Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent proceedings for the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Relief So Working Australians Keep More Of Their Money) Bill 2019 today being as follows:

(1) the Minister to present the bill immediately and move the second reading;

(2) at the conclusion of the Minister's speech, debate on the second reading to follow immediately and to continue for no more than one hour and thirty minutes, and any questions necessary to complete the second reading stage then to be put;

(3) consideration in detail, if required, to follow immediately, any amendments circulated prior to the conclusion of the second reading stage being treated as having been moved, and after no more than two hours, questions being put on any of the amendments that have not been determined in the groupings as specified by the Member deemed to have moved them and any questions necessary to complete the consideration in detail stage then to be put;

(4) at the conclusion of the consideration in detail stage, if required, or otherwise immediately following the second reading, a debate on the third reading to be permitted for a period not exceeding 20 minutes, with each Member speaking for no more than five minutes and then the question on the third reading to be put; and

(5) immediately following the third reading a Minister to move the adjournment of the House and the question to be put without debate.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion is only able to be put because of the support of the Labor Party today in the House, and this motion being put will allow this bill to then go to the Senate on Thursday. That will create an opportunity for amendments to be moved to make sure that every Australian worker is able to receive a tax cut. Labor will be moving amendments and is supporting this being debated tonight to make sure that every Australian worker is able to receive a tax cut. The government bill at the moment that has been presented does not allow every Australian worker to receive a tax cut. Unless the government opposes those amendments, every Australian worker will be able to get a tax cut as a result of this bill passing the House today. Labor is supportive of this bill going through. It is supportive of the motion that has been put tonight.

We also believe—there was an earlier mention of this—in the Bob Hawke resolution being dealt with tomorrow. It was a request from Labor that that happen so that Bob Hawke can have a day entirely devoted to his memory, and I do want to acknowledge the government's cooperation with that.

The information that has come from the Reserve Bank today leaves the strongest argument there could be for the need for every single Australian worker to be able to receive a tax cut. Those amendments will be put. That opportunity is contained within the resolution that is there today and, if we do not get the cooperation when those amendments are put to the House today, if government members choose to vote against every Australian worker receiving a tax cut now—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And that will be the vote that they will face. Let's not forget: they'd already promised that this bill was going to go through last month. That was the election promise that they are already in breach of. Now they have an opportunity today—tonight—to vote as to whether the tax cuts will apply only to certain workers or to every Australian worker. We say bring on that debate. Let's have it tonight and sort out the amendments tonight, but, if the government refuses to give every Australian worker a tax cut, we will send the bill to the Senate and continue to pursue those amendments there.

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

I oppose this motion. We are dealing with very serious legislation that has the potential to cost the budget $158 billion over a decade. We are dealing with legislation that has several stages to it, some of which are opposed by some people, some of which are supported.

It is unprecedented to bring in such serious legislation on the first day of the parliament and demand that people vote on it now. We've asked to see a copy of the legislation so that we can consider it and consider whether to move amendments. We've been told by the Treasurer's office that they're not inclined to share it with us. Now, that's their prerogative; but what we should not then do is require people to vote on it within a period of an hour or so. It's something that could, potentially, cost the budget $158 billion. What is the impact of that on schools, on hospitals or on inequality in Australia?

There is no need to rush this. The government can bring it in, claim that they've got a mandate and so on. We can then go through the process of debating it, work out whether some stages are going to be supported or if some stages are going to be opposed, move amendments and do all of that in the ordinary course. We would have the chance to understand—in light of news from the Reserve Bank of Australia today, as we've heard, that does not send a great signal about the state of the Australian economy—what the effect would be of such a massive change to the tax system in this country, which has the potential to end progressive taxation.

If we're going to do that, at least give us the chance to debate it. There are members sitting here on the crossbench who have not even given their first speech, and now every one of us is being asked about this. It may come as a shock for the government to understand this, but this parliament is more than just the government and the opposition. In some places around this country, between one in four and one in five people don't want to vote for either of those two options. They should be given the chance to scrutinise such a significant piece of legislation.

So I oppose this. I'm not going to call a division, because it's clear that the Labor-Liberal stitch up is on to try to rush this through. But I oppose this. This is not how we should proceed on such a significant change to our tax system at a time when we know the government has said that the way they're going to fund some of this is by cutting the public sector. That's what this government is about; this government is about cutting taxes, which will mean cutting revenue and which will mean less money for services for the Australian people. And so that kind of legislation should not be rushed. In fact those elements of it that are going to see the top one per cent and the top 10 per cent get a windfall from this legislation should be fought tooth and nail, not given a quick rush through this place.

Question agreed to.