Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Just to give you the quantum difference: the ABS median full-time income in Australia based on 2014-15 numbers was $69,000, while the average wage was $79,000. That is a $10,000 difference because that was skewered by high-income earners. I am still not convinced that you have provided an argument as to why median income would not be a better indicator of middle-class or middle-income earnings in this country. When you incorporate part-time earnings into those figures, they drop even lower. The median income in this country is $52,000—30-40 per cent below the bracket of tax that you are giving tax cuts to. Does the Treasurer agree that, even on your own numbers of $59,000, which includes full-time and part-time earnings, as your average income—$80,000 is significantly higher than that—you are actually giving a tax cut to high-income Australians, not to middle-income Australians?