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

Well, wages growth has actually been increasing, so I don't accept the premise of the question. And the other point I would make is the same as the one I made in response to Senator Collins, and that is that taxes under the coalition will always be lower than under the Labor Party. People across Australia know that if Labor were to come back—

Senator Wong interjecting—

Well, Labor went into the last election promising more than $160 billion in additional taxes, and even then the budget was worse off. They went to the last election promising higher taxes and a bigger deficit. How do you do that? By more spending. So, we don't take any lessons from the Labor Party when it comes to tax policy. Our commitment is to keep taxes as low as possible, to make sure that they are raised in the most efficient, least-distorting and appropriately equitable way, because the Australian people expect us to raise only as much as necessary—as little as possible, as much as necessary—and to raise it in the best possible way to ensure that businesses across Australia can be successful and hire more Australians. (Time expired)