Government says overhaul will ease rising cost of living

The government has defended its changes to the stage 3 income tax cuts, saying the overhaul will help ease cost of living pressures on Australians.

Transcript

00:00 We've taken this decision because it's the right decision, but it's also about putting

00:06 people first.

00:07 I mean, your audience knows, you know, there's been many stories around cost of living pressure,

00:12 particularly over the last year.

00:14 And you know, this plan gets more money into more bigger tax cuts into more Australians'

00:20 pockets from the 1st of July.

00:22 And that's what's resulted in us taking this decision.

00:26 We accept that there's going to be some politics around that, and we don't take this decision

00:31 lightly.

00:32 But at the end of the day, in government, you've got, you know, a couple of choices

00:36 on this regard.

00:37 We could have done nothing and kept on that track, or we could have changed our position

00:42 and made a difference to millions more of Australians, including women and young people

00:47 who are going to benefit from these changes.

00:50 At the end of the day, it was really about what is the best way to reach people and provide

00:56 some cost of living relief now or from the 1st of July.

01:00 And the Treasury advice and other advice was very clear that this was an option available

01:06 to the government, and we took it.

01:07 And you know, we, as I said, we don't go into this decision lightly.

01:11 We understand that the Prime Minister has fronted the press club, as you said yesterday,

01:16 to explain our change in position.

01:18 But ultimately it was the right decision, and you know, that's what made us take this

01:24 decision.

01:25 It was actually about what's doing right, acknowledging that there will always be politics

01:29 around that.

01:30 The easiest way through the Senate is for the opposition to back these in and back in

01:34 bigger tax cuts to millions more Australians.

01:37 But if they decide to oppose that, and we'll leave that, them to explain that, then we

01:44 will work with other senators to get it through.

01:47 This is the proposal we will be taking.

01:50 There is no other proposal.

01:52 The proposal we are taking is the one that the Prime Minister outlined.

01:55 And you know, I think at the end of the day, when the Senate has to vote on this, the Senate

02:00 will support millions and billions more dollars going into people's pockets from the 1st of

02:06 July, because every senator knows just how tough people are doing it, particularly in

02:11 Middle Australia.

02:12 [BLANK_AUDIO]