Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

So what is next? We need a Buffett rule so that very wealthy individuals have to pay tax on their income instead of employing fancy accountants and lawyers to work it so they pay nothing. We are sick and tired of hearing about millionaires who pay not a cent in tax. There is nothing fair about that. A Buffett tax will address the growing inequality in Australia, and I urge Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten to join the Greens in adopting it. I understand the opposition leader today mouthed the words, 'Let's back it up with action.' We are prepared to work with you to introduce meaningful reform. Let us introduce a Buffett tax.

It is time to get rid of inefficient stamp duty and replace it with a broad based land tax that drops the price of a house by $50,000 in Sydney or Melbourne, and encourages and enables people who want to downsize. The Greens have outlined a pathway forward where the Commonwealth can help the states switch from the worst tax in the country to the most efficient one. I would just say to the Treasurer: it is on our website—right next to the bank levy! Have a look at it!

We need to end the tax-free fuel for mining companies. It is among the biggest expenditure items of government. It will grow 16 per cent from $6 billion this year to $7.4 billion annually. Surely, given that the rest of the world has recognised that fossil fuels have got no future, this has to be the last budget where we see this needless subsidy. I suppose it depends on whether the mining lobby continues to give generously to both sides of politics. But you know what? I have got a sneaking suspicion that it will not be long before we win this one, too.

Let us redirect the private health insurance rebate and put more money back into our public hospitals—into public health care. It is worth over $20 billion every four years.

People want to see their representatives thinking about the future and about our country's place in the world, but what this government has done with this budget does nothing to assure people that these massive issues—issues perched on the horizon, ready to arrive—are being thought about, let alone prepared for. The government has been dragged kicking and screaming to the present, mugged by political reality. But while they are looking over their shoulder, the world around them is changing.

Australians do not want a government that is nostalgic for the past. They want a government that has plans for the future. They want a future-focused budget, which is why we are making a commitment to give young people the opportunities in life they deserve no less than did the generations before them. It is why we will fight those university cuts and ensure that underfunded public schools get the help they need. It is why we will bring in a renewable energy transition authority to tackle climate change and support Australia's rapid transition to a 100 per cent clean, modern, renewable energy system.

The future of work is precarious. Whether we like it or not, a massive reorganisation of work is underway. That is why we will protect penalty rates and continue the conversation about a shorter working week. And we will ensure that wealth is shared around our community.

We will fund preventive health and bring dental into Medicare. A Green budget would mean that going to the dentist is just like going to the doctor. A Green budget would properly fund drug and alcohol treatment services, rather than stigmatising people who are on income support. And, rather than giving lip-service to domestic violence, we would properly fund legal support and homeless services.

And we would close down those bloody offshore detention camps. The time has come. Shut them down!