Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

They will certainly be getting more in their pay packet than they would have if we had not amended the stage 3 tax cuts. We remember, when we came out with our revised stage 3 tax cuts—what was it? 'Let's go to an election over it! We're going to wind it back, and we're going to go to an election over it.' And we still think that's the position—winding it back. All options are on the table.

By lowering the rate and the thresholds, we have dealt with bracket creep in a more efficient way, and more people on those lower and moderate incomes are getting more money in their pockets. Future governments may decide to do further work in this area, but the revised stage 3 tax cuts that we put in place not only dealt with bracket creep but also importantly ensured that every single working person in this country who is paying tax got a tax cut, as opposed to the heavily weighted tax proposal to those on higher incomes.

So we have more appropriately responded to the issues of bracket creep, and we have more appropriately dealt with the fact that every working person in Australia deserved a tax cut and that those earning under $100,000 deserved a better share of the deal. That was the revised plan that we took. That was the plan that passed this parliament, in fact, but we know that it wouldn't take those opposite too long to put all options on that whiteboard over there—to wipe it off and to put it back in place. We know that's what Senator Hume wants to do. We know that's what Mr Dutton wants to do. They wanted to fight an election over more people getting a better deal on tax. That's the approach the opposition took. It's not the approach this government took. We wanted a better, fairer deal for people that dealt with tax reform at the same time.