Ms MARTIN - 2000-05-09
After 26 years of CLP government, Territorians pay the highest power prices in Australia. Yesterday we found out they are going up another 8.7%. We all know the CLP is the GST’s number one fan because it takes money from Territory households and it puts it very firmly in this government’s coffers. Since November there have been 5 interest rate rises for home mortgages, which have already wiped out the value of any tax cuts before that arrive.
Can the Treasurer, please explain again how the GST, which delivers an increase in power prices of nearly 9%, is good for Territorians?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the GST is but one component of a range of taxation measures to be introduced not by this government, but by ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: There are interjections from members opposite that ‘I love it’, that we love it. But similarly does the Premier of Queensland, similarly does the Premier of New South Wales, similarly does the Premier of Tasmania, similarly does the Premier for Victoria - all of whom happen to be Labor Premiers. They all signed it. Some of them did so quite gleefully . In fact, they crawled over the back of the Chief Minister to get to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer first to be able to sign the documents. So, don’t try and make misleading assumptions and create the thought in people’s minds that this is a Territory government tax initiative that we are introducing.
It is a fact of life. It is going to apply. It is going to apply after the next federal election, whether or not there is a Coalition or a Labor Government elected, because Kim, having indicated there will be a roll back on the GST if he is elected at the next federal election, has now indicated that he is rolling back on his own roll back. There is going to be, if there is a federal Labor Party after the next federal election, no change to the GST.
In the future, regardless of all the nonsense that Kim Beazley and the members opposite, the Labor comrades opposite, espouse there will be no change after the next federal election whatever party is in power. There will be a GST and there are also going to be wide ranging changes. The whole taxation system in this country will be reformed and it will be reformed more than it has been since federation. From that point of view, members opposite should be aware that with the imposition of a GST there is also going to be the removal of other taxes. Members of the taxi industry might be interested to learn, and, of course, they would be aware, that the tax on motor vehicles will decrease from 22% to 10%. The tax on motor vehicle spare parts will be decreased. It will be eliminated in terms of the wholesale sales tax, 22%, and there will be a 10% GST applied to it. There will be the removal of wholesale sales taxes of up to 32% on a whole range of other goods, grocery items and things that we purchase from day to day, and they will be replaced by a 10% GST. It’s not all, as the honourable Leader of the Opposition tries to infer, a down side.
There will be billions of dollars in taxes reduced in terms of the taxes that you pay, the people pay, the Territorians and Australians pay on their income and that will flow through in terms of up to $50 a week in the pay packet of Australians so that they can offset the impact of the GST. That offsetting, that extra $50 in the pockets of Australians, is to offset the impost of the GST on things like electricity. The Leader of the Opposition knows all this, she is quite familiar, or one would think she is by now, of the circumstances in relation to a new tax system. It is not just the GST. It will have benefits to the overall economy in terms of this country being more competitive in international markets. It will create jobs.
GSTs, or similar, have been introduced in most countries around the world. We are one of the few advanced economies not to have a GST and what’s happened - they all survived. They have all survived and they have all prospered. The good old head-in-the-sand Clare wants to be like Zimbabwe or Botswana and like economies that aren’t advancing as other economies have around the world.The simplification of the taxation system that will flow from the new tax system will have benefits across the economy. And, yes, there will be some disadvantages in terms of some things that currently aren’t taxed will be taxed. I simply ask the Leader of the Opposition, as the shadow treasurer, to try and assist people in changing to the new tax system rather than obstructing them, confusing them, and making it more difficult.
Can the Treasurer, please explain again how the GST, which delivers an increase in power prices of nearly 9%, is good for Territorians?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the GST is but one component of a range of taxation measures to be introduced not by this government, but by ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: There are interjections from members opposite that ‘I love it’, that we love it. But similarly does the Premier of Queensland, similarly does the Premier of New South Wales, similarly does the Premier of Tasmania, similarly does the Premier for Victoria - all of whom happen to be Labor Premiers. They all signed it. Some of them did so quite gleefully . In fact, they crawled over the back of the Chief Minister to get to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer first to be able to sign the documents. So, don’t try and make misleading assumptions and create the thought in people’s minds that this is a Territory government tax initiative that we are introducing.
It is a fact of life. It is going to apply. It is going to apply after the next federal election, whether or not there is a Coalition or a Labor Government elected, because Kim, having indicated there will be a roll back on the GST if he is elected at the next federal election, has now indicated that he is rolling back on his own roll back. There is going to be, if there is a federal Labor Party after the next federal election, no change to the GST.
In the future, regardless of all the nonsense that Kim Beazley and the members opposite, the Labor comrades opposite, espouse there will be no change after the next federal election whatever party is in power. There will be a GST and there are also going to be wide ranging changes. The whole taxation system in this country will be reformed and it will be reformed more than it has been since federation. From that point of view, members opposite should be aware that with the imposition of a GST there is also going to be the removal of other taxes. Members of the taxi industry might be interested to learn, and, of course, they would be aware, that the tax on motor vehicles will decrease from 22% to 10%. The tax on motor vehicle spare parts will be decreased. It will be eliminated in terms of the wholesale sales tax, 22%, and there will be a 10% GST applied to it. There will be the removal of wholesale sales taxes of up to 32% on a whole range of other goods, grocery items and things that we purchase from day to day, and they will be replaced by a 10% GST. It’s not all, as the honourable Leader of the Opposition tries to infer, a down side.
There will be billions of dollars in taxes reduced in terms of the taxes that you pay, the people pay, the Territorians and Australians pay on their income and that will flow through in terms of up to $50 a week in the pay packet of Australians so that they can offset the impact of the GST. That offsetting, that extra $50 in the pockets of Australians, is to offset the impost of the GST on things like electricity. The Leader of the Opposition knows all this, she is quite familiar, or one would think she is by now, of the circumstances in relation to a new tax system. It is not just the GST. It will have benefits to the overall economy in terms of this country being more competitive in international markets. It will create jobs.
GSTs, or similar, have been introduced in most countries around the world. We are one of the few advanced economies not to have a GST and what’s happened - they all survived. They have all survived and they have all prospered. The good old head-in-the-sand Clare wants to be like Zimbabwe or Botswana and like economies that aren’t advancing as other economies have around the world.The simplification of the taxation system that will flow from the new tax system will have benefits across the economy. And, yes, there will be some disadvantages in terms of some things that currently aren’t taxed will be taxed. I simply ask the Leader of the Opposition, as the shadow treasurer, to try and assist people in changing to the new tax system rather than obstructing them, confusing them, and making it more difficult.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016