Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, and do you know where those shareholders come from? The vast majority come from overseas.

An opposition member: Eighty per cent of dividends go overseas.

Eighty per cent of those dividends go overseas. These are the resources that belong to the people in my electorate who, because of the decision made yesterday, will get much less out of the resources that belong to them.

We should not be surprised, because this fits very well with the ethics that we have seen from this government. We are seeing time and time again from the Abbott government adherence to one principle. They are not very principled people, but they do seem to come back to this one principle—that the more you have and the better off you are, the more this government has got your back. Look at the education reforms proposed by the Minister for Education. On the weekend, modelling by the Pilbara Group was released showing that these education reforms will be a massive boon to the most-privileged, best-off universities in this country. Yet those in regional areas and those in the outer boroughs of our big cities stand to lose significantly from the education reforms.

The Paid Parental Leave scheme is probably the worst example of the fact that the more you earn, the more welfare you get. It is absolutely outrageous that amongst all the crowing on the other side about budget issues, we have a government that has found $6 billion to give a cash splash to some of the wealthiest women in the country. Labor's scheme gave the same to everyone. That is because it is just as difficult to have a baby if you are a rich woman as it is if you are on a lower income. That is just how it is. The same goes for the toxic and regressive changes that we have seen in health—that is, the $7 GP co-payment, the changes to pathology charges and an extra $5 every time you fill a script. The sicker you are, the bigger your family and the more frequently have to go to the doctor, the more tax you are going to have to pay. It is absolutely outrageous.

Labor has committed to carefully targeting the spending of taxpayer money in a way that maximises the value of every dollar. To frugally spend public money, we need to give a hand up to the people in need. That is what people in my electorate indicate to me that they are happy to pay taxes for, not to give the Liberals the opportunity to make life easier for people who already are advantaged.

Now I come back to the premise today. It is only people who live in ivory towers and who come from the cloistered world of the ministry on the other side of the House who think that young people do not work because they are not looking hard enough for a job, that people go to the doctor when they are not really sick just because they have nothing better to do, that lower income people do not drive cars and that the 10 biggest mining companies in this country need a tax break more than millions of struggling Australians do. You ask, 'Who could possibly hold these beliefs?' These are the values, beliefs and ethics of this government, and Labor will oppose them every step of the way. (Time expired)

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