13/02/2024 

Ms CLAYDON (Newcastle-Deputy Speaker) (19:19): It is always interesting to come after the member for Barker. For all that faux outrage, the member for Barker is going to be sitting here, voting for these tax cuts when the vote comes through, just like all other members opposite because the truth is they know this plan was not fair. It would not have done what it was intended to do. This Labor plan for stage 3 tax cuts is now going to deliver a tax cut to every single Australian taxpayer. No-one misses out. We are not backing winners and losers here. It is a fair and equitable distribution of people's tax dollars to help them with extreme cost-of-living pressures that many people find themselves under today. So I rise to speak in support of the Albanese Labor government's cost-of-living tax cuts.

Tax time, I am pleased to say, is fast approaching. I am delighted that, on 1 July this year, the Albanese Labor government will be delivering a tax cut for every single Australian taxpayer-that is, 13.6 million people. Not only that, 84 per cent of Australian taxpayers will get a bigger tax cut as a result of the government's proposal now. That is 11.5 million people who stand to be better off under this revamped stage 3 tax cut. An average income earner is set to benefit by 75,000. Can we let that fact sink in for those in this chamber now. It is predominantly women who are earning less than 128,000, less than 30 per cent of Australian women fit into that category. We know from a lot of experience what that means in our communities. But the Albanese Labor government's revamped stage 3 tax cuts mean that the average tax cut for women will climb from what was going to be 1,649. That's a lift of 1,649. That also means a bigger tax cut for 90 per cent of Australian women taxpayers. That's how many are set to receive an additional tax cut of $770 on average compared to the Morrison government's plan. I know that, when members opposite go back to their constituencies, it's little wonder they will come and vote for this at the end of the day. Imagine going back, looking at all the women in your electorates and saying: 'You know what? You're not worth a tax cut. We don't believe that you deserve recompense now or to get a share of the relief that is being provided to workers and households.'

Gender-responsive budgeting, of course, was a practice pioneered by the very first Labor woman to serve in a cabinet, Susan Ryan. She did so when the Hawke government handed down its 1984-85 budget. That was the application of the gendered-responsive budgeting process. We led the world in gender-responsive budgeting. And I've got to say-from that moment with Susan Ryan in 1984 right through to 2013, the federal government, regardless of which party was in power, produced a women's budget statement every single year to assess the impact that the new budget and taxation measures had on women. Shamefully, the Liberal government scrapped this practice when Tony Abbott was elected Prime Minister and appointed himself Minister for Women back in 2014. As chair of Labor's Status of Women Committee, I am proud that Labor has produced a women's budget statement from opposition each and every year to undertake this analysis. Now that we're in government, we continue this analysis, and equity for women is at the very centre of everything we do. Our job is to make sure that taxing and spending actually support women's equality.

That's exactly what we're doing with these tax reforms. Australian women deserve that level of public commitment and accountability. I've been listening to the debates of those before me who are concerned about whether the Prime Minister's word is at stake here. It's a good question; we want to see trust in politics. But I tell you what: when you change your position based on very good evidence-

Debate interrupted.