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representatives vote 2018-06-21#7
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2018-06-23 14:27:38
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Title
Motions — Taxation- Motions - Taxation - Let a vote happen
Description
<p class="speaker">Tony Burke</p><p>I move:</p><p class="italic">That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Manager of Opposition Business from moving the following motion immediately:</p>- The majority voted against a motion to suspend the usual rules (known as [standing orders](https://www.peo.gov.au/learning/fact-sheets/standing-orders.html)) to let a vote happen, which means the vote will not take place.
- ### Motion text
- > *That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Manager of Opposition Business from moving the following motion immediately:*
- > *That the House*
- > *(1) notes that*
- >> *(a) gross debt has grown to a record half a trillion dollars under this government;*
- >> *(b) last night, in an act of gross incompetence, this government teamed up with Senator Pauline Hanson's One Nation to vote to support a bill which abolished all income tax rates from 2024. This is the latest act from a government consumed by chaos and incompetence which has outsourced all economic policy to Pauline Hanson's One Nation;*
- >> *(c) for years One Nation has advocated flat tax. Last night the government adopted this policy and set the rate at zero;*
- >> *(d) the government has also dealt with bracket creep by abolishing every single tax bracket; and*
- >> *(e) the bill which was supported last night at the third reading stage by the government and One Nation will open up a budget black hole of $240 billion every single year once implemented; and*
- > *(2) condemns this government for its gross economic incompetence.*
<p class="italic">That the House</p><p class="italic">(1) notes that</p><p class="italic">  (a) gross debt has grown to a record half a trillion dollars under this government;</p><p class="italic">  (b) last night, in an act of gross incompetence, this government teamed up with Senator Pauline Hanson's One Nation to vote to support a bill which abolished all income tax rates from 2024. This is the latest act from a government consumed by chaos and incompetence which has outsourced all economic policy to Pauline Hanson's One Nation;</p><p class="italic">  (c) for years One Nation has advocated flat tax. Last night the government adopted this policy and set the rate at zero;</p><p class="italic">  (d) the government has also dealt with bracket creep by abolishing every single tax bracket; and</p><p class="italic">  (e) the bill which was supported last night at the third reading stage by the government and One Nation will open up a budget black hole of $240 billion every single year once implemented; and</p><p class="italic">(2) condemns this government for its gross economic incompetence.</p><p>Those opposite have now completely outsourced the economic policy of this nation to Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. We'll hear in question time today from the Treasurer and he'll say, 'Labor voted for this, Labor voted for that,' but he won't say what the government voted for last night. What he won't acknowledge is that last night every single one of their senators voted that from 2024 there will be no income tax at all, none—$240 billion wiped off the Commonwealth revenue sheet! They could now get from half a trillion to a trillion dollars in gross debt in just two years. The Treasurer has found a way of doing that in just two years. No wonder they wanted to shut down debate today!</p><p>Have we ever seen a situation before where, for what is meant to be the centrepiece of their budget strategy, they won't even allow a single speech from the shadow Treasurer—not one speech? A government that's confident of its credentials doesn't need to shut down debate. A government that's not humiliated by teaming up with Senator Pauline Hanson doesn't need to shut down debate. Those opposite decided that they won't let working Australians have a tax cut unless they personally get one too. That's what Senator Hanson did, that's what the Treasurer did and that's what the Prime Minister did. They wouldn't let the workers get a tax cut unless they got one too. That's the sort of government that needs to shut down debate. But a government that's confident of the economy, a government that's confident of what it's doing, doesn't need to do what it did in this House today.</p><p>For years we've heard One Nation argue this ridiculous position of flat tax, and we've heard the government talk about needing to get rid of bracket creep. But who would have thought that, last night, those opposite would've gone: 'Bingo! We've worked it out—let's just abolish tax; let's just abolish it all! That will work. That will be the option.' And every single one of them voted for it last night. So, today, when we've got the bill and we're giving the reasons to the Senate and telling them what they did, the government wants to hide the fact that what it did last night was the most extraordinary example of fiscal recklessness we will ever see.</p><p>We've had people in this House come up with harebrained schemes before. We've had people on the crossbench in the Senate at different points come up with really wild ideas. But no-one has ever done what Liberal and National party senators did last night with One Nation. Nobody before has ever said the answer is to abolish all taxation, all these tax brackets.</p> <p class="speaker">Government Members</p><p>Government members interjecting—</p> <p class="speaker">Tony Burke</p><p>They say it's been a disincentive. So what's the ultimate incentive? The ultimate incentive, from their end, is to abolish all taxation. There is a bit of a problem with that. The first problem—</p><p>Government members interjecting—</p><p>You then make a choice. Do you abolish all the services that it was going to fund, or do you just let debt go all the way up? What's the government's answer to that? They have found a way to do both. Remember all the talk of debt and deficit before they came to office? Remember that they voted to abolish the debt cap? And where has that got us? Half a trillion dollars in gross debt. And now they have found a way to add an extra half a trillion dollars to it every two years. The level of incompetence from this Treasurer was marked from the time he got the job. When he got the job, he brought in a $107 million hole in legislation. He has been coming into this place without a shred of anything other than anger. Who needs argument, who needs rationality, when you can get really cranky? Who needs to put any sort of rational argument together when you have that one mode? Turn the switch, and then it is anger.</p><p>What doesn't come over on the microphone when people watch question time at home—we feel for them, but there are some people who do it!—is all the interjections when the Treasurer gets up. They say, 'Mate, why don't you use anger this time? Why don't you get a little bit cranky this time?'—because that's the only mode he's got. The evidence is that he believes in getting debt and deficit higher than the nation has ever seen before. If he wants to do something about bracket creep, the answer he has come up with is not just to abolish one bracket but to abolish the lot.</p><p>When you outsource your economic policy to Pauline Hanson's One Nation, be careful what you wish for. What happened last night is no accident. One Nation would have thought it was terrific, and the Liberal and National parties would have thought it's now just what they do. The way they have behaved this term has changed fundamentally since One Nation returned to the federal parliament. Before One Nation was in the parliament, can we remember a minister for immigration saying it was a mistake to let people into this country based on their race and religion? Once One Nation were here, that happened. Before the election, did we hear anything from those opposite about needing a university-level English test for citizenship? No. But One Nation arrived and, all of a sudden, that happened too. And last night we saw that it is not just their immigration policies; it is not just their citizenship policies: the government have now gone the full way and are adopting the economic policies of the One Nation party.</p><p>Those opposite can be really proud, because no other government has managed to achieve what they have achieved. We are half a trillion dollars in debt now and another half a trillion dollars of gross debt will be added every two years. If we are worried about going too hard on the top end of town, they fixed that last night. It doesn't matter how much you earn; what they voted for last night is not one cent of income tax from 1 July 2024.</p><p>Labor stood up in the Senate and moved a consequential amendment to fix this. We thought: it is probably reasonable that income tax exists; it is probably not an outrageous position! But what did they do? They said, 'We know what Labor's up to!' Immediately upon hearing that, they said: 'Quick, Senator Hanson. We're with you. We'll stop them. We'll make sure income tax doesn't continue beyond 2024'—and they voted to prevent it. So that was what we had in front of the parliament. Procedurally the government did everything they could to try to make sure this wasn't revealed when their own backbench was present. They went to lengths I haven't seen in the parliament before to make sure that people were unaware of what bill had reached this House. The bill that had reached this House was Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party to a T. It was a policy, before this House only minutes ago, that abolished all income tax revenue; that set the rate at zero; that added half a trillion dollars to debt every two years. I wish we had a Treasurer who at least had the courage to acknowledge that what happened in the Senate last night was a little bit silly—but no. No, he will respond in the only way he knows. Beware the anger, because there is no-one running the economy.</p> <p class="speaker">Tony Smith</p><p>Is the motion seconded?</p> <p class="speaker">Chris Bowen</p><p>It is, Mr Speaker. I second the motion. It is a big day for the Turnbull government. It is a big day for this Treasurer. The government are doing what they do best: they are engaging in recklessness and engaging in unfairness, and they're not very competent as they go about it. This is a government which insists on its will. Last night the Senate carried legislation which provides income tax relief for all Australians from 1 July—a good thing. But the Senate said, 'Enough is enough; no stage 3. We're taking stage 3 out. We say we're not supporting legislation which has $42 billion in costs, which grows at 12 per cent a year and which then goes entirely to the top 20 per cent of income earners. The Senate said, 'No. Enough is enough.' And the government say, 'We insist.' And not only do they insist, but they are incompetent as they go about it.</p><p>As the Manager of Opposition Business said, they voted for zero tax rates from 2024. That's what they did, with One Nation. The Labor Party and I pay tribute to the Greens for voting with us to protect tax in Australia—more economically responsible than the government of the day, the Liberals and the National Party, who said, 'That's okay.' No wonder the Treasurer wants the amendments disagreed to; he's realised what his senators have done in abolishing income tax. We know that this government is irresponsible, we know that this government doesn't want to fund essential services into the future and we know that it wants to give away this tax base for Australia's future.</p><p>This is a Treasurer who says, 'This is so urgent. It is so urgent that we pass these tax cuts for 2024.' Well, the fact of the matter is that 1 July 2024 is 72 months away. It is two parliaments away. It is 12 budget and mid-year economic statements away. This Treasurer, more than anybody else, should know that a lot can change between budget statements. It was the last budget statement where he was telling us that we needed a $44 billion tax rise, that anybody who opposed it was un-Australian and that anybody who opposed it was irresponsible. Now, in between that budget statement and the following budget, we've gone from a $44 billion tax rise to a $140 billion tax cut—a $184 billion turnaround—but this Treasurer seems to magically know what he can afford in 2024. I'll tell you why he knows it: because he knows who it is going to. It's going to Australia's high-income earners, and that's his No. 1 priority. He has the gall, he has the hide, to go to the Senate crossbench and say, 'I will hold a gun at the head of tax relief for low- and middle-income earners.' It is moderate tax relief, $10 a week, but this Treasurer is willing to hold a gun to the head and say, 'I will not let that tax relief pass unless you give me the reckless policy of stage 3.' They even got stage 2 through, but that's not enough for them. Oh, no. They want the lot. This Treasurer wants the lot. I don't think this Treasurer will be in the House in 2024, let alone be the Treasurer of Australia. He is determined to deliver it now. I'm not sure that this Prime Minister will be here in seven weeks, let alone seven years. But they are determined to deliver this, because this says it all about their priorities. They are a government who are prepared to vote against Labor's better, fairer tax cuts but insist on their own.</p><p>Under Labor's better, fairer tax cuts, I'll tell you who is better off: 73 per cent of taxpayers in New South Wales; 74 per cent of taxpayers in Victoria; 75 per cent of taxpayers in Queensland; 71 per cent of taxpayers in Western Australia—you might have heard of the voters of Perth and Fremantle, although you're not turning up; 76 per cent of taxpayers in South Australia; 77 per cent of taxpayers in Tasmania—many Tasmanians will have the chance to have a say about this in a few weeks; 75 per cent of taxpayers in the ACT; and 76 per cent of taxpayers in the Northern Territory. All those taxpayers will be better off under Labor's tax plan, and they don't need that tax relief held hostage so that this Treasurer can engage in his fiscal recklessness.</p><p>History will not judge this government well. History will not judge this Treasurer well. When tax cuts are baked into the budget numbers, this Treasurer's incompetence, recklessness and addiction to unfairness will be judged by history.</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>
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