Labor senator urges better ties to country

Tim Ayres, from the ALP's left, made his first speech to parliament on Tuesday, putting his upbringing in the northern NSW town of Glen Innes at the heart of his mission to fight inequality.

"Country town life was crucial to forming my sense of social justice," he told the upper house.

"The sense of place. The love of country and the environment. The stark class divisions of country towns."

He said the shift of wealth from ordinary to people to the very wealthy and corporations had hit regional communities hard.

"Worse than just standing by while these social forces have wreaked havoc in these communities, government has in fact been the enabler of social and economic destruction," Senator Ayres said.

"All of our political parties have failed to defend and advance these communities. Labor can and should do better representing and listening to the people who live in country towns."

The former Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary defended Labor's decision to support the government's full income tax cut package, despite warning stage three had created a fiscal "time bomb" set to detonate in 2024/25.

He said the final stage, which puts people earning from $45,000 to $200,000 on the same tax rate in five years, would demand austerity measures which had radically hit public services in Europe.

In outlining his support for raising Newstart, Senator Ayres took aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison for describing the opposition's policy as "unfunded empathy".

"What a grotesque, cowardly and dishonest comment. It's an insult to the one million Australians trapped in poverty and unemployment by the current rate."

He said the government's refusal to lift the rate revealed a deeper, darker malice behind Mr Morrison's government.

"A cruel pea-heart beats inside the chest of this mean-spirited government."

Labor should promote an active social democratic state that works for all Australians, he said.

Australian Associated Press