Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  My question is to the Prime Minister. Today the government introduced the tax cuts bill. Many in my regional electorate of Indi will benefit from that. But there are 25,000 people who have incomes below the tax-free threshold, and these tax cuts won't put more money back in their pockets. There are also 20,000 people on the age pension and thousands more on other payments, like JobSeeker, who are struggling with fixed incomes. What new action will you now take to address cost-of-living pressures for these people?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  I thank the member for Indi for her question. We had a meeting earlier today and talked about the tax cuts that were introduced by the Treasurer at 12 o'clock. Indeed, the people of regional Australia in particular will benefit from Labor's tax cuts that will help to deal with the cost of living. In Indi, some 87 per cent of taxpayers will get even more. But 100 per cent of taxpayers will get a tax cut.

One of the things about the Treasury analysis that we released spoke about was bracket creep, particularly for those people on low incomes. According to the Treasury, in the documentation that we released, they said:

By reducing the first tax rate from 19 to 16 per cent, the redesign produces a smaller increase in average tax rates … for the first seven income deciles over the next 10 years. In other words, it reduces bracket creep more for these groups compared with … Stage 3 and a no change scenario.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. The Prime Minister will pause. Member for Hume, this is not a free for all. You can't just keep interrupting even when I say cease interrupting. You'll leave the chamber under 94(a).

The member for Hume then left the chamber.

You've had a pretty good go. The Prime Minister has the call and will be heard in silence.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Mr Speaker. Disappointingly, I'm sure he was going to ask a question about our tax package next, Mr Speaker. I'm sure it was going to come.

What we have been trying to address is the cost-of-living pressures, including on the people that the member for Indi raises. They were particularly beneficiaries of our rental increase, the largest increase in some 30 years. They benefited from the increase in JobSeeker and other payments that we introduced as part of our last budget. They benefited, certainly, from the cheaper medicines policy, where Australians benefited to the tune of $250 million last year—and that was, of course, disproportionally towards low-income earners and particularly older Australians who are on those regular pharmaceuticals, whether it be for heart treatment or diabetes or other treatments.

In addition to that, the government will continue to consider, as we've said, in the lead-up to the May budget what further measures we can put in place. The parenting payment difference, of course, benefited 57,000 largely single mums as a result of the changes we've put in place.

We'll continue to examine what we can do, but these tax cuts are particularly aimed at middle Australia. We make no apologies for that. They are aimed at middle Australia to provide them with the relief— (Time expired)

Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  My question is to the Minister for Education. How will the Albanese Labor government's tax cuts benefit workers in the education system?

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  I thank my friend the legendary member for Wills for his question.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do you like that? You're not too bad, either. In the member for Wills' electorate, 78,000 taxpayers will get a tax cut on 1 July, and that includes childcare workers. A childcare worker on, say, $40,000 a year will get a $654 tax cut. Under the Liberal Party they would have got zero. A maintenance worker at the local primary school on $50,000 will get a tax cut of $929 a year. An admin worker at the local high school, doing a job like my mum did for 30 years, on 70 grand will get a tax cut of $1,429 a year. A teacher—and I hope all of us in this place agree there's no more important job than teaching—on $80,000 a year will get a tax cut of $1,679 a year, double what they would have got under those opposite. They're just some of the 13 million Australians who'll get a tax cut on 1 July—every taxpayer getting a tax cut.

What does it mean for childcare workers or teachers? Mr Speaker, let me give you an example. A high school teacher in Sydney said: 'These tax changes mean I'll see more of what I work hard to earn in my bank account. As someone in their 20s, I'll probably put that towards a house deposit.' A childcare worker in Perth said: 'I'm looking forward to approximately 800 bucks this year, which will help me with car insurance as well as schoolbooks and everything. It's a big improvement.' For the average Aussie worker it means a tax cut of about 21 grand over the next decade. That's real money. That's real help.

Today we've got the opposition leader saying that it would be better if we didn't make these changes. Understand what that means, Mr Speaker. It means the opposition are saying it would be better if childcare workers didn't get a bigger tax cut; that it would be better if teachers didn't get a bigger tax cut; that a childcare worker on 40 grand a year—under their model—shouldn't get a tax cut at all. These are the people who care for our kids, who teach our kids, who are teaching the next generation of Aussies, and those opposite are saying it would be better if they didn't get a bigger tax cut. It tells you everything you need to know about the modern Liberal Party. They don't think that people on low incomes should get an extra buck an hour, they don't think childcare workers should get a bigger tax cut and they don't think teachers should get a bigger tax cut. They don't think 11 million Australians deserve a bigger tax cut. (Time expired)

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given there are no more questions, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.