CHRIS BOWEN MP
SHADOW TREASUER
MEMBER FOR MCMAHON
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
MELBOURNE
THURSDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2015
SUBJECT/S: Malcolm Turnbull’s plan for a GST slug on low and middle income
families; Government refusing to release its Tax Green paper; Scott Morrison
simultaneously argues there’s “no revenue problem” and there needs to be a
GST increase.
CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks everybody. More evidence today
that when Malcolm Turnbull talks about tax reform, he's talking about an increase in
low and middle income earners being hit particularly hard. For months now the Labor
Party has been pointing out that an increase in the GST or a broadening of the base
of the GST would hit low and middle income earners the hardest. More evidence
today with modelling released by ACOSS showing that those who would be in a
bottom 20 per cent of income earners would pay 7 per cent whereas in the top 10
per cent of income earners, 20 per cent of income earners would pay just 1.7 per
cent through an increase in the GST. 7 per cent versus 1.7 per cent. Malcolm
Turnbull's plan would be to make Australia's tax system more regressive. To hit low
income earners in particular harder than is currently the case under our tax system.
That is the opposite of good tax reform.
Malcolm Turnbull's been doing a lot of talking lately, he gave a speech today,
couldn't bring himself to utter the letters G-S-T but what we are seeing is more and
more evidence that the Turnbull-Morrison plan is simply to hit low income earners
the hardest. It's time for Malcolm Turnbull to start making some decisions, to stop
talking and to start laying out his plans.
The Labor Party has been outlining tax plans for months. We have our multinational
tax plan, we've got our high income superannuation tax plans on the table. We have
dragged the Liberal Party kicking and screaming to accept and admit that something
has to be done about high income superannuation tax concessions. Well, if Mr
Turnbull wants to debate about the GST, we're up for it. But he has to outline his
plans. When he outlines his plans in detail, it will be shown that those plans are
flawed, that they will hit low and middle income earners particularly hard as ACOSS
modelling shows today. As ACOSS has said, GST should not be the first option, it
should be the last. Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison, are all too quick to have the first
option being one which hits those who can least afford it the most.
Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Mr Turnbull, sorry Mr Bowen.
BOWEN: Bad start, Jim
JOURNALIST: Mr Bowen, Mr Turnbull also said that any tax change not only had to
be fair but be seen to be fair. In those circumstances, isn't that something, a view
that Labor will share and a discussion to which you could contribute and clearly it
also means that whatever Mr Turnbull is going to propose, whatever it is in terms of
tax changes, will have adequate compensation for those who are worse off?
BOWEN: Let's see the colour of his money. Let's see that compensation. One of his
most senior backbenchers, Mr Taylor out there on radio this morning saying he will
only support an increase in the GST if it doesn't see the total tax take go up. That
means no increase in the pension, no increase in carer’s benefits as compensation.
That means the only change would be through the tax system. Now that would see
pensioners worse off and carers worse off.
So you are getting all these messages from the Government, all completely
contradictory. If Mr Turnbull has a so called fair plan, show us, show us. We're told
his Green Paper on tax is ready to go. It's sitting in Mr Morrison's office somewhere.
We’re up for the debate, we’re ready to go, we’re ready. We’ve got our tax plans on
the table and we’ve got plenty more to come when it comes to policy
announcements in coming weeks and months. We are ready for this debate but Mr
Turnbull is giving us a whole lot of words, a whole lot of platitudes but what we are
not seeing is his detailed plan.
JOURNALIST: You say you are ready for a debate but how can you be ready for a
debate if you are clearly ruling out a GST? The Prime Minister this morning didn't
utter the letters GST but he did foreshadow a scare campaign so how can you
guarantee here and now that this won't just descend into a farce?
BOWEN: We want to debate a concrete plan. We've got particular plans on the
table. We have got more tax policy on the table than the Government does. The
Government has been doing a whole lot of talking now for two years, two wasted
years of the Abbott-Turnbull years. Now a debate means having plans on the table
and we will point out, of course we will, the impact of an increase in GST on low
income earners. We will point out the impact of broadening the base to health, to
education, to fresh food, the impacts on our health system, the impacts on things
likes our diabetes epidemic in Australia. But if Mr Turnbull wants to have a debate,
give us the plans and we are happy to debate our plans and his plans but we have
our plans on the table and Mr Turnbull does not.
JOURNALIST: Aren't you taking a risk Mr Bowen by relying on modelling which is
designed to discredit the GST. We know the position of ACOSS, at other times
former Labor Governments have been be at logger heads and daggers drawn with
ACOSS? Don’t you risk painting yourself into a corner when there is clearly a debate
to be had?
BOWEN: I think, with due respect I think that is unfair to ACOSS. Now I don’t agree
with everything ACOSS says about all things, but they have a legitimate role to play
and I don't question the efficacy of their modelling. NATSEM is a respected modeller,
it’s been respected and used by both sides of politics. I think it's a big call to question
their modelling.
JOURNALIST: They have a bottom quintile which spends more than it earns,
presumably in perpetuity, that doesn’t seem like a very stable basis for comparison.
BOWEN: You can question NATSEM modelling, you have a right to but I have seen
no basis to question models that have been used by both sides of politics in the past.
They are willing to explore all things but when ACOSS has said GST should be one
of the last options that should be respected. They are a voice in the debate. There
are things I agree with ACOSS about, things I disagree. But their modelling has
today been released which I think is an important contribution to the debate.
JOURNALIST: Is the call for a discussion around tax reform a reflection of the time
the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have been in power? And If they were coming
out with policies so soon after taking this position, you would you accuse them of
policy on the run, wouldn’t you?
BOWEN: No, this is one Government has been in office for two years. Mr Turnbull
and Mr Morrison have been senior members in the Government for two years. Yes,
they now have different roles, but we’ve heard a lot of talk. We were told the Green
Paper is ready to go, we have had a Tax White Paper. We said we are happy to
participate in the Tax White Paper process. We outlined our high income
superannuation policy. Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey rejected any action on high income
superannuation tax concessions. Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison have said that that’s
on the table, well we’ve dragged them there kicking and screaming. We are happy to
debate the other elements of tax plans - theirs an ours.
We're not taking the approach that the Liberal Party took in the last election saying
just vote for us, there will be an adrenaline surge to confidence, the economy will wiz
back, and everything will be okay. That is quite the contrary to the approach we will
be taking as I will be outlining in my speech to this Conference in a few minutes time,
quite the contrary to the approach we will be taking. But what we are hearing at the
moment is a whole lot of platitudes, a whole lot of soothing words from Turnbull.
There comes a time when being Prime Minister involves making decisions. It’s a
pretty key part of being Australian Prime Minister is making decisions and laying out
plans and we are yet to see anything of that from Mr Turnbull after two months.
JOURNALIST: So Mr Bowen, is it the case then that if and when this Government
does allow plans for tax reform, including increasing the GST with compensation for
the lower paid that Labor then will be prepared to contemplate supporting a package
of that kind?
BOWEN: We’ve yet to see a package, but our position is clear. We don't support
increasing the GST, Jim. We don't support broadening the base. If the Government
has other things they want to put on the table and they’ve got a fair plan, let's see it
and then we will have the debate. At the moment we're debating platitudes from Mr
Turnbull, thought bubbles from members of his Government. Backbenchers,
frontbenchers all with a different plans out there, the one consistent element is they
involve increasing the GST, but they're spending it on all different things, some
members of the Government want to spend it on personal income tax cuts, other
members of the Liberal Party want to spend it on health. You can only spend a dollar
once. Once Mr Morrison and Mr Turnbull outline their plans and what they are
spending the money on, we can have a proper debate around those issues.
JOURNALIST: Are you saying that there's no plan that includes a GST increase can
be fair at all, full stop?
BOWEN: I am saying our position is to oppose an increase on the GST, it is a clear
position. If there are other elements to their plan, let's see them.
We always said if the Government – the Abbott Government or the Turnbull
Government - comes up with something fair we are prepared to back it. We don't see
an increase in the GST as being fair or reasonable or necessary.
JOURNALIST: Mr Turnbull has challenged everyone - not just the opposition - to
engage in a debate and a mature debate that doesn't rule things in or out that tries to
get to the bottom of a serious Budget problem the nation has. Is Labor up to
engaging in this debate that it was in the 1980s and 1990s or is that a bridge too far?
BOWEN: Of course Labor is up to engaging in a debate. We will be based on our
values, with already have more plans on the table than the Government does as we
speak, like on multinational tax and high income superannuation, things the
Government has been dragged kicking and screaming to deal with we've been
leading that debate for a long time now.
We've had our plans on the table. It's about time the Government came to the table
with their own plans and then we can have a proper discussion, Hopefully they could
adopt some elements of our plans. They can adopt our high income superannuation
plan tomorrow with our support, bipartisan basis through the Parliament. They have
shown no willingness to do that.
JOURNALIST: Do you support the Labor States who say we should increase the
Medicare Levy to pay for health BOWEN: There's an example. Mr Turnbull says he wants everything on the table, Mr
Morrison says he won't increase the Medicare Levy, so he has taken that off the
table. The Labor Premiers have made a contribution in term of the debate. Mr
Turnbull and Mr Morrison seem at odds about that. We are happy to see that debate
continue, obviously, because it's part of this discussion that the nation is having and
where to raise the revenue for these issues. The difference between Mr Morrison
and I is I say Australia has a revenue problem. Mr Morrison denies Australia has a
revenue problem in the face of all the evidence, yet he is a member of the
Government promoting the increase in the GST. Last time I checked, increasing the
GST increases revenue. So Mr Morrison needs to explain, if he doesn't think there is
a revenue problem, why is he promoting an increase in the GST?
I had better go and make my speech, thanks, guys.
ENDS