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The cost of everything is going up but wages and incomes are going backwards. 

People are going backwards. 

Billionaires and politicians, they get a $9,000 tax cut in Labor’s Budget. Clive Palmer gets a tax cut. Gina Reinhart gets a tax cut. Everyone in this House gets a tax cut.

$254 billion of tax cuts for billionaires and the very wealthy.  

But real cost of living relief for everyone else is delayed.

Since 1 January 2017 the Commonwealth Government has spent at least $9,905,737 on legal work for the nuclear waste dump and the AWRA (Australian Radioactive Waste Agency), as revealed in reply to Questions on Notice put by Senator Barbara Pocock to the Government released today.

Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP has said that mooted ‘tweaks’ to Labor’s Stage 3 tax cuts are not the answer, and that the government should simply scrap the cuts before they come into effect and start again with a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis by spending $244b on measures like dental into Medicare and free childcare.

“Labor shouldn’t be arguing about whether to give Clive Palmer an $8,000 a year tax cut or a $9,000 a year tax cut. He doesn’t deserve either,” Mr Bandt said.

I rise to give my condolences on the death of Queen Elizabeth the Second, and to extend my sympathies to her family and those who knew her personally.

Elizabeth Windsor became the Queen of Australia in 1952 and reigned for 70 years. During that time, extraordinary changes occurred in our nation, and in her empire. Many colonised nations sought and achieved independence, and many more signalled their intention to break from the United Kingdom.

In response to a simple question from the Greens Member for Brisbane during Question Time - “How are Labor’s Stage 3 tax cuts actually good for the economy?” - the Treasurer today failed to outline even one economic benefit of the tax cuts.

Quotes attributable to Greens MP for Brisbane, Stephen Bates:

“The Treasurer can’t make even one argument in favour of Labor’s Stage 3 tax cuts.

“The Treasurer has just confirmed Labor’s Stage 3 tax cuts deliver no benefit to the economy.

New independent research from the Parliamentary Budget Office shows that Labor’s Stage 3 Tax cuts will give Australia’s richest 1% as much as the bottom 65% of taxpayers in its first year.

Amid a cost of living crisis, the data confirms that the Stage 3 tax cuts will effectively dismantle Australia’s progressive taxation system, and overwhelmingly favour the nation’s richest people.

Women will get around 50c for every dollar a man receives, further increasing gender inequality, and a huge proportion of the $243.5bn will go to people in the top tax bracket.