PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr REBELLO (McPherson) (10:30): This motion is yet another motion that's moved by a member of the government asking us to congratulate this government for making Australians' lives poorer. We've got another self-congratulating motion, and this time it focuses on the government's delivery of what they refer to as a tax cut of up to $268 for over 14 million Australians.
For context, it's a tax cut of about $5.15 every week. There are people in the gallery here today, many of whom would have seen this and heard about it through the media. What those on this side of the House are trying to say is at odds with what the previous member said, which was that our view is that tax cuts are not important.
That's not what we're saying. We're saying that tax cuts of $268, or $5.15 every week, are not helping Australians when, structurally, we're having to pay more because of inflation and we're having to pay more because of a government that has lost control of our economy, which means our prices are rising on everything across the board. Ultimately, the effect of a $5.15 tax cut on Australians is very much watered down.
That is the argument of those on this side of the parliament. We are seeking meaningful tax reform. We're seeking meaningful lower taxes that improve Australians' long-term ability to keep more of what they earn.
That's the difference between the ideology of those on this side of the House and those in government. The previous speaker said, 'When times are tough, you can rely on a Labor government to help out.' Times are tough. We've got the member for Casey at the front table, and I know that he hears this all the time from constituents in his electorate.
I hear this all the time from people in my electorate. Times are really tough. They're tough for people who are trying to get into their first home.
They're tough for people who are just trying to run a business. They're tough for people who have decided to, on the back of their own initiative, start their business or start and invest in something and make a better life for them and for their kids. Times are tough for all of those people, but at the end of the day the government is not making their lives easier.
In fact, we're consistently getting people finding it even harder not just to do business in Australia but to live, to work and to run a household. So I think it's hypocritical for the member opposite to say that, when times are tough, you can rely on a Labor government to help, because the actions do speak louder than words. It's very clear what the government is trying to do.
They're treating Australians for mugs. They think that Australians can't see this. They think that, if we give you a little bit here and then we take a lot more from the other hand, we're going to be able to get re-elected.
Australians can see right through that. At a time when we are on our knees as a country and Australians are really struggling to get ahead, you would think that any rational government would say: 'Okay, we get it. There are issues here.
There are issues with how the economy is running. We need to start reining in how much we're spending. We need to have an upfront conversation with the Australian people,' and say, 'There are some tough decisions that are going to be made, but we're doing them for a reason: to make your life easier.' They're not saying that.
They're not doing those things. They're wanting the short-term sugar hits that sound good in announcements and sound good in press releases, but they're making Australia go backwards and they're making Australians go backwards, and that is problematic. It's the same thing with the other policy in this motion, a 4.75 per cent increase to the minimum wage.
We have nothing against making sure that Australians are adequately and fairly remunerated for the work that they do. We have nothing against that; in fact, we support that. But it means nothing if that wage increase is eaten away by inflation.
It means nothing if real wages in this country continue to go down. Again, we've got a situation where the government is handing Australians something with one hand and taking away a hell of a lot more with the other. So, yet again, we have another self-congratulating motion from this government that is without basis.
And while we sit here or stand here and debate this, Australians continue to see their quality of life going down. They continue to see a situation where we are not improving, we're not growing as a country and Australians are worse off.