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

The Greens really have no shame. You did Senator Hanson the great discourtesy of leaving this chamber when Senator Hanson was giving her first speech and now you are trying to get her on board with this sort of misleading rubbish. The Greens are against tax cuts for hardworking families. Just say it as it is. You are the high-taxing party of Australia. We are talking about hardworking Australian families who should not be pushed into the higher tax bracket, because it would be a serious disincentive for people to work harder and stretch themselves to get ahead—and that is all Australians. Australians in the cities and in regional Australia are incentivised to work harder without being hit with a higher tax rate as a result of their efforts.

You might try to polarise Australians; you might try to put a wedge in; you might try to run this really embarrassing little line that you have just run now, trying to ingratiate yourself with Senator Hanson after treating her with great discourtesy, but I know for a fact that Senator Hanson knows better than to go along with that sort of Greens tactic.

Senator Whish-Wilson, you are going around and around in circles. You are being repetitive. You are asking the same questions over and over again. I have done my absolute best to answer them. You do not like the answers and that is fine. You are entitled to that. You do know that there is a majority view in this chamber for hardworking Australian families to get these tax cuts and you are running a solitary filibuster here, trying to prevent Australian families from getting the tax cuts that they deserve. All Australians need to see the Greens for what they are. The Greens do not want Australians on average full-time wages to get the benefit of this tax cut. You want Australians on full-time average wages to get hit with a higher tax rate. That is your right. You are entitled to vote that way in this chamber, but you know that there is a comprehensive majority in this chamber that actually wants to do the right thing by hardworking Australian families and deliver these tax cuts, which are funded by a crackdown on tax avoidance, in particular a crackdown on multinational tax avoidance. Let's get on with it.