the complete economic misunderstanding of those on that side of the chamber. They simply can't comprehend the difference between profit and turnover. Companies with a turnover of $2 million may have a very slim margin of profit. It depends on the types of goods that they're selling and on the profit margin on those goods. Companies that are selling new cars, boats or caravans may have a very slim profit margin. Companies that work on commission or as agencies might only have a five or 10 per cent margin, or even less, on what they sell their products for. Therefore, companies with a turnover of $2 million might only have a gross profit of $100,000, and then they have all their expenses, yet the Labor Party thinks that they are big businesses, and Labor wants to take away the tax cut and increase their taxes.

We on this side of the house are going to stand up for small businesses in this nation. We're going to stand up and back them on those tax cuts. We're going to oppose Labor and expose them every single day between now and the next election as wanting to increase taxes on small business. That's Labor's policy, and every single small business in the nation needs to know what Labor's plans for them are, should Labor ever get its hands on power again.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being 6.30 pm, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.