Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, the government welcomes the contribution that ACOSS has made to the tax reform debate. The NATSEM modelling prepared for ACOSS is not realistic. It is not accurate. It ignores, entirely, the fact that welfare payments, for example, are automatically indexed for price increases. For the ACOSS stylised scenario to occur, the parliament would have to pass legislation to switch off the automatic CPI indexation of transfer payments in order to prevent welfare recipients from automatically receiving increased payments. That would be contrary to the government's commitment to ensure fairness, and we will not ever do it.

But the more fundamental point is that we are engaged in good faith in that process—in a public conversation—about how our tax system can be improved, so we can strengthen growth and opportunity for all. (Time expired)