Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

It is a surprise, isn’t it, Senator Bernardi. When I was asking questions, Senator Conroy interjected in the most sarcastic manner possible: ‘Could we put you on the High Court?’ The simple fact is that we are back in here tonight because Senator Conroy could not deal with the technical issues. So, when technical and detailed questions are asked in the future, do not worry about the smart alec responses to try to sidestep the need to answer the details; just answer the detail, drill into the detail, consider the detail and give us answers on the detail—and then you might not have the humiliation and the humble pie that you will be eating for supper this evening.

Another aspect of this luxury car tax was our prediction that sales would plummet and that this would have a very real impact on the motor vehicle sector. Senator Carr—funny that I should mention his name by accident. You see, the opposition are treating this as an industry bill but Labor see it as a money-raising bill. That is why they have Treasury represented here, rather than industry, and Senator Carr has been missing in action. I made the prediction that this tax would see a huge reduction in the sale of motor vehicles, and of course I was ridiculed. Indeed, Treasury were willing to tell us that they were of the view that the tax increase would not change consumer behaviour. This is the same Treasury that have modelled the emissions trading scheme and are telling us to believe them in relation to everything. But we now have the graphs in relation to the luxury car tax. I have a graph in front of me that shows that, as of May-June this year, the sale of these vehicles has absolutely plummeted—it has literally been in freefall. In very rough terms, we have seen a 30-plus per cent reduction in sales. We can completely throw out the budget predictions that were around in May and also the MYEFO predictions that we got just last month. When we asked about those predictions, the government said they were standing firm by their predictions.

I say this about the Labor government: they cannot even get their predictions right on a very small area of the economy—the luxury car tax on the motor vehicle industry—within six months of its introduction. Yet they say, ‘Believe us in relation to our modelling on the emissions trading scheme 50 years into the future’! I have got to say that the track record of Labor ain’t that flash that it would give me confidence that the modelling and predictions that they are putting to us are so robust as to warrant support and belief. We have a classic case here this evening with the luxury car tax.

If it is the Labor government’s view that a tax surcharge will not change consumer behaviour, why did they see it as necessary to reduce the taxation burden in relation to 25 imported models that directly compete with Australian-made cars? The government are saying that the tax increase will not change the number of car sales and it will not impact on the Australian car industry, yet they introduce a measure to reduce taxation to try to encourage so-called green cars. How does that work? It seems that only tax decreases seem to change consumer behaviour and tax increases do not!

This is the same government that gave us the mastery of the bank guarantee legislation, which is now causing problems right round the country. Not only have 250,000 people had their savings locked away courtesy of the ill-thought-out guarantee, but the state governments are now getting in on the act and complaining about this rushed and flawed legislation. This is now becoming a hallmark of this government. We saw it with the rushed bank guarantee legislation having problems. We then had Fuelwatch—a disaster. We had GROCERYchoice—a disaster. We had the luxury car tax—a disaster. The government are having to bring legislation back into the parliament to amend it. This is now becoming a hallmark of this government. All they are ever concerned about is the 24-hour news cycle. They are concerned about the spin, not the substance. It was a great victory for them to get the luxury car tax through, and they saw themselves as being very smart and clever. Well, here we are tonight finding out that they were not that smart and not that clever.

The fact that we are here tonight is indicative of the fact that being in government is clearly beyond those opposite. They are causing themselves and the economy all sorts of problems—in the macro area with the bank guarantee legislation and in the micro area with the luxury car tax. As they have made such a monumental muck-up of this legislation, we may well have been minded, but for the Christmas season, to cause them some more pain and anguish. But I think 10 minutes is sufficient time in which to put on record the opposition’s concern as to the government’s economic management capacities—or, should I say, incapacities—and, given that it is the season of goodwill, I can indicate that the opposition will be supporting this amendment bill.