Greens Treasury spokesperson Senator Peter Whish-Wilson provides the following comments on Labor voting to pass the Government’s top-end tax cuts today.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Labor just sided with the Government to give a $4 billion tax cut to the highest income earners in the country, to those who need it the least.

“This will worsen inequality and it won’t do anything to help the economy.

“Labor has given tax cuts to surgeons and bank CEO’s, while only three weeks ago they voted to cut support for university students and single parents.

“Labor couldn’t even bring themselves to put up more than one speaker on this Bill and even then they didn’t use up all of their time. That speech and the support for the Bill cost the budget over $200 million per minute.

“At the time when the Government first floated this idea a number of Labor MPs and Senators spoke against it. But now when the rubber hits the road they go missing.

“This is especially gutless of the Tasmanian Labor politicians who previously fronted the media and addressed the Senate saying how bad this tax cut is. Yet not one of them could bring themselves to be in the chamber today when the Bill was debated, let alone speak on it themselves. At least the Greens had the courage of our convictions to both speak AND vote against this Bill,” he concluded.

Senator Helen Polley told the Senate on the 4th of May:
I rise to speak about the Turnbull government’s budget that puts high-income earners and big business before families, students, patients, pensioners and low-income earners. This morning in my home state of Tasmania, four out of five workers who make less than $80,000 woke up to find out that they were getting nothing from Turnbull’s government’s budget. Eighty-two per cent of the working population in Bass have been left off the map and will not get a tax cut.

Senator Lisa Singh told the Senate on the 4th of May:
‘Let’s protect the higher income earners’—that is the mantra of the Turnbull Liberal government—’and let’s do it at the expense of families… Those who earn more than $80,000 may look forward to this tax cut, but if you look at Tasmania 80 per cent of its workforce earns less than $80,000. That is how out of touch the Turnbull government is with the states that it is supposed to be thinking about and providing for, as it was last night in its budget. Four out of five Tasmanians earn less than $80,000. They are the people who are going to be affected.

Senator Carol Brown tweeted on the 9th of May:
More than 230,000 Tassies will not benefit from the Govt’s tax cuts. Shows Turnbull is out of touch #politas
Greens Treasury spokesperson Senator Peter Whish-Wilson