Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all senators who've contributed to this debate on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Relief So Working Australians Keep More Of Their Money) Bill 2019. The legislation we're dealing with seeks to implement one of the most central commitments that we made in the election campaign, and that is to provide income tax relief to all working Australians. We're doing it in a way which prioritises low- and middle-income earners but which also seeks to take the bracket creep monkey off people's back. If we leave bracket creep unaddressed, over time it will undermine aspiration and it will weaken our economy. A weaker economy is very, very bad for low- and middle-income earners, in particular, wanting to get ahead. There's a reason why the low-income areas of Australia voted for us very strongly in this election, and that is that aspirational Australians, working families around Australia, actually understand this truth: it is aspiration and hard work that drive their opportunity to get ahead, that drive the opportunity of all Australians to get ahead.

We're doing this in a way that is fiscally responsible. We are seeking to boost funding for schools and hospitals and infrastructure. We are seeking to ensure that the budget returns to surplus and remains in surplus all the way through, which is, of course, why we're prioritising tax relief for low- and middle-income earners in the first instance before phasing in more structural reforms over the medium term. If the Senate supports this legislation today, it will mean that, by the end of next week, millions of Australians can start to receive up to $1,080 in tax refunds in their bank accounts.

Senator McKim talks about trickle-down economics. That is not trickle-down economics. That is leaving working Australians to keep more of their money—the money that they work for. That is actually the government making a decision that we take less money out of people's pockets, that we take less money out of the pockets of hardworking Australians. There is nothing trickle-down about this.

Senator Steele-John interjecting—

Senator McKim interjecting—