Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service
While most Australians will be very excited to be welcoming Taylor Swift here, and all eyes will be on Melbourne, here in the Parliament all eyes will be on a different Taylor, Angus Taylor, because we are going to see Angus Taylor and Peter Dutton have one of their most embarrassing days as members of the Opposition. Where they will go in and vote for tax cuts that they said were a betrayal. They said that these tax cuts were class warfare. They said that these tax cuts were Marxist economics. Peter Dutton is going to walk into the House of Representatives and vote for them.
It is a deeply embarrassing day for Mr. Dutton, who for so long has campaigned against these tax cuts. He's never actually offered an explanation as to why he's now voting for them. I'll tell you why I'm voting for them: because 11.5 million Australians will be better off under Labor's tax plan. 1.2 million Western Australians are better off under Labor's tax plan. That's good for our economy, good for our community and good for our society.
Now, in the Parliament this week, we have seen both recommended reading and recommended viewing. We had recommended reading in the Richardson Report, which showed us the absolute mess in Home Affairs under Peter Dutton's watch. We had recommended viewing with ABC's 'Nemesis,' which showed us the absolute mess of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government. We had one-word descriptions of the Opposition Leader from Malcolm Turnbull, where all he could bring himself to say was 'thug.' We had free character assessments from Liberal against Liberal against National against National. It showed us what a mess of a government that was, and why they need a very, very long time in Opposition to make sure that they both learn the lessons of their failures in government, but also reform themselves to meet the expectations of the Australian people.
We had both the Closing the Gap statement and the National Apology Breakfast for the 16th anniversary of the apology with new initiatives to focus on getting more people into work, replacing the broken old CDP scheme. We got Closing Loopholes through the Parliament, making sure that we have more protections for gig economy workers, making sure we have more rights for casual workers. Again, we saw Mr. Dutton come out there and say that he would roll it all back. His plan is to roll all those protections back for gig economy workers take all the protections away for casual workers. All opposition when what we really need to say was actually some form of positivity out of Mr. Dutton. But even when the things he's voting for, like the tax cuts, we don't get any positivity.
We have also seen this week, the announcement that Tasmania will go to an election. Now of course, the Albanese government will work with whoever the Tasmanian people choose to be their state government. But if I can just as a labor person, wish Rebecca White, and her team all the very best, they offer really good positive plans and a vision for Tasmania. I've known her for many years. She will make an incredible Premier of the great state of Tasmania.
After today, we will get through Peter Dutton dealing with the embarrassment of having to vote for tax cuts that he and his colleagues said were a betrayal. He will get through the embarrassment of having to vote for tax cuts that he and his colleagues said they wanted to roll back. But after we get through that embarrassment, we will of course have next week in Perth, the Albanese Cabinet will go to Perth for the first meeting of Cabinet in Perth this year. We had two meetings last year, making sure that we had strong engagement from ministers across the spectrum with the great people of Western Australia.
I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Albanese back to Perth for another cabinet visit. Another visit to talk about what's important for Western Australia. What's important for Australia. We will be able to say to Western Australians, including the 1.2 million Western Australians who are better off under our tax plan that we are giving them serious cost of living relief in one of the best ways possible by giving them a tax cut.
