Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

Through the chair: what they want to do is force the poorest people in this country to pay for a cut in business tax. The theoretical argument is that if you cut business tax you will create more jobs. Around the world, when you look at what has happened when business tax has been cut, the chief executive, the executives and the chairpeople of the board get more money and the workers get nothing. No more jobs are created. It is an absolute furphy that that is the position.

But what will we have here? We will have everything becoming more expensive. The least well off will be hurt the most. You cannot trust them when they say there will be compensation, because they are an untrustworthy government. It is the thin end of the wedge for more tax increases from a government that say they are a low-taxing government. It is simply unfair to force a GST onto the workers of this country, who are battling to keep their heads above water now, just to give their big business mates that fund their campaigns more money. (Time expired)