GST rise is dead, but Turnbull must show us the body
Greens Treasury spokesperson Adam Bandt MP today said now that the GST rise is dead, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull must show us the body to prove that it’s not a zombie that will come back to attack us.
“The GST rise is dead but Malcolm Turnbull needs to make sure it’s not a zombie that comes back to life to attack us,” Mr Bandt said.
“This is a big win for the public and the community who have stared down this unfair tax.”
“It is a big win for the Parliament and the Greens who stood up to the Liberals on this unfair tax, just like we stood up and killed off the GP-fee and university deregulation.”
“But this so-called national debate about tax reform that we’re having is a sham.”
“The Liberal Party is now acting in its own electoral self-interest, not in the public interest. The reason that Liberal Ministers have said the GST rise will go no further is that they’re getting the message loud and clear that some of their backbenchers are in trouble.”
“The more we make decisions based on the narrow political interest of the Liberal Party rather than the public interest, the further we get away from the reason why we need tax reform in the first place.”
“We’re facing a revenue crisis in this country. Unless we secure government revenue, we will find ourselves without enough money to pay for the services that the Australian people rightly expect.”
“If the government insists we can only have tax reform provided that we rob Peter to pay Paul, we’ll have a tax shift, not tax reform. This will be a big exercise in moving money around for no net benefit to the Australian people.”
Media contact: Adam Pulford, 0429 109 054