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

I congratulate the Prime Minister and the government on their election, and the Treasurer, to whom I ask this question. Labor's stage 3 tax cuts will cost the public over $220 billion and give billionaires, like Clive Palmer, a $9,000-a-year handout at the taxpayer's expense. With inflation really biting, and the government saying the budget is under pressure, will you ditch these unaffordable tax cuts for billionaires and put dental into Medicare instead to help relieve the cost-of-living pressures on everyday people?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Melbourne for his question. I congratulate him on his re-election and I somewhat sheepishly acknowledge the election of his colleagues on the crossbench as well. As the member for Melbourne knows, the legislated tax cuts are already in the budget; they don't come in for a couple of years, and we've said that we don't intend to change that. I think our position is well known on that, as is, respectfully, the member for Melbourne's position on that.

We also should acknowledge that, when it comes to those stage 3 tax cuts, even if your idea was to prevail, that wouldn't do anything about the near-term inflation challenges that we have right now. They come in two years down the track. Yes, we have budget challenges, but right now the most important thing that we can focus on is high and rising inflation and falling real wages, and some of our choices have been constrained. So this is our priority when it comes to tax reform: first of all, the only legislation that I've introduced in this place on the first day is tax reform to make electric vehicles cheaper—and we're proud of that—working closely with the minister for climate change. That's our first priority in tax reform. But beyond that, when it comes to tax reform that helps repair the budget, the member knows that our focus is on making multinationals pay their fair share of tax, as well as some measures around tax compliance and making sure that the foreign investment regime returns some money to the budget as well. That's our priority when it comes to taxes and charges and repairing the budget.

More broadly, when it comes to budget repair, the member would be familiar with this, as is I think the whole House. Particularly the member for Hume would know all about this: we've inherited a lot of rorts and waste in the budget. What the finance minister and I are doing is going through those rorts and going through that waste to make sure that we can cut it back where we can and fund other priorities, like investments in cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy; investments in skills, which the skills minister was talking about before; and our investments in child care, which the childcare minister was talking about. When we repair the budget, we talk about taking unproductive, politically motivated spending—for which the member for Hume was a poster child!—and directing it towards more productive spending in the budget. That begins with cutting back on rorts and waste, and it includes making sure that we're investing in the things that can get the economy growing the right way. Budget repair is part of that. Responsible investment is part of that. And I think the onus is on the whole parliament—the crossbench, our side, their side of the parliament—to do what we can to try and repair the budget. We've had a decade now of rorts and waste, which has led to a trillion dollars of debt with not enough to show for it. So our efforts are directed towards making sure that every dollar that is borrowed, which now costs more to service, is actually delivering a dividend for the Australian people.