Page 2603 - Week 12 - Thursday, 16 November 1989
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Mr Berry chose to ignore the implication of this package and tried to denigrate its importance by saying that only tax dodgers would gain benefit. I hardly think that hardworking men and women in this country deserve to be described in this way by the Minister. He clearly does not understand the package, and he does not seem to appreciate that it is a package that is very much needed in the ACT in particular. The Federal Opposition has proposed to fund this package by rationalising government expenditure. It has no desire to penalise disadvantaged groups and is concerned with a more equitable distribution of public moneys.
Apart from the family tax package, there are other areas on which the coalition will focus. Those include increasing the tax-free threshold for superannuants from $60,000 to $125,000 and giving tax deductions to those who take out retirement savings accounts and plan for their future. These initiatives will be of particular importance again to workers in Canberra.
Taxpayers will also benefit from the coalition's commitment to eliminate the unplanned tax proceeds from bracket creep. This has been a thoroughly exploited bonanza for the current Federal Labor Government and a point on which Mr Berry neglected to comment in his statement. It will achieve a flatter two-tiered tax system which will benefit all PAYE taxpayers. A majority of taxpayers in the ACT fall into this category.
Mr Berry also attacked the coalition package as being discriminatory against disadvantaged groups, particularly the unemployed. The coalition's package will in no way disadvantage the genuine needy in the community, and the reductions in expenditure will reflect the coalition's commitment to: firstly, a redirection of the welfare system so that it is targeted to the areas of real need; secondly, an attack on fraud and abuse; thirdly, small and more efficient government; and, fourthly, more relevant employment programs.
The resources allocated to the welfare system are becoming so significant in budgets that it is time to ensure that programs are designed to focus on those in genuine need rather than those who simply opt out of the system and, if you like, bludge off it. The coalition's tax and expenditure policy has been developed within the framework of its overall economic policy which is designed to tackle Australia's economic crisis, as I have already stated.
It is essential that we in the ACT realise that we are dependent on the existence of a rational and economically responsible Federal government, one that can deal with an overheated economy, a government which regrettably is lacking at present. As a nation we need to raise productivity, to reduce inflation, to increase competition in the economy, to increase exports and to reduce foreign
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