Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has caused a lot of pain for Australian families over the last three years. Will the Prime Minister join with me in cutting the price of petrol and diesel to save tradies, pensioners and families up to $28 a week instead of his 70c-a-day tax cut, which doesn't even come in for 15 months?

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

I wonder if the Leader of the Opposition gave that speech or that question when he was sitting in the cabinet room when indexation of petrol was reintroduced in the 2014 budget. I wonder if, when he sat there and reintroduced indexation in 2014, he gave that rein.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! The Prime Minister was asked a question by the Leader of the Opposition on an opposition policy, so there's going to be some pretty broad—

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

On this policy!

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

Order! We'll deal with the Manager of Opposition Business's point of order but in light of what I've said.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is on relevance. The Prime Minister can't give us a history of a hundred years of excise. That cannot be relevant to the question. It does not mean that, for example, the Prime Minister can talk about things that happened a hundred years ago, which he would like to do. He's got to be relevant.

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

Order! You've made your point. Thank you for—

Honourable members interjecting—

Order! As I—

The Leader of the Nationals! Everyone's just going to take a deep breath. The Prime Minister was asked about an alternative approach and alternative policy by the opposition, so I'm going to listen carefully. If he's got some context about the policy that he was asked about that the Leader of the Opposition has announced, he will be directly relevant.

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

I'm talking about the temporary one-year decrease that they have said they will put out there. The Morrison leftovers—they've adopted the policy of the Morrison government just like they did in 2022. In the budget in 2022, they brought in a temporary measure, and then it disappeared. That's what I'm asked about. The reason why it's at the level it is today is because of the legislation that they brought it in in 2014. That is why it is at the level it is today.

Those opposite have a view—having voted against tax cuts for every taxpayer yesterday, this morning they have declared they are the first opposition to ever say, 'If you elect us to government, we will increase the taxes for every single taxpayer.' Every single taxpayer will pay more tax if they are elected at the election in May. So what we know now is that they have four policies. They have a nuclear power plant of $600 billion that they have to find cuts for; they have their lunch policy—we haven't forgotten about that—and then they have the further cuts that they've spoken about. But now they have something else as well, because we know that the only thing they don't want to cut is people's taxes. Not only do they not want to cut them, and not only did they vote against them; what they want to do is to actually jack them up for every single taxpayer. It's an extraordinary policy from those opposite, who just don't get it, who have not put forward a single, lasting cost-of-living plan and who have opposed every single measure that we have put forward.

Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government helping Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn, and is there any opposition to this?

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

I thank the member for Dunkley for her question. Indeed, we, as a government, do want for people to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. As it turns out, there is a bit of opposition to that.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To both!

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

There is a bit of opposition to both, because those opposite have opposed all of our measures—the changes to the definition of casual; same job, same pay; the right to disconnect; and the increases for people on minimum award wages. They've opposed every one of the measures that we've put in place, including the increases for aged care and childcare workers that they described as 'a waste'. But they're also opposed to people keeping more of what they earn. We have, as a direct result of our policies, seen real wages increase five quarters in a row. We are seeing per capita living standards increase in the last figures, and we are also seeing Australians keep more of what they earn because of our legislation last year that provided a tax relief not for some but for every single Australian taxpayer. That is why we're topping that up. It's so that people will earn $2½ thousand extra in their pockets as a result of the legislation that passed the Senate last night. But those opposite have their hands in the pockets of Australian workers to rip that money out. Not only do they want them to earn less; they want them to keep less as well.

During the election campaign, I was asked if I would support that $1 an hour increase—it's back!—for workers on the minimum wage, and I said, 'Absolutely.' This morning the shadow Treasurer, when he was asked would he take back the tax cuts and would he legislate to actually jack up taxes for every Australian taxpayer, guess what word he used? He said, 'We absolutely would, absolutely.' That says it all about the stark contrast between the two sides of the House. On this side, we absolutely want people to earn more and we absolutely want people to keep more of what they earn, and those opposite absolutely want people to earn less and they absolutely want them to be taxed more. That is the decision that the Australian people have to determine. Labor is the party of lower taxes. The Liberals want you earning less and keeping less.

Honourable members interjecting—

You know you've hit a nerve by how loudly they shout.

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

Order! I think everyone can agree, the noise level is way too high, so I'm going to ask everyone to help me in that quest to lower the noise. That's on every individual to do their bit.