Page 228 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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MR SESELJA: Yes, keep them down. The Labor Party, maybe 50 years ago or maybe 100 years ago, stood for battlers—but no more. It has been a long time since they cared about people doing it tough. And that is who this tax will hurt. With this tax the government are saying to the first home buyers, who are already paying a lot of rent and who want to try and get ahead and save money while paying rent in an apartment: “You are going to have to pay a little bit more because we are going to whack a $50,000 tax on virtually every unit that is built in this city.” If you whack a $50,000 tax on virtually every unit that is built in this city, guess what? That has an impact. It is going to impact on rents and it is going to impact on the purchase price of units. Any pretence otherwise is simply that.
So the Labor Party in Ms Porter’s motion today are about saying to renters and people who want to purchase, first home buyers in particular: “You’re going to have to pay more. You’re going to have to pay more because this government cannot get their act together.” That is because this government, as we have seen just this week, cannot manage the budget. The deficit that we are now expecting is $180 million—a blow-out of $150 million—despite the government having put in large new taxes such as the lease variation tax.
With this government it does not matter—
Mr Barr interjecting—
MR SESELJA: I did not hear the interjection.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Barr, order! Let us just continue.
MR SESELJA: He does not want his interjections on the record, does he? He would rather mumble under his breath and say some rubbish, because the last thing he would want is for us to be able to respond to whatever are his spurious arguments. Before, of course, he was highlighting just where they get their money from for their campaigns—from problem gamblers, people who lose their homes.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Seselja, relevance, thank you.
MR SESELJA: Mr Barr continues to interject, and if he is called to order I will not have a need to respond.
MR SPEAKER: He has been called to order.
MR SESELJA: But he does continue to interject. I will continue. In relation to this tax, if you place a massive burden on people through taxes like this it shows that you are a government bereft of ideas. The massive blow-out in the deficit that we saw yesterday shows that no matter how many new taxes they put on they cannot manage the budget. This government will spend it. They will find ways of spending it and they will not spend it well; you can guarantee it.
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