Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'll give it to Senator McKim: whilst I did enjoy Senator Watt's interjection that perhaps Senator McKim could look for some new lines in a new parliamentary year—

Senator Shoebridge might well assist Senator McKim—at least we know what we're going to get from Senator McKim. He is quite upfront. He believes in a socialist economic policy, as do his brethren sitting on the Greens benches. We know what we're going to get from them. Senator McKim is advocating for changes to negative gearing and advocating for changes in terms of the CGT discount. We know where the Greens stand.

But the whole point of this debate is the promise that was made. I think the tally is that the promise was made almost 100 times by the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and others in the government that they would not change the stage 3 tax cuts. So, when Senator Polley gets up and says that those on this side of the chamber are attempting to rewrite history, that is a gross distortion of the facts of the matter. We are not the ones trying to rewrite history here. The history is there, and those sitting in the gallery know what the history is. They will remember the Prime Minister saying, 'My word is my bond.' That is what the Prime Minister said in particular in relation to this context. They will remember that.

They will also remember that, as recently as mid-December, both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer stated at least a dozen times that they hadn't changed their position on the stage 3 had tax cuts. When they were specifically asked as recently as only a few months ago about the stage 3 tax cuts, they said they had not changed their position. But at the same time the government had commissioned Treasury to do the research for them to do the policy work to change their position. We were in a cost-of-living crisis in mid-December. We'd been in a cost-of-living crisis for a number of months. I can remember taking the shadow Treasurer to one of the food banks in the greater Ipswich region, where my office is located. That food bank was seeing people it had never seen before as clients. We were in a cost-of-living crisis then. But as recently as December the Prime Minister and the Treasurer were saying they were not reconsidering their position.

Senator Polley said that the government has been honest and upfront. That was the phrase Senator Polley used: upfront. On my understanding of the plain English meaning of 'upfront', before an election you make a promise and a commitment and then, after you get elected, you keep the promise or commitment. It's pretty simple. When politicians of whatever stripe—it doesn't matter what colour they are—don't do that, we all suffer, because people then say, 'Well, you just can't trust anything they say.' That's the position we're in now in terms of this government.

For the Australians who are listening to this debate, be very, very careful. When members of the government—the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Minister for Finance—say that they're not currently considering something or they're not reconsidering, that's a red flag, because they may well change their position. You've got no guarantee. When they say they have 'no plan' to do something, that's a red flag. Most of all, when the Prime Minister looks the Australian people in the eye and says to them, 'My word is my bond,' then you're in a great deal of trouble. That is what the Australian people have learnt over the last few weeks.