Clearly you have little regard for logic or fairness, because Labor has stated on many occasions the very sensible – and fair – reasons for rejecting the Abbott-Baird push for a massive 50 per cent hike to a new 15 per cent GST. 

Firstly, raising the GST is unfair across our society because it is a regressive tax, meaning poorer people pay relatively more tax than wealthy people.

Secondly, if you allow fair compensation for poorer people through exemptions in the GST base or rate, the GST quickly becomes pointless red tape because it costs more to administer than it actually raises.

Thirdly, we know that regional areas, like Calare, have a higher proportion of poorer people living under tougher conditions of less public infrastructure and services than metropolitan areas, so a 50 per cent hike in the GST will hit our local towns like Lithgow, Bathurst, Orange, Molong, Parkes, Forbes and all the smaller places in-between harder than most other metro-based Australians.

Fourthly, many country businesses will struggle to pass on the new 50 per cent higher GST-loaded prices to their customers, and so small businesses in particular will be forced to absorb the new taxation out of their own profits. For example, a café might decide to keep the cost of a cup of coffee at $3.50 rather than lose sales due to a higher GST-priced coffee, not to mention the increased business administration costs of upping prices.  

Given these (and other) strong arguments for rejecting the Abbott-Baird bid for a 50 per cent increased GST - and its doubly-unfair and damaging impact on country communities - it is blatantly obvious why Labor is not in the game of raising the GST.

But the tax reform story does not simply end with Labor ruling out a hike in GST. 

Labor has flagged it will investigate many tax items that Mr Abbott has outrightly rejected precisely because they are unfairly skewed to wealthier people and companies, such as high-wealth superannuation, high-wealth negative gearing, and outrageous multibillion dollar corporate tax avoidance that hits Australia very hard.

The fact of the taxation matter is that Mr Abbott fundamentally believes in elitism and financial privilege for the rich. Even the extreme right-wing, millionaire broadcaster Alan Jones thinks high-wealth superannuation must be reformed.

Who else but Mr Abbott would personally award a knighthood on the already immensely privileged royal family, or protect Bronwyn Bishop and Joe Hockey for indulging in taxpayer-funded helicopter rides and chartered flights to weddings and family investment properties, while at the same time trying to impose a GP tax on ordinary Australians and pricing university fees off the planet to cut out students who come from poorer families but would do extremely well through education if given the chance?

Protecting the wealthy at the expense of the poor is deeply embedded in the heart and soul of Mr Abbott’s political career, and China’s Shenhua coal mine on the Liverpool Plains proves yet again that the National Party are 100% useless in standing up to any Liberals, even if they ever actually wanted to.

Dr Jess Jennings,

Labor spokesperson for Calare,

The Lagoon