Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

The Treasurer made an announcement yesterday. I am sure that Senator Bernardi, being a hardworking frontbencher, unlike some of the ones that Senator Vanstone was referring to, would have read the Treasurer's Economic Note, which makes clear that the Treasurer will be releasing updated modelling this week that shows the impact of the carbon price on the entire economy. Some additional figures were released on Sunday. I remind the good senator that the household assistance package, as I previously indicated to the Senate, was based on the $23 per tonne carbon price.

If the Senate is concerned about the impact on Australian households, if the senator is the fiscal conservative he professes to be, then he really should be speaking to his leader and his shadow Treasurer, who are putting forward a policy which will mean a massive tax hike for Australian households. It is as simple as that. Those on the other side, by virtue of the policies they have put forward, are proposing a $1,300 tax hit on Australian households, a policy which will cost $48 billion out to 2020, more than double the economic cost of the government's package. The coalition have also signed up, as I said earlier, to clawing back from Australian pensioners the increase this government will legislate and to increasing the tax applied to Australian households and Australian families. Those opposite oppose the tripling of the tax-free threshold and, of course, the family payment system, which they will also claw back. If Senator Bernardi cares about the economic cost of his policy, I suggest he perhaps rock up to a shadow ministry and have a chat to his economic team.