MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (15:40): There is a need for a tax back guarantee. This is so very important. What we've seen in recent times is people's real wages falling and people's standard of living declining.
It is so sad when Mr and Mrs Average, ordinary everyday Australians, simply can't afford the bills. They're grappling with the prospect of heating their homes or eating; they have to make that choice. They've got families and they've got bills to meet as far as children are concerned—school fees, sporting, dancing and those sorts of activities.
They're saying to their kids, 'Well, we just simply can't get you to the sorts of things that you enjoy this weekend because we can't afford it'. The state of homelessness in this country is very sad. It's real and it has to be addressed.
The budget, handed down a few weeks ago, has 35,000 fewer homes being built over the next decade. That is not a budget that is going to bring hope and aspiration to those seeking to put a roof over their head. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
The budget brought a sledgehammer down on aspiration, particularly for the over-65s with their private health insurance rebate. Changes in that regard are going to force older Australians to use public hospitals when they are at a stage of their life when they're needing more health care, not less. That's going to mean a cost shift to state public hospitals.
In the budget we also saw so many things that are not going to help regional Australia, such as a lack of infrastructure spend, such as the Inland Rail only going to Parkes and such as the $191.6 million cut to feral pest programs. We've already got a rabbit infestation in Western Australia. We've got foxes running out of control in country areas.
Carp are 80 per cent of the biomass of the Murray-Darling system. And this government has slashed feral pest programs. The Leader of the Opposition, in his budget-in-reply speech, on 14 May, set out a clear direction, a vision for this nation, with a tax back guarantee.
What he said on that night was that from 2028-29 we—that's the coalition—in government will index the bottom two income tax thresholds to inflation. What he said was that this will fully protect 85 per cent of income earners, with relief of around $250 in year 1 for a typical worker and growing to more than $1,000 a year in year 4. In year 1, you'll get $250, comparable to the tax relief that this government is promising, growing to $1,000 a year in year 4.
From 2031-32, the coalition will index the top two tax thresholds as well. That will fully protect all income earners from inflation. Inflation is rampant at the moment.
You spike inflation with lower productivity. With the results that we saw in the gross domestic product today, business confidence is low, and this budget had nothing in there for those hardworking, low-earning, risk-taking small businesses that provide most of the employment in this country. What we're proposing is generational tax reform.
What we're proposing is fair, is simple and is something that those opposite don't ever do: it's trustworthy; it's honest. It will back Australians to work hard, to take those risks that I mentioned before, for small businesses, which are hurting so much at the moment. It will force government to respect people's money, because I don't think at the moment, with the budget that was just handed down, there is respect for people's money—$77 billion of more taxes in the budget.
It is just going to hurt Middle Australia in particular. It is going to hurt those people who want to invest, those people who want to aspire to something better and those people who simply want to put a roof over their heads and make ends meet.