Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to participate in this debate to take note of answers provided today by Ministers Scullion and Cormann. I'd like to start with the questions asked of Minister Scullion by Senator Ketter, where Senator Ketter highlighted that the Turnbull government's Personal Income Tax Plan reveals that the electorates of Hinkler, Wide Bay, Lyne and Cowper, all held by Nationals MPs, are amongst the 10 worst-off electorates. The senator asked Minister Scullion if he'd sought any advice on the inequitable distribution of the Turnbull government's income tax plan and its impact on regional communities. What was the minister's response? The minister's response was to reject the premise of the question.

This is not a point where you get to pick alternative facts, Minister Scullion. These are facts. This is the reality of the Turnbull government's Personal Income Tax Plan. The regional communities are going to be hit hard. They are going to be amongst the worst-off electorates. For example, in my home state of New South Wales that I represent here in this chamber, if you look at the electorate of Lyne and the electorate of Cowper, the second question that was asked to Minister Scullion was: have the members for those areas, Mr Gillespie and Mr Hartsuyker, lobbied the government, raised concerns, picked up the phone and tried to speak to someone about the disproportionate impact on their communities? Well, we didn't hear that. We didn't hear that they have done that. They haven't picked up the phone. Apparently they haven't said a peep about how their communities are being affected unfairly by their Liberal counterparts, their coalition partners in government, and the tax plan that they're seeking to implement. Apparently these National Party members in these electorates in the state of New South Wales are quite happy that another electorate in the state of New South Wales, that of Wentworth, is going to be amongst the best off. What a surprise! Malcolm Turnbull's own electorate is going to be amongst the best off in Malcolm Turnbull's Personal Income Tax Plan.