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

As I indicated yesterday—and we are going around and around in circles again—3.1 million Australians will benefit from this tax cut. And let me correct misleading and inaccurate statements that you have just made. The government is focusing on average full-time wage earners. No average full-time wage earner will miss out on this tax cut, as you falsely asserted. The average full-time wage is calculated using the average weekly ordinary times earnings determined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. We went through that yesterday. This measures the average wage of a full-time worker, and in 2014-15 it was $77,200 per annum and is forecast to exceed $80,000 in 2016-17. The Australian Bureau of Statistics classifies earnings as pre-tax earnings payable to award standard or agreed hours worked. It is calculated before deductions such as superannuation have been made. It does not include amounts that are salary sacrificed, overtime payments, bonuses not attributable to the reference period, governments payments or reimbursements for travel and entertainment. Conversely, regarding the average wage measures, for both part-time and full-time average incomes, average weekly earnings in 2014-15 were $59,100 per annum. But here is the point: the whole point is to provide an incentive for part-time—

Senator Whish-Wilson interjecting—

You laugh because you do not actually understand how hardworking families—

Senator Whish-Wilson interjecting—

You are too comfortable, Senator Whish-Wilson. You do not understand the way these tax cuts actually impact on average working families. The whole purpose is to provide an incentive for part-time workers to work more hours without being penalised with a higher tax rate. That is the whole point. We want families to be encouraged to stretch themselves to put in an additional effort but not to be penalised with a higher tax rate as a result. That is why we are using the measure that we are using. The whole purpose is to incentivise part-time workers to put in that additional effort without being penalised by an additional tax.