Banks biggest beneficiaries of Turnbull’s tax handout;

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: There are new numbers out today which show that the biggest beneficiaries of Malcolm Turnbull's big business tax cut are the big banks themselves. Malcolm Turnbull wants the very same Australians who have been treated shabbily by the big banks to fund a $13.2 billion tax cut for the same big banks. By the time his tax cut is up and running, every fourth dollar of benefit will flow to the big four banks. What Malcolm Turnbull wants is for the taxpayers of Australia to fund $13.2 billion going to the big banks to boost their profits at the same time as the Royal Commission has uncovered scandalous behaviour in the very same big banks. Malcolm Turnbull is so spectacularly out of touch and so captured by the top end of town that he wants to reward the scandalous behaviour that has been uncovered in the Royal Commission by giving that $13 billion to the same banks that are responsible for the rorts and the rip-offs in the system.

 

There is never a good time to shower the top end of town with money they don't need at the expense of middle Australia. But especially when we have record and growing debt in this country on the Government's watch; record and growing debt which will only be made worse by stupid policies like giving $65 billion to the top end of town, including $13 billion to the big banks who are responsible for the rorts and the ripoffs in the system. 

 

What this shows is that the Turnbull Government has learned absolutely nothing from the scandalous revelations in the Royal Commission. We've had Kelly O'Dwyer out there this morning with a train wreck interview trying to defend the Liberals' position on giving $13 billion to the big banks. What this shows is that they've learned nothing from these scandalous revelations. They still can't bring themselves to admit that they got it wrong to run a protection racket for so long on the big banks. They still want to give the biggest tax cuts to the big four banks. They've learned absolutely nothing from the revelations of rorts and rip-offs in the big banks.

 

Final point: we call on Malcolm Turnbull to take his $65 billion tax cut out of the Budget in just over two weeks' time. We call on Malcolm Turnbull to abandon his $13 billion tax cut for the big four banks, who have been revealed to have behaved very shabbily towards their customers in the Royal Commission. We call on Malcolm Turnbull to abandon his out-of-touch plans to shower largesse on the same big banks which have been rorting and ripping off the Australian people for far too long.

 

The Government has run out of excuses for record and growing debt in their Budget. We've got very rosy global conditions. The reason we have record and growing debt in the Budget is because the Government continues to give billions of dollars to the top end of town. But what we need to see in the Budget is for Malcolm Turnbull to reject and reverse his big business tax cuts; to reverse his cuts to health and education; reverse his tax hikes for people earning up to $87,000 a year and take out of the Budget his attacks on pensioners.

 

JOURNALIST: If though the big four banks were exempt from the company tax cut, wouldn't that make them less competitive and ultimately threaten stability of the sector?

 

CHALMERS: This is a $13 billion tax cut that the big banks don't need, and certainly don't deserve. Labor's calling on the Turnbull Government to ditch their tax cuts for multinationals and big banks across the board. We think that at a time like this, with record and growing debt, with other priorities in health and education, pensioners, the cost of living, it is absurd, it is scandalous, for the Turnbull Government to want to give $13 billion to the big banks as part of a broader $65 billion big business tax cut, which the country can't afford.

 

JOURNALIST: But surely if this tax cut does get through the Parliament, it's just too difficult to exempt a certain few?

 

CHALMERS: Well we're calling for the unlegislated parts of the tax cut to be ditched entirely, including the $13 billion that goes to the big banks. Senator Hinch has made the point that he would like to see the banks separated out from the $65 billion big business tax cut. We would like to see the Turnbull Government abandoned their plans entirely. We think that the tax cut favours the top end of town at the expense of middle Australia. We don't think the country can afford it when we have record and growing debt. Senator Hinch will make his point about separating out the banks. Our view is a broader view about those tax cuts. But the symbol of the unfairness in Malcolm Turnbull's approach to the Budget is that he wants to give $13 billion to the same big four banks who have been revealed to have been rorting and ripping off their customers for so long. And the reason that those revelations have come to light is because Labor's campaigned for more than two years for a Royal Commission into the banks, which the Liberal Party fiercely resisted, has been uncovering this scandalous behaviour. We saw this morning from Kelly O'Dwyer this Government has learned absolutely nothing from the Royal Commission. They still can't say, after being asked more than 10 times, whether they were wrong to run a protection racket for the big banks. They still won't admit that. They still want to give that $13 billion tax cut to the big banks.

 

JOURNALIST: I know you were calling for a Royal Commission for a long time before it was actually established, but do you have to give some credit to the Government for the way that it has set up the inquiry and terms of reference?

 

CHALMERS: The one thing that I agree with the Government on is what Kelly O'Dwyer said this morning about judging the Government on its record with the banks. And the Australian people know that the Liberal Government will never be tough on the banks because they ran this protection racket for so long, because they want to give them a $13 billion tax cut, and because Malcolm Turnbull is of that world. The Liberal Party under Malcolm Turnbull will never get tough on the banks. The biggest concession that Kelly O'Dwyer seemed to have made today is she said "we concede that we got it right". That shows that they're from another planet. They are spectacularly out of touch. They are captured by the top end of town. They have got this wrong all along by fiercely resisting the Royal Commission that Labor campaigned strongly on. It's good to see the Royal Commission doing such terrific work now uncovering these scandals. It should get the support and the time and the resources that it needs to finish its job.

 

JOURNALIST: What'd you make of Kelly O'Dwyer's performance today?

 

CHALMERS: That was a train wreck interview by Kelly O'Dwyer today. She was asked at least 10 times whether she was wrong to fiercely resist the Royal Commission into the banks. It was pointed out to her that even the banks have said that they were wrong to resist it. Barnaby Joyce has said that he was wrong to resist it. Kelly O'Dwyer can't bring herself to say that she was wrong to run a protection racket. She described it as "a talk-fest". Scott Morrison referred to it as "a populist whinge". Malcolm Turnbull even in announcing it said it was "regrettable". Their heart's not in it. The Liberal Party's heart is not in a Royal Commission into the big banks. They stand up for the big banks against the interests of middle Australia, and that's why they've learned absolutely nothing from the scandalous revelations that we've seen so far in the Royal Commission.

 

JOURNALIST: I just want to ask you about the flu vaccine over in Perth today, the Government is going to make it mandatory that aged care homes offer flu vaccines to staff and what that means is aged care homes will then, in effect, make it mandatory for staff to take the flu vaccine. It seems awfully like the Government is mandating putting something in your body in order to get a job. Have you got a problem with that or do you think it's the right thing to do?

 

CHALMERS: We certainly welcome any steps to improve our aged care system. We welcome any steps towards making aged care homes safer, and making the workforce and the residents healthier. So we support the measures that are being announced today. We would also note this is a Government that has taken a billion dollars out of aged care and that has obvious consequences for the quality of the care and the quality of the work force in those aged care homes. We've had something like a dozen different inquiries into different aspects of the aged care system. It's time for Malcolm Turnbull to stop dragging his feet on responding to those inquiries so we can get what we all need, which is a higher standard of care for the older Australians who live in those aged care facilities.

 

Thanks very much everyone.