Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer please update the House on how the Morrison government is providing stability and certainty by delivering tax relief for millions of hardworking Australians, including in my electorate of Braddon, and is the Treasurer aware of any higher taxing alternatives?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Braddon for his question. The member for Braddon is a beef farmer. He's a soldier who's proudly served his nation and he can trace his family connections back to the 1850s in his electorate. Around 40,000 taxpayers in the electorate of Braddon will get a tax cut as a result of the policies that this side of the parliament endorsed and the legislation that went through the parliament just a few weeks ago.

How good are tax cuts? They enable Australians to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. As of today, $15½ billion has made its way out of the doors of the Australian tax office and into the pockets of hardworking Australians. Around six million Australian taxpayers have got a tax refund for the 2018-19 year. The result of our tax cuts is that we are now creating a simpler, stronger, fairer tax system—abolishing a whole tax bracket—and 94 per cent of Australian taxpayers will pay a marginal rate of no more than 30c in the dollar. Lower taxes, you would think, would have the support of both sides of this parliament. No! No! It didn't have the support of those opposite. They fought us every step of the way with our tax cuts.

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, he says 'no'. I take the interjection from those opposite because let me remind them what those opposite said about our tax cuts. The member for Rankin is not looking because he knows. They said our tax cuts were 'offensive'. They said our tax cuts were a 'con job'. The member for McMahon said our tax cuts were 'reckless'. Now we see a tug of war between the member for Grayndler, who is backed up by the member for Hindmarsh, and 'Chairman Swan', who is backed up by his acolyte, the member for Rankin, over the $387 billion of higher taxes. But today there was another player in that debate. The member for Maribyrnong came into the debate and he said it was inevitable that they would have to rethink their policies. I think this is the first time the member for Maribyrnong and the member for Grayndler have been on the same side of a debate. The Australian people know that the Labor Party will always be the party of higher taxes, and the coalition will always be the party of lower taxes and more jobs. (Time expired)