Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Is it any wonder they are so out of touch with what is real in this economy and in this society? They live in the world of the super rich, a world of harbour-side mansions and luxury cars, the best that money can buy. They are oblivious to the day-to-day struggles of ordinary Australian families. The interjectors on the other side simply want to stand up for the big end of town, who simply want to let the market rip, who want to go back to Work Choices and to workers being completely subservient to multimillionaires in this economy. That is the history of that lot over there. And do not be fooled by the new face of Mr Abbott, because Mr Abbott is one of the most extreme, right-wing officers in this country. This is what we would be faced with if he ever became Prime Minister of this country.

We as a government deal in the real world. The BCA has called for lower business taxes and lower personal taxes and they want to increase the GST on ordinary workers. We do not hear many complaints from the opposition on that. We all know that this would make ordinary Australians pay more while the big end of town get off with less. That is unacceptable. We all know that these taxes are regressive. This government wants to build a good society, a society where the market serves society, not the other way round. We should not allow short-termism, self-interest and greed to be the basis of this society. That is why we say: reject the BCA proposition, reject the arguments from the coalition on these issues and make sure that we do build a society that we can be proud of and a society that is sustainable into the future. (Time expired)