MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia) (17:24): Labor's plans to tax discretionary trusts leave charities, not-for-profits and sporting communities under a cloud of uncertainty and risk Australian charities and not-for-profits being unable to respond effectively to Labor's cost-of-living crisis. Labor is crazy. First, they want to tax widows.
Now, they want to tax charities, not-for-profits, sporting groups and other community organisations. Labor's budget contained details that want to make it harder for religious charities to feed families, shelter the homeless and care for vulnerable Australians. Why would Labor want to do this?
A glimmer of hope just today—the Prime Minister admitted he got it wrong. He's going to fast-track and reverse his decision to tax widows, so let's hope tomorrow the Prime Minister wakes up and realises he got it wrong again and decides to fast-track to reverse his decision to tax charities, to tax sporting clubs, to tax not-for-profits and to tax community organisations.
The government's budget proposes to tax these groups $4.9 billion. Charity experts say that is going to leave charities, community organisations and sporting groups and others $2.9 billion worse off. Why would Prime Minister Anthony Albanese want to do that at all?
Religious leaders have been pleading with the Prime Minister: 'Prime Minister, don't do this. This is crazy.' Community leaders have been pleading with the Prime Minister saying, 'Prime Minister, this is crazy. Don't do this,' and the leaders of organisations like World Vision, the Red Cross, Save the Children Fund are all saying: 'Prime Minister, this is going to bring additional administrative burden to our organisations.
Why would you want to do this?' As I said, the Prime Minister has recognised he got it wrong. He made a mistake. He's going to reverse his position in regards to taxing widows, so let's hope tomorrow we hear that the Prime Minister has seen the light and understood that it is wrong for him and his budget of broken promises to want to tax charities.
Just think about this: if you are a volunteer or someone who benefits from the over 300,000 community organisations in our country—sporting groups, voluntary associations—Anthony Albanese, Labor and Labor senators want to make it harder for you not easier for you. Why would they want to do it? Why would they want to do it at all?
Why do they want to do it in a cost-of-living crisis? Everyone in Australia is talking about one thing: life has got harder for everyone. It's got harder for families.
It's got harder for businesses. It's got harder for charities. Who are those people who are at the coalface of this cost-of-living crisis?
Who are the people that are meeting the increasing levels of demand, who are finding it harder to organise and run their own charities? These are the people that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants to handcuff even further. This is a powerful demonstration that Labor is interested in raising taxes, spending more money and driving inflation in our economy.
What does all that lead to? That leads to a life that is harder for Australians than it has been for a very, very long time. A life that is harder for charities, harder for community organisations and harder for sporting groups.
The clock is ticking for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Let's hear him say tomorrow morning that he got it wrong again and that he's going to reverse and fast-track this $4.9 billion tax on charities, community organisations and sporting groups. Why would he do it at all?
Why would he do it, especially in a cost-of-living crisis? Tomorrow, we'll have an opportunity to interrogate the government and to ask them to explain why, in a cost-of-living crisis, when Australian families are already suffering, do you want to make it harder, even further? It's a good question for the Prime Minister, a good question for the Treasurer and a good question for Labor senators.
Let's see what the Prime Minister has to say tomorrow.