Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Here we have a government backed up by its business mates talking up a massive hike in the GST—a whopping five per cent hike. And it is not just a hike; they are talking about broadening the base of the GST—a big, fat new tax. On a day when the Financial Review has a headline that Chevron paid only $248 tax on a $1.17 billion profit, the government tries to tell us that it wants to have a conversation about tax reform. But the subtext of that is that it is all about the GST, it is all about imposing a big hike in the GST to 15 per cent—when Chevron pays a miserly, tiny $248 tax on a massive $1.7 billion profit.

It is easy to see just who the Turnbull government is looking after here. As usual, they are looking after their mates at the big end of town, the mates who line their coffers with donations. That is who they are looking after. If Mr Turnbull was true to having a tax system that is fair, he would never contemplate introducing a GST, because a GST is never fair. You certainly cannot compensate your way with a GST to make it fair. It does not work. Again, it just demonstrates how out of touch the Turnbull government is. They have changed their leader but their harsh, cruel policies, inflicted on working Australians, on Australians who are on benefits, on families, on young people, remains in place. For someone who works in aged care, or an early childhood professional, who is earning poverty-line wages—about $21 an hour—and is struggling to get full-time employment, working about 30 hours a week, how does an increase in the GST provide prosperity? Of course it does not. It just drags them further into poverty.

And the government wants to have a conversation about penalty rates. They want to reduce Sunday penalty rates. So, along with increasing the GST by five per cent, they want to slash the Sunday penalty rate, because, again, somehow their business mates cannot survive. I heard the BCA's Jennifer Westacott on the radio the other day. I challenge her to walk a day in the shoes of a low-paid worker. It should be mandatory for all those in government to do the same, because if they did then the talk about GST reform—a big, fat hike to 15 per cent—or a reduction in penalty rates would suddenly disappear from their conversation, because, quite frankly, they could not survive on those wages.

Along with ripping off the Sunday penalty rate, they say, 'We're just having a conversation.' Well, we know that with this government the minute they start talking about something their intention is to do it. We have had government member after government member come in here and say, 'Yes, let's knock down the Sunday penalty', and we have had government member after government member talk up why it is good to raise the GST. Well, you tell that to someone who is on $21 an hour and who is heading up a family. You tell that to a pensioner. You tell that to someone who is on an unemployment benefit. It makes no sense.

The only people talking up a hike in the GST to 15 per cent and broadening out the base are the big end of town. If you had heard the BCA on the radio the other day, you would have thought that somehow business could no longer survive, because they are so desperate for more tax relief, when we have Chevron paying $248 tax on $1.7 billion profit. Let's have that conversation. When we hear the words, 'We need to have tax reform in this country,' let's start there. No—they do not want to start there, because they are looking after their mates at the big end of town. It is the Turnbull government and the big end of town that are talking about the GST. It is not Labor. We are opposed to this. We have always been opposed to an increase in the GST and we will continue to be. Why is that? It is because we understand that this is a regressive tax. It hits those who spend all of their income on their daily living expenses—something that the Liberals and Nationals do not understand. They do not understand that people scrape to buy a litre of milk. They do not understand that people scrape to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.

Yes, we are up for a conversation on tax reform. Let's start at the big end of town. Let's ask ourselves how Chevron managed to only pay $248 on a profit of $1.7 billion. That is a disgrace. You will not hear those opposite talking about it, because they are the ones that are advising them. Their business advisers are at the big end of town and their business advisers want to just increase their profits at the expense of working Australians, those on benefits and Australian families. It is a disgrace, and Labor does not stand for an increase in the GST.