E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
WEDNESDAY, 20 JUNE 2018
 
SUBJECTS: Income tax cuts; US leaving UN Human Rights Council.
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Malcolm Turnbull is standing in the way of tax cuts for $10 million Australian workers. We call on Malcolm Turnbull to stop blocking tax cuts for low- and middle-income earners. We call on Malcolm Turnbull to stop holding the workers of this country hostage to his political games and his tax cuts for the top end of town. We call on Malcolm Turnbull to stop making tax relief for working people this year depend on tax relief for millionaires six years down the track.

Malcolm Turnbull has two choices today. He can either work with Labor to deliver genuine tax relief for 10 million Australian workers, or he can explain to those 10 million Australian workers on low- and middle-incomes why he considers their tax cut to be less important than tax cuts for the top end of town.
 
Malcolm Turnbull's approach to tax is to give the biggest benefits to those who need them least. What this next election will be all about is who has the fairer, superior tax policies. Under the Liberals, 60 per cent of the benefit of their tax cuts will go to the wealthiest 20 per cent of Australians. Somebody making $40,000 a year will get the same tax rate as someone making $200,000 a year. Under Labor, everybody who earns up to $125,000 will get a bigger, better, fairer tax cut.
 
We are happy to take to the next election our fairer tax policies and to let the Australian people decide. It's up to Malcolm Turnbull whether he continues to stand in the way of genuine tax relief for 10 million Australian workers. He should get out of the way and let the Senate pass the tax cuts for middle Australia. He should stop holding middle Australia hostage to his tax cuts for the top end of town.
 
JOURNALIST: Pauline Hanson has indicated that she will support the Government's personal income tax legislation to get it through the Senate. Has Labor conceded the upper hand to Hanson here in terms of delivering low income workers a tax cut?
 
CHALMERS: Pauline Hanson has made a habit of siding with Malcolm Turnbull against the interests of battlers in Australia. Time and time again, when the pressure has been on, Pauline Hanson has sided with Malcolm Turnbull and the multinationals and the millionaires against the interests of the ordinary Australian battler. I think it would be a brave person to predict what may or may not happen in the Senate, as this legislation is debated and voted on. But I think there has been some form there from Pauline Hanson not to do the right thing by the Australian battler. If Pauline Hanson genuinely cares about the battlers of this country, she will support Labor's approach, which is to give a bigger, fairer tax cut to people on low and middle incomes, and not support tax relief for the people who need it least. Malcolm Turnbull is proposing to give the biggest tax cuts to the people who need them least, to the wealthiest Australians. I think a lot of Pauline Hanson's supporters would be very disappointed if she joined with Malcolm Turnbull again and sided with the millionaires and Malcolm Turnbulls of this world against the interests of people who work and struggle in this country.

JOURNALIST: With One Nation's support, it's likely that legislation will get through. Pauline Hanson will be able to say she's delivered a tax cut and Labor won't. You're not concerned about that?
 
CHALMERS: We're prepared to support a tax cut for 10 million Australian workers and we're going further than that with a bigger, fairer tax cut for those who need it most, and that's the people who work and struggle in this country. We're not giving up any outcome in the Senate. I think it would be a brave person to predict what happens over there. But if Pauline Hanson was to vote to give 60 per cent of the benefits of these tax cuts to the wealthiest 20 per cent of Australians, I think that will speak volumes about her habit of siding with Malcolm Turnbull against the interests of battlers. Just to give a sense of what Pauline Hanson would be supporting, yesterday in Question Time, we saw the sickening spectacle of the Prime Minister of Australia saying to the aged care workers of this country, if you don't like the tax cut that I'm prepared to give you, then you should just go and get a better job. To 60-year-old aged care wokers, Malcolm Turnbull's message is, if you don't like the tax cut, go and get a better job. And I think that speaks volumes about how out of touch the Prime Minister is. And if Pauline Hanson sides with that kind of approach, I think a lot of people around Australia will be very, very disappointed.
 
JOURNALIST: So when Labor votes against this legislation, and if it passes through, do you have any concerns about voter backlash in the lead up to the next federal election?
 

CHALMERS: No, not at all. I think around the country, people understand that Labor is fighting for the working people of this country. People who work and struggle, people on low and middle incomes who are doing their best to provide for their families; they are Labor's priorities. I think that's recognised out there in the community. I also think what's recognised in the community is that Malcolm Turnbull is the only one standing in the way of genuine tax relief for people who need it most. They also understand - they've got a pretty good sense of this bloke now, this Prime Minister - that he will always prioritise the investment bankers of Point Piper over the teachers and nurses and tradies right around Australia who work so hard to make this country strong, and who need and deserve a bit of tax relief - more than what the Prime Minister is offering. That's why Labor has made the teachers and tradies around the country, and nurses - the people on low and middle incomes - our top priority in our tax policies.
 
JOURNALIST: The US has announced it intends to abandon the UN Human Rights Council. How concerned are you about that? What might that mean for Australia, do you think?
 
CHALMERS: I haven't been briefed in any detail on their proposal. I think it's of interest to all of us that all the countries of the world participate in the international forums that help shape the direction of the globe. But for any detailed response, I'll leave you with Penny Wong.
 
Thanks for that.
 
ENDS