E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
CANBERRA
MONDAY, 21 MAY 2018

SUBJECT/S: Income tax cuts; Labor’s fairer tax plan; Banking Royal Commission; Turnbull’s $80 billion tax handout, including $17 billion for the big banks; One Nation and Greens turning their backs on workers; digital tax; live exports

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Another Parliamentary sitting week, and this week will be all about tax. Budget week was about tax, this Parliamentary week will be about tax, and the coming election will be all about tax as well. There's a really big contrast between the two major parties when it comes to tax. Labor believes in a bigger, fairer tax cut for 10 million working Australians and tax relief for businesses that invest onshore here in Australia. Malcolm Turnbull, on the other hands, wants a personal tax cut two elections away, which overwhelmingly favours the wealthiest people in our community, and he wants to hand at least $80 billion to foreign multinationals and the big banks in the form of a tax handout. The contrast on tax couldn't be clearer. Labor's plan for a bigger, fairer tax cut for 10 million workers versus Malcolm Turnbull's plan to give at least $80 billion to foreign multinationals and the big banks.

We've had some new appalling revelations about bad behaviour in the big banks. We've heard revelations that people at the Commonwealth Bank have meddled with the savings accounts of children. These are the sorts of revelations that Malcolm Turnbull tried to keep under wraps for so long. First, Malcolm Turnbull resisted a Royal Commission into the big banks, and now he wants to reward them with a $17 billion tax cut. Malcolm Turnbull always sides with the big banks and big business over ordinary working Australians. It says it all about Malcolm Turnbull that he wants to give a $17 billion tax cut to the big banks at the centre of the rorts and rip-offs that are being exposed at the Royal Commission.

He's not alone, unfortunately, in this. Every step of the way, One Nation and Senator Hanson have supported Malcolm Turnbull's plans to give an $80 billion tax cut to foreign multinationals and the big banks, and now we hear that the Greens don't intend to support tax relief for millions of Australian workers on low- and middle-incomes. What the One Nation position on company tax cuts means, and what the Greens position on income tax cuts for battlers means, is that only Labor, the party of the worker, can be trusted to look after the interests of Australian workers, here in this Parliament.

We have this absurd situation here in another sitting week where the Government is still refusing to tell the Australian people what the updated cost of its company tax handout is - whether it's $90 billion or $100 billion; just how much they intend to give to foreign multinationals and the big banks. We also have the Turnbull Government holding the working people of this country hostage to their political games in the Parliament by refusing to split the bills so that we can vote immediately for that tax relief that would begin on 1 July for Australian working people. We call on the Government to come clean on the cost of their tax plans. We call on the Government to split the income tax cut bills so that Labor and the rest of the Parliament can consider the tax changes that come in on 1 July. Labor is prepared to vote immediately for the tax relief for low- and middle-income earners, which would come in on the 1st of July. We call on the Government to split the bills to make that possible. Stop holding working people hostage to your silly political games and your trickle-down economics; stop standing in the way of the tax relief that working people in this country need and deserve.

JOURNALIST: If some of the details of those costings emerge in Senate estimates over this week and next week, would that change Labor's position in terms of the other aspects of that tax plan? Could it be more amenable to them?

CHALMERS: It's ridiculous that Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison want the Australian people only to find out the cost of their tax plans from the Senate estimates process. There's nothing stopping Malcolm Turnbull or Scott Morrison coming out immediately and saying what each stage of their tax cut plans cost, and how much they intend to give to multinationals and the big banks. It shouldn't require the estimates process for the Turnbull Government to come clean about the costs of their tax plans. The Budget was handed down more than a week ago now. It beggars belief that neither Malcolm Turnbull, nor Scott Morrison are prepared to come clean on the costs of their plans. They're either unwilling or unable to do so, and yet they expect the Australian Parliament to vote for something we don't know the cost of.

JOURNALIST: But what is Labor looking for? If those costings were revealed, what would make Labor reconsider its opposition to the latter parts of that tax plan?

CHALMERS: First things first. Labor is prepared to vote for the tax changes that come in on 1 July because they favour low- and middle-income earners. We've also proposed a bigger, fairer tax cut for $10 million Australian workers. We've said that we will consider the later stages of the plan once we know the cost of that plan in each stage, but we've also said that we would take a dim view to tax cuts more than two elections away which overwhelmingly favour the wealthiest people in our community. That's our position. It's up to the Government to explain the cost of each stage of their income tax plan. We will consider it in the usual way, but we've said that the tax cuts which come in two elections down the track, which are at this stage uncosted - we don't know how much they cost - that we would take a dim view of tax cuts which overwhelming favour the top end of town. Remember that right across Malcolm Turnbull's agenda, this guy is so out of touch that when he comes here to Parliament, he does what he can to shower largesse on the top end of town. That is not the right way to go in this country. There is a fairer way to go about it, and Labor has proposed an alternative.

JOURNALIST: What do you make of the call put forward by Central Alliance Senators for a tax on digital companies in order to maybe win their support for the Government's tax plan?

CHALMERS: We want to make sure that businesses pay their fair share of tax.  In principle we are in favour of looking at some kind of digital tax as part of a broader suite of tax changes that make sure multinationals, in particular, pay their fair share of tax here in Australia. That should be done in a careful and considered way. It should be put together, not in the interests of getting one crossbench party or another over the line for the rest of Malcolm Turnbull's tax cut agenda, but done the proper way. There's nothing stopping that work happening. We will do our own work on our broader tax reform agenda, but the principle of making sure that big multinationals pay their fair share of tax in Australian is a very good one. Labor has led the way on this debate. We want to make sure that our taxes are fairer and that's an important part of it.

JOURNALIST: What do you think of the prospect of Sussan Ley's private member's bill to ban live exports in the House of Reps?

CHALMERS: What we're seeing in the live export industry is appalling and it has to stop. Labor plan is to stop the northern summer trade as soon as possible because the industry has not been able to guarantee the welfare of the sheep. They haven't been able to guarantee that there won't be a repeat of some of these appalling practices which we've seen on our TV screens. What we want to do in the Labor Party is make sure that we can transition away from an industry that relies on live exports. The live exporting of sheep has to end. So, full credit to Sussan and the work that she has done. We hope that more Government MPs stand with her as she attempts to get the Bill passed through the Parliament. We will put Sussan Ley's bill through our usual Shadow Cabinet and caucus processes, but I think as Joel Fitzgibbon has indicated, we do have a very favourable view of what Sussan is proposing. We'll have more to say on it in due course, but certainly I would expect there to be a lot of support for Sussan Ley's private member's bill and we call on more Government MPs to stand with her as well.

JOURNALIST: The banking Royal Commission today are going to start talking to and listening to the tales of small businesses. Are you expecting any revelations in that particular area?

CHALMERS: Well, every day of the Royal Commission so far has come up with a new appalling revelation about the rorts and the rip-offs in our banks in this country. Remember that Malcolm Turnbull fought tooth and nail to keep these sorts of revelations under wraps. Bizarrely, Malcolm Turnbull doesn't just side with the banks in the Royal Commission, he wants to give them a $17 billion tax cut. So, yes, I would expect there to be more and more revelations out of our banks at the Royal Commission. There have been appalling revelations to date. It is very disappointing but not especially surprising that when Malcolm Turnbull hears these kinds of revelations he wants to give the big banks a $17 billion tax cut. Labor wants to see the victims of these rorts and rip-offs compensated; Malcolm Turnbull wants to compensate the perpetrators.

ENDS