STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator DOWLING (Tasmania) (13:57): I was watching Seinfeld last night. Senators may recall the famous episode titled 'The opposite', where George Costanza realises that every instinct he has is wrong, so he decides to do the exact opposite of whatever he thinks. I found myself wondering who this reminds me of.

I was thinking of somebody who does the exact opposite of what their so-called DNA tells them to do. Then it clicked. It was the Leader of the Opposition, Angus Taylor.

I'm reminded of him deploying the Constanza approach one year ago today. It's exactly one year since Labor announced tax cuts for 14 million taxpayers, and, instead of following Liberal Party doctrine, Mr Taylor decided, just like George Costanza, to do the exact opposite. For a party that insist lower taxes are in their DNA, that was quite the genetic mutation.

For decades those opposite told Australians they stood for lower taxes. Menzies preached thrift and responsible government. Howard and Costello were about cutting taxes and returning bracket creep.

Yet, when this government, the Labor government, delivered tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, the coalition and Angus Taylor deployed the Constanza method. I can just picture them. They must have been sitting around thinking, 'What would Howard and Costello do right now?' Then they determined to do precisely the opposite.

They voted no to tax cuts and no to 14 million Australians. Then Angus Taylor went even further. He vowed to repeal them and actually increase taxes.

Australians looked at that promise and delivered their verdict at the ballot box. When Australians needed tax relief, Labor delivered it for every taxpayer and the self-proclaimed party of lower taxes voted no to lower taxes. Happy one-year anniversary to Angus Costanza Taylor.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Dowling, I remind you to refer to others in the other place by their correct titles.