Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Through you, Deputy President, I believe that what Senator Scarr is saying to Queenslanders is that, if there is a cost-of-living crisis and they are out there are looking for a solution, and if the government is able to find a better way to deliver cost-of-living relief, that's not something that Senator Scarr would support. What Senator Scarr and others on that side of the chamber are saying is that those Queenslanders who are getting a tax cut shouldn't be getting it and that, for some reason, they expect us to look at this cost-of-living crisis, be told that there's a better way to deliver income tax relief and walk away from an option like that. That's not what this government is doing. That's not what the Prime Minister has done.

The Prime Minister has looked at this policy and has found a better way to deliver income tax relief for 13.6 million people. Every single Australian taxpayer will get a tax cut. What we know is that that means that more lower income earners and more middle-income earners will receive a bigger tax cut under Labor's plan. That's why, after all their complaining, whingeing and sulking about this, and in spite of everything they're planning to say in the chamber over the next couple of weeks, what we know is that the coalition will walk in here and vote for this policy. It's because they know it's the right thing to do. Australians know it's the right thing to do. Our government knows that the right thing to do is to look at this policy and at the times that we are in, and to make a decision and be upfront about that decision and make sure that we deliver cost-of-living relief for every Australian taxpayer when it is needed the most.

There are Queenslanders who'll be receiving a tax cut. Nurses, teachers and truckies are some of those who are most likely to benefit, with more than 95 per cent of those taxpayers getting a bigger tax cut. Ninety per cent of women taxpayers will be getting a bigger tax cut under this plan. These are all the things you won't hear from those opposite. You'll hear semantics and stories about time lines, but we know that, at the end of the day, they will vote for this legislation because it is the right thing to do. The right thing to do—for me and every other Queensland senator, especially out there in rural and regional Queensland—is to provide cost-of-living relief, and that's exactly what we're doing. It's interesting to me that those opposite—who say that they are the natural home of people from rural and regional Queensland, that they represent people from rural and regional Queensland and that only they know what people in the bush would want and need—are ignoring the pleas of people in rural and regional Queensland, because, under our plan, 784,000 people living in rural and regional Queensland will receive a tax cut, and 85 per cent of people living in regional Queensland will receive a bigger tax cut under Labor.

The average tax cut of the people in the electorates that those opposite say that they represent is $1,500. In Cairns, what that means is that 79,000 people will receive a tax cut, and 87 per cent of those people will receive a bigger cut under this plan that we're delivering. In Townsville, 87 per cent of people will receive a bigger tax cut; that's 78,000 people in the Herbert electorate. That's an average tax cut for all of those people living in Townsville of $1,500. People in Cairns, Townsville and North Queensland do it tough during summers. The cost-of-living crisis is compounded by the disasters that we have lived through. But those opposite want to say to the people living in North Queensland that they would see a better plan, see a better way, know the right thing to do and walk away from it. In Rockhampton, 71,000 people will receive a bigger tax cut, and 82 per cent of people living in that area will receive a bigger tax cut under Labor. The truth is that, in Gladstone, 66,000 people will receive a tax cut, and 82 per cent of those people will receive a bigger tax cut. An average tax cut for people living in Bundaberg is $1,300.

Rural and regional Queenslanders will benefit from this plan, but you won't hear that in the questions from those opposite. Those people opposite are supposed to stand up for the bush and are supposed to stand up for regional Queensland. If they did, they would back in this plan. They would back in a plan to give people more cost-of-living relief when they need it the most. That's what our government is doing.