Bill Shorten to attack Coalition’s budget at ACOSS conference
BILL Shorten will seize on new estimates today, to attack the Coalition’s decision to water down Labor’s plan to stop foreign tax evasion, which is now hurting pensioners.
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CONTROVERSIAL cuts to the concessions of pensioners and seniors card holders would not be necessary if the Abbott government had not watered down Labor’s multi-billion crackdown on foreign tax evasion, Opposition leader Bill Shorten will say today in a major address.
In a keynote speech to the Australian Council of Social Services’ national conference in Brisbane, Mr Shorten will seize on new estimates from the Parliamentary Budget Office to attack the Coalition’s decision to water-down Labor’s measures to secure the nation’s tax base, while at the same time attacking seniors.
The Opposition leader will claim that the money the government has forfeited from deferring or abandoning aspects of Labor’s reforms to offshore banking and tax loopholes could have restored the cuts to senior’s concessions, the Seniors Supplement, or hikes to Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme charges.
“Based on updated estimates from the Parliamentary Budget Office, the revenue gains from Labor’s package are now worth over $5.3 billion,” Mr Shorten will tell the conference today.
“But in a clear demonstration of their priorities — the Government has not once, but twice, acted to water down this package — handing back more than $1.1 billion to big businesses.”
Mr Shorten will tell the conference the Abbott government’s decision to weaken rules around profit shifting and tax minimisation are out of step with international expectations and are “especially galling at a time when the government is making cruel and unfair cuts to pensioners, our schools and our hospitals”.
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews will also be addressing the ACOSS national conference tomorrow, as will former Mission Australia head Patrick McClure who is conducting a review of Australia’s welfare system for government.
Originally published as Bill Shorten to attack Coalition’s budget at ACOSS conference
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