E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
BRISBANE LABOUR DAY MARCH
MONDAY, 6 MAY 2019
 
SUBJECT/S: Liberals not managing economy in interests of working people; Labor’s plans to support workers and pensioners; Liberals need to come clean over $77b high-income tax cuts; Liberals’ cuts to schools and hospitals
 
JIM CHALMERS, LABOR CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: Australia needs a change of Government because more of the same stagnant wages and insecure work and slowing economic growth just isn't good enough for this country. The economy is not working for working people under Scott Morrison and the Liberals. What we need in this country is for multinationals to pay more so that workers and pensioners can pay less and that's what Labor, under Bill Shorten, is offering this election. Under Scott Morrison, he wants multinationals and millionaires to pay less and he wants workers and pensioners to pay more for their healthcare and their childcare. These are some of the choices at stake in this election.
 
If Australians want to get wages moving again, and they want to see the cost of living dealt with; if they want to say no to Scott Morrison's tax cuts for multinationals and millionaires, then they need to vote Labor at this election.
 
The defining feature of Scott Morrison's approach to the economy is to keep wages as low as possible and to give big multi-billion dollar handouts to the top end of town.
 
Scott Morrison has said that his first priority, if he's re-elected, is to go to Parliament and get his tax cuts passed through the Parliament. But what he won't tell Australian workers is that $77 billion of those tax cuts will go to Australians on the top income bracket alone. $77 billion to people who earn more than $180,000 a year. 
 
One of the reasons why Scott Morrison hasn't signed up to debate Bill Shorten on Wednesday night at the Press Club is partly because Bill towelled him up the first two debates, but it's also because he doesn't want people to know and he doesn't want scrutiny of that $77 billion tax cut to the highest income earners in this country, which is a defining feature of Scott Morrison's approach to the economy.
 
We call on Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg to 'fess up, to come clean on that $77 billion tax cut for the top end of town and the cuts to hospitals and schools that they will make if they're re-elected to pay for that tax cut. It is long past time for Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg and Mathias Cormann to 'fess up their $77 billion tax cut, which can only come at the expense of working people and pensioners and the hospitals and schools that they rely on.
 
The election is only 12 days away, and there's a lot at stake in this election. In Scott Morrison's Australia, multinationals and millionaires will pay less; workers and pensioners will pay more. In Bill Shorten's Australia, workers and pensioners will pay less for their childcare and healthcare and multinationals will pay more. Those are the choices which have been laid bare in this election campaign. That's what this election campaign is all about. If Australians want real change, they need to vote Labor. If they want to put an end to the cuts and the chaos and the climate change denial, then they need to support Labor on the 18th of May.
 
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) this morning Josh Frydenberg kept dodging questions about just what that number would be. I mean, he was being grilled for five minutes and he always seemed to dodge it. Is that good enough for voters?
 
CHALMERS: Josh Frydenberg has dodged this key question about his economic policy. If Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg want to say that their highest priority is to get their tax cuts through the Parliament, then they need to tell the Australian people just how much of that will go to people on the highest income bracket. If it's not $77 billion, as independent modelling has shown, then they need to say how much it is. He has an opportunity today when he debates Chris Bowen at the National Press Club to 'fess up, to come clean to the Australian people about his $77 billion tax cut for the top end of town. And he needs to detail the further cuts to hospitals and schools, which will be necessary if he's to pay for that tax cut. For some weeks now, the Liberals have been slipping and sliding and avoiding this key question. It's long past time for them to 'fess up. Today's their opportunity. Thanks very much.
 
ENDS