QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE - Victoria: Taxation
Transcript
Date: 25 May 2023
Ms WARE (Hughes) (14:38): My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware of the Victorian Premier's $8.6 billion decade of tax on businesses and property investors in that state? Yesterday, the Premier encouraged Victorians to use his so-called COVID debt levy to offset their Commonwealth tax obligations, costing Australian taxpayers $3 billion over the next four years. Does the Prime Minister support Premier Andrews's decision to slug Victorians with $8.6 billion of taxes?
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left! The question was about the Victorian budget, but I just want to hear from the Leader of the House.
Mr Burke: Mr Speaker, ministers are to be asked, under standing orders, about what's within their portfolio. It is open to any member of the parliament to contest a state election. But, if question time starts to become commentary on every state issue, it fundamentally just undermines what question time's here for.
Honourable members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Order! I want to hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.
Mr Fletcher: Mr Speaker, it very clearly has an implication for Commonwealth revenues, as indeed the Victorian Premier has explicitly pointed out, and that's why it goes squarely to the Prime Minister's responsibilities.
The SPEAKER: If the question was around the impact to the Commonwealth budget or something the Prime Minister—that was not part of the question. I agree with the Manager of Opposition Business, but the end part of the question was, 'Do you support the Victorian state budget?' That was the part of the question that was asked. I'm going to allow the question, but I just say, for the benefit of members in future: in framing questions, they can be related directly to the Prime Minister's or the minister's responsibility. That question is going to be totally within standing orders. Because of the respect I have for the member for Hughes, I'm going to allow the Prime Minister to address the end part of the question.
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:40): I'm not sure what bit that was, Mr Speaker, but I'm happy to talk about budgets. I'm happy to talk about our budget, which I'm responsible for as the person who chairs the cabinet. I'm happy to talk about our boost to bulk-billing, helping 11 million Australians see a doctor for free. I'm happy to talk about halving medicine costs.
The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will pause.
Mr Bowen interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The minister for climate change is not helping and will cease interjecting or be warned. I want to hear from the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr Dutton: Thank you, Mr Speaker. To assist you, as you directed: the question—and you directed the Prime Minister to the last part of the question—was: does the Prime Minister support Premier Andrews's decisions to slug Victorians with $8.6 billion of taxes?
The SPEAKER: I was listening carefully to the manager, and I was hoping that would be a cue, because the question was about responsibilities of the Victorian budget, which the Prime Minister does not have responsibility for. That is clear under standing orders, but I'm just going to allow this question to go, and I'm just going to get the Prime Minister to be as relevant as he can to the question.
Mr ALBANESE: I'm trying to help him out, Mr Speaker. That's a very generous ruling, of course, that you have made. I support the federal budget, which has benefits for every single state and territory in this country. Victorian aged-care workers will benefit massively from the 15 per cent pay increase that will occur. They'll benefit from the additional Medicare urgent care clinics that are there. They'll benefit from getting wages moving; that's occurring as well. Victorians will benefit from the energy bill relief that we put in place. Those Victorians who are searching for work and on JobSeeker will benefit from the $40-a-fortnight increase. Many Victorians, as well, particularly single mums, will welcome the additional support provided by extending the single parenting payment from the youngest child reaching eight to the youngest child reaching 14. Victorians will benefit from the increased rent assistance, the biggest increase in 30 years. They'll benefit from the 10 days family and domestic violence leave. They'll benefit from the energy efficiency measures that we have there as well. Victorian small businesses will certainly welcome the small business incentives that are in place as a result, including the expansion of the instant asset write-off.
Victorians, of course, will benefit greatly from our budget. When I've been in Victoria, in the electorate of Higgins, with the member for Higgins, visiting a medicine centre, I talked with doctors about the benefit that they will have from our plan to increase the bulk-billing incentive by three times. That will make an enormous difference as well. When I was in the electorate of Goldstein at the Brighton pub—I suspect the first-ever Labor Prime Minister to visit Brighton—they certainly said that the budget was very well received. When I was in McEwen, at a childcare centre in McEwen just a week ago, they certainly were very pleased that cheaper child care will come in on July 1. I'll be in Ballarat in a short period of time— (Time expired)