Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for his answer. Is he aware that around a quarter of a million men of working age are on the long-term unemployed list? What is he doing about that? What is in the budget for them? Is the minister also aware that, had the 1980 personal tax-free threshold of $4,041 kept pace with earnings, it would now be over $14,000? Given the fact that Australia charges tax on incomes that are less than half the average rate used in the OECD, why did the government lift all of the tax thresholds other than the tax-free threshold, which remains stuck at $6,000? What is the logic of giving welfare top-ups instead of simply increasing that threshold? Indeed, now that retirees will pay no tax at all after they turn 60, regardless of income, is there any logic at all in charging people income tax when they are below the poverty line, now accepted at being around $12,500?