Mr RANDALL —My question is addressed to the Treasurer. The government has stated its commitment to improving the lot of the Australian community and restoring fairness where it has been lacking in commitment, which has been very well received in my electorate of Swan. Can the Treasurer advise the House as to how the government intends to deliver to ordinary Australians?

Mr COSTELLO —I thank the honourable member for his question. This budget is strongly a redistributive budget. This is a budget which delivers important tax relief to families, and it delivers it right down to the lowest income scale. This was an increase in the tax-free threshold to deliver the biggest benefits to those at the lowest end of the income scale. For example, a family with two children qualifying under part (a) and part (b) of the family tax initiative will receive $34 a fortnight. This is a benefit to families with children. It is a benefit to those who needed the help and were completely overlooked under 13 years of Labor administration.

It does not end there. For those older Australians that are on pensions, we have funded in the forward estimates—across the forward estimates—25 per cent of male average total wages. We have made sure that we have put that down there across the forward estimates to give them security in relation to their pensions. We have delivered to the self-funded retiree and those that have been paying tax at a higher threshold on the same income as those that are on pensions. We have given them tax justice.

We have reduced the provisional uplift factor for small business to six per cent. Under Labor, small business paid tax on income it had not earned because there was an inflator. We are giving small business the opportunity to grow bigger in relation to our capital gains tax changes. This was the government that had the courage to make incentives for high income earners to take out private health insurance—not Labor.

We saw the Labor spokesman on Treasury matters saying last night, `We have been thinking about doing that.' They might have been thinking about it; they never had the courage to do it. It was only this side of the House that had the courage to do it. This is the government that will put in place the measures to capture tax from high wealth individuals. We heard the spokesman from the opposition saying last night, `We announced during the election campaign we'd do that.' After 13 years of government you announced in an election campaign that you were thinking of doing something.

This is a government that had the courage, when it came into office, to attack these redistributive measures, to put aside $20 million to get a contribution from high income earners, to look at the tax concessions, to distribute to low income families and to give justice to small businesses and give them the opportunity to grow bigger.

This is a reformist government. In the context of all of that, it took the mess it inherited and it will fix that too. It will not only do all of those things but also fix the mess that was left by 13 years of sloth and neglect. This is a reformist government. This is a government which is building for the future. This is a government which is repairing Australia's finances for the next century.