Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I, too, acknowledge the former Speakers that are with us: it's great to see you both again. I'd like to raise Labor's retirees tax 2.0. This is part of Labor's tax grab to do what they can to try and prop up their budget with their profligate spending, an approach that the Australian Labor Party continues to pursue notwithstanding the fact that, as outlined in today's Australian, it sees Labor's retiree tax policy 2.0 stealing money from low-income earners in this country. Labor's proposed changes around franking credits will see more than 870,000 Australians worse off. It's interesting that the shadow Treasurer is here: he needs to hear what people are directly saying and what the impact of Labor's theft from people's retirement savings will be. Take my electorate, for example: I've got around 5,973 people that will be affected as a result of Labor's policies, and around 5,500 people in each of the neighbouring electorates of Fadden and McPherson—in total, around 17,000 Gold Coasters will be adversely affected by Labor's tax grab to pay for their reckless spending.

I have had around 80 people contact my office directly, expressing their concern at Labor's plans to steal money from them. Take David, who's 69, and Margaret, who's 61, of Southport. David has worked for 45 years, paid his taxes and accumulated enough for a modest pension. Without franking credits he now stands to lose around one-third of his income. That is a direct impact of Labor's policy. Make no mistake: Labor's policy will see one third of his income, which he worked hard to provide, going as extra tax revenue to pay for Labor's spending. Or take Christine, who's 53, and Garry, who's 66, from Benowa. Christine and Garry own a small family business in the construction industry contracting local tradies, and they also employ their daughter. A big part of their retirement strategy, which they've been planning now for more than 15 years, was to use the retained profits in their business together with the associated franking credits as their income stream. They didn't take home hefty pay cheques; instead, they decided to invest the money back into their business so that they could gain more work. By doing this, their business grew. It meant there was more work in the pipeline, and they were able to hire more local tradesmen and give them more consistent work, even when the construction industry wasn't as vibrant as it currently is. They epitomise the everyday Gold Coast family who are having a go and starting a family business, working hard and putting in tireless hours so that they could get ahead and provide for themselves. Labor's proposed changes to the franking credits will significantly impact their retirement. Garry's just turned 66. They're both still working and were hoping to retire within the next year. But now, this will all be up in the air. The fact is that Labor's tax grab on franking credits will mean that older Australians will have to pay more to pay for Labor's reckless spending, and it entirely up-ends their plans around retirement.