Australia is at a turning point.
Over the past decade, productivity growth has fallen to its weakest rate in 60 years.
OECD data shows that since Labor was elected, Australia has had the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world.
Deficits now loom for as far as the eye can see.
At the same time, Labor has piled on new regulatory burdens.
Just starting a typical small business, like a café, can involve up to 30 separate regulatory steps.
Australia must always be a place where hard work and risk taking are rewarded, not punished.
Yet today, personal income tax has climbed to a 19-year high as a share of the economy.
That’s why today I announced that at the next election, the Coalition will take to the people a plan for personal income tax cuts.
Tax relief won’t just help everyday Australians struggling with rising living costs.
It is good for our economy, and it’s the right thing to do.
It means that when Australians work hard to get ahead, they’re incentivised rather than penalised.
Tax relief also helps small businesses, because when there is more money in people’s pockets, it gets spent in local businesses.
We will determine the scale and scope of our eventual package as the final budget position becomes clearer.
But during this term, when Labor wastes a dollar and we say we oppose that spending, I want Australians to have this pledge front of mind.
Under my leadership, the Coalition will be guided by our belief in freedom, choice, aspiration and enterprise. We will:
- Restore fiscal discipline.
- Reward effort and encourage enterprise.
- Keep government focused and targeted.
- Act to deliver intergenerational fairness.
- Back a smaller, enabling government.
At the next election, Australians will face a choice: a weaker nation under Labor, or a stronger future built on hard work, fairness and lower taxes under the Coalition.
