The Turnbull Government’s extraordinary back down on its proposed Medicare Levy increase is a humiliation for the Prime Minister and a win for working and middle-class taxpayers in Ipswich, the Somerset Region and the Karana Downs region. 

Member for Blair, Shayne Neumann MP, said Malcolm Turnbull didn’t drop this tax hike because he wanted to do the right thing; he did it because he couldn’t get the votes.

“The back-down is proof that the funding of the National Disability Insurance Scheme was never the issue – this was just a tax grab.”

“Mr Turnbull owes Australians with disability, their families and carers an apology for threatening to hold the NDIS hostage in a shameful attempt to increase taxes for working people. 

For nearly a year, Labor has fought Malcolm Turnbull’s unfair income tax increase. Under his plan, someone earning $60,000 a year would have paid $300 more a year in income tax. 

When wages growth is at historic lows and household bills are through the roof, the last thing families in Ipswich, the Somerset Region and the Karana Downs region needed was an income tax increase. 

After a year of trying to use people with disability for budget blackmail, the Liberals have finally admitted what Australians always knew: their plan to increase taxes on workers had nothing to do with funding services, it was all about financing their massive giveaway to the top end of town.

Two weeks from his budget, Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t have an ounce of credibility left.