Bill Shorten calls for tax reform in valedictory speech
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The news: Former Labor leader Bill Shorten has taken aim at the country’s tax system for taking too much out of workers’ incomes and not enough out of property in his valedictory speech to federal parliament.
The context: Shorten, who served as leader for six years between 2013 and 2019 and as Minister for Government Services and the NDIS, is leaving parliament to take up the position of vice chancellor of the University of Canberra.
He leaves with a legacy of playing a key role in the establishment off the NDIS in the Rudd and Gillard governments, and for his unsuccessful policy agenda at the 2019 election which included curbing negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount.
In his speech on Thursday afternoon, Shorten said he remained convinced that Australia “still taxes property preferentially and lightly, and income, heavily” and that young people “carry a disproportionate share of the tax burden”.
Shorten said that it remained a "source of enduring pride" that the last act of collaboration between Paul Keating and Bob Hawke was their joint opinion piece advocating for his 2019 platform, joking that it "was shame more people didn’t read it".
He called for an “Australian foreign policy with an Australian accent" and highlighted his opposition to the Australia-China Extradition Treaty as a decision that had stood the test of time.
The public gallery was packed with friends and former colleagues and staff including former premiers Mark McGowan and Morris Iemma, former ACTU secretary Billy Kelty and assistant secretary Michael Borowick and former Labor MP Chris Hayes.
What they said: “Our system still taxes property preferentially and lightly — and income heavily," Shorten said.
“As a result, young Australians carry a disproportionate share of the burden.
“And it is harder than ever for young Australians to save for a first home. The government understands increasing supply is the essential part of solving a problem. That is why we are building more homes. We must not become a society where the best predictor of a young person's likelihood of owning a home is their parents' current bank balance.
“We also have unfinished business on defence and foreign policy as our world changes. The government has made significant advancements with old allies and important trading partners but we need to develop further our own defence capabilities within the bonds of existing alliances and prioritise even more Australian foreign policy.
“There are big nations that threaten our small and close neighbours. The Pacific is not an empty ocean we fly over — rather a blue continent of diverse cultures.
"And on the subject of enduring cultures, parliament has unfinished business with our First Nations people.”
“I leave here full of optimism for the future of the movement and party I love, the people we serve and the country we're so fortunate to call home. I have always been and remain ambitious for Australia. This flows through to my faith in the people, my optimism for the future and deep and abiding love of our nation.
“I encourage future parliaments to carry their sense of ambition forward. Be ambitious and mature on climate. Be ambitious to be a good neighbour in the Pacific, be ambitious for Australian foreign policy with have an Australian accent, be ambitious on tax reform, ambitious for a fairer relationship with our First Nations people.
“Perhaps most of all, be ambitious for the young people of this country who currently feel disenfranchised, disengaged and dismissed by the political process.”
The source: House of Representatives
