MOTIONS

Mr NG (Menzies) (18:04): I thank the member for Casey for bringing this motion because it gives us the opportunity to talk about our record on tax. The member for Casey is right in one regard: people are doing it tough. That's something that we absolutely realise, and it's something that we've been focused on.

In this term of government and in the previous term of government there have been successive international shocks that have been felt right through the economy. As the member for Casey knows, interest rates were coming down before the war broke out in the Middle East. That's not a war that we started, it's not a war that we asked for and it's not a war that we're involved in, but it is something that's being felt by Australians at the bowser and, with flow-on effects throughout the economy, at the supermarket and when they're taking their kids to school and to sports.

It is driving inflation in food prices and in many other areas. We've been focused on making sure that we're providing real cost-of-living relief to hardworking Australians through tax cuts. As the last election showed, we are the party of lower taxes.

We went to the election promising tax cuts. We've delivered those tax cuts. Those opposite opposed those tax cuts, promise to repeal them and, along with those in One Nation, voted against them again recently, showing us what a Liberal-National-One Nation coalition would look like.

We've cut taxes five times in three different ways. Tax cuts of up to $268 came in on 1 July this year. That's real relief, but that's not the only relief that we've provided through tax cuts.

There are further tax cuts on 1 July next year. We have the working Australians tax offset, a $250 permanent tax cut that effectively raises the tax-free threshold. We've also got the $1,000 instant tax write-off.

Those who would typically claim less than or equal to $1,000 in tax cuts won't have to collect lots of receipts. It saves them administration. It also saves the tax office administration, so it's an efficiency measure in that regard.

The taxpayers will be able to claim $1,000 in instant tax write-offs. Of course, there were our stage 3 tax cuts in the previous term of government that preserved our progressive tax system. Across the board, for an average worker, all the tax cuts that we've provided have a cumulative benefit of $2,800 per year.

That is real cost-of-living relief. It addresses bracket creep, and it does so in a responsible way. The member for Casey talked about the coalition's plan to index tax brackets in line with inflation.

The first thing to note about this so-called plan is that it's completely uncosted and unfunded, but some projections say that it would cost a quarter of a trillion dollars in debt. It's a very, very expensive measure. Two things are strongly against this measure.

It would make inflation worse. Of course, you don't tend to put more money into the economy when inflation is high. But the very nature of receiving the tax cuts in line with inflation would mean that inflation would get higher and higher—more and more tax cuts; more and more money going into the economy; the higher inflation will be.

It means that, at the exact time that we shouldn't be increasing demand and we shouldn't be pumping more money into the economy, that's exactly what the coalition's plan would do. The member for Casey talked about being upfront and honest with the Australian people about what these cuts mean. The expense of these—if they were to achieve anything approaching a balanced budget, then they would have to make significant cuts, so they would need to be upfront and honest about what those cuts to the budget are going to be.

Will they be to things like Medicare? Those opposite might say, 'Oh, no. We would never cut Medicare.' But we know what their record is like in terms of cutting Medicare.

They might not make a real cut to the amount that doctors are paid, but they'll freeze it for years and years and years, causing bulk-billing rates to decline in our communities. Thankfully, with our record investment in Medicare, we've been able to reverse that and make sure that bulk-billing is still on offer and that primary care is still available for free.

It is the cheapest form of health care. That's something that we've been able to deliver in this term of government. In my community, we went from 19 bulk-billing clinics to at least 29 bulk-billing clinics locally.

That's because we prioritise people's health and primary care.