QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator COLLINS (New South Wales—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (15:09): I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) and the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to questions without notice asked by Senators Dean Smith, McKenzie and Hume today relating to taxes on charities, to the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union and to falling productivity.

Let me begin with Labor's tax on charities and faith based organisations. It is a shame. It's a crying shame.

Labor's new trust tax is forecast to rip $4½ billion from the Australian economy, from Australians, and religious leaders are anxious. I sat down with one just last week, and he was worried about what this new tax—this range of taxes from Labor's budget that was handed down in May—is going to do to his ability to serve his community. We asked the government today whether they could guarantee that distributions from discretionary trusts to registered charities and tax-exempt not-for-profits, including faith based charitable groups, will be exempt from Labor's 30 per cent tax.

Do you know what we heard? 'We're now doing consultations; consultations are ongoing.' They're also working through the feedback. We can give that feedback right here and now. This is a bad budget, and it's going to tax faith based charities that are out there doing the work that the government's not.

These faith based communities play a huge role in the community that the government doesn't. They fill the gaps that the government services don't reach. They provide English lessons to migrants.

They help them settle in for years after the government stops serving them. They provide services to the homeless and the vulnerable—food and shelter. We heard from Senator Pocock that 56 houses have been provided under the Housing Australia Future Fund.

While we have a homelessness crisis, 56 houses are barely going to touch the sides. Ten billion dollars has gone into that fund, and they've got 56 houses. That's a shame.

What is the government going to do? They're going to have more taxes and fewer houses. We asked the government what they are going to do.

Labor are consulting on that. We've told them exactly how Australians feel about their widows tax, the tax on divorcees and the tax on women who are escaping violence. This is the impact of their budget on the community.

We are seeing, at the same time, the hit that the economy and the housing market have taken since the budget—a total lack of confidence in the market. Property values are absolutely smashed because of their budget. No loans are being given out.

Banks are completely walking away. The slump is moving faster than anybody ever imagined—even faster than in the past 30 years after a big downturn like this. The impact has been absolutely huge.

We asked the government: does increasing taxes on individuals, businesses and construction increase productivity or lower it? And what did we hear? Personal pot shots.

It's a serious question. We don't have a serious government. We want serious answers for the Australian people.