Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Well, here we go again—the third day of the three sitting days this week where we're getting a slightly different version of the 'pity the multimillionaires' routine that the Liberal-National party loves so much to run. It's really interesting that they would include farmers in their wording on this motion. I talk to a lot of farmers, and the No. 1 thing, almost universally—the very first thing—farmers bring up with me is climate change. What do we hear from the Liberals on climate change? How to oppose real climate action. That's what we hear from the Liberals.

We've just had 10 successive rate rises by the RBA, absolutely smashing anyone, including farmers, who is carrying debt. And what do we hear from Mr Dutton about that? Absolutely nothing. Yet here we go, when the only people who are going to be affected by the government's very modest fiddling-at-the-margins proposal on superannuation tax concessions are the multimillionaires: suddenly, 'What about the hardworking farmers?' Well, undoubtedly many farmers do work hard, but I want to make the point that just because somebody is a hardworking farmer doesn't mean they're not rich, and it doesn't mean that if they are rich they shouldn't be paying their fair share of tax. If farmers are going to be impacted by the changes that Labor is proposing to the superannuation tax concessions then, by definition, they are at the wealthy and of the spectrum.

This is just another example of the LNP using farmers to run their 'pity the multimillionaires' argument. But of course this is more than just a 'pity the multimillionaires' argument we're hearing today. Calling on Labor not to break election promises is of course the way the Liberals are defending their much-loved stage 3 tax cuts for the top end—defending a quarter of a trillion dollars worth of tax cuts that the top 20 per cent of earners get 80 per cent of the benefit of—and, on International Women's Day, defending a quarter of a trillion dollars worth of tax cuts where men get twice the benefit of women. Happy International Women's Day, everyone on the LNP side of the chamber! The are coming in here and defending the stage 3 tax cuts, where women will get only half the benefit that men do. Shame on you all.