Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How will Labor's new tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer benefit Australians and support aspiration?

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

I thank the member for Jagajaga for her question. Indeed, as a result of the decision last night, every Australian taxpayer—all 13.6 million of them—will get a tax cut. As a result of the figures that came out recently, across the board we're also seeing real wages increase. That's why the direct result of that is what we are aiming for. We want Australians to earn more, and we want Australians to keep more of what they earn. Those opposite want Australians to work longer for less. We know that that is the case. But we made sure that no-one was left behind, and no-one was held back.

No-one was left behind by ensuring that those workers who earn under $45,000 a year also got a tax cut. One of the things that will do is flow right through the tax scales, so that Treasury has estimated it will result in over 900,000 additional hours of work being worked each week. We're dealing with good economic policy to deal with the skills shortages which are there. But it also supports aspiration for all Australians. That's why we increased the $120,000 level up to $135,000. And that's why we increased as well the top marginal tax rate from $180,000 to $190,000—the first increase in the top marginal rate since 2008.

That's in contrast with what they did when they were in government, which was, without any notice at all, to introduce the levy on those high-income earners and increase their taxation rates rather than decreasing them. Australians are also, of course, benefiting from other measures that we have. But, whilst they voted for it last night over there in the Senate—every senator—they've continued to argue against it. Senator Hume said this morning that they were going to take to the election a tax package in keeping with the stage 3 tax cuts. 'We will have to go back to the drawing board,' she said. They're starting again. Rollback is back. First they said they would argue against it, then they were going to fight it, then they were going to roll it back, then they wanted an election of the basis of it, then they voted against it. Then they voted for it! But, having argued against it, they can change the way they vote, but they can't change who they are.