George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Siewert, that is a very important and comprehensive question. I can tell you that the Prime Minister has from day one stressed the importance of Australia continuing to have a fair and strongly supportive social safety net. That is a core principle of this government, a core value of this government.

But that comes at a cost, and difficult budgetary decisions do have to be made. As you well know, Senator Siewert, there needs to be sufficient revenue to maintain that generous social safety net. At the same time, we are a government that believes in ensuring that the Australian taxpayer gets the best value for money that they can possibly receive. So we are a low-tax government.

Reconciling those two objectives—being a low-tax government so as to give taxpayers as much freedom and disposition over their incomes as is possible while nevertheless maintaining appropriate levels of social services—is always one of the great challenges of public policy making.

We think that in Australia, over the years, we have got that balance largely right. We have not fallen into the trap of the Europeans; nor have we fallen into the trap of the Americans, whose social welfare provision is much less generous than Australia's. There will be at the margins occasions when we want to adjust the critical balance between ensuring that we do not pay too much tax and ensuring that we have enough revenue to have a decent social policy. But this government is determined to get that balance right.