Just when you start losing faith in The People, they go ahead and do something lovely. Something really lovely, like raising more than $27,000 for a man they’ve never met.
That man is Duncan Storrar, the dead set Aussie legend who schooled the pollies on budget fairness during Monday night’s episode of Q&A. Watch the video clip above.
Duncan has been propelled to cult hero status after he slammed the government’s decision to cut income tax for high earners, given he can’t even afford to take his little girls to see a movie.
“I’ve got a disability and a low education, that means I’ve spent my whole life working for minimum wage. You’re going to lift the tax-free threshold for rich people.
“If you lift my tax-free threshold, that changes my life. That means that I get to say to my little girls, ‘Daddy’s not broke this weekend. We can go to the pictures’. Rich people don’t even notice their tax-free threshold lift. Why don’t I get it? Why do they get it?”
Well, he can certainly afford to now. A GoFundMe campaign has amassed more than $27,000 – and counting – more than triple the goal set by initiator Samuel Slammer Fawcett.
“Duncan seems like a good bloke and every little bit of cash goes a long way,” the page reads. “We reckon he deserves a bit of a helping hand so we’ve decided to buy him a new toaster. 6 grand oughtta [sic] cover it. And if he has a little bit left over, maybe he can take his kids to the movies or something.”
The $6000 toaster is a cheeky nod to Assistant Treasurer and Small Business Minister Kelly O’Dwyer’s baffling response on Monday night’s show.
When Duncan questioned why “rich people” deserve the tax-free threshold lift, O’Dwyer banged on about “jobs” and “growth”, using the example of how company tax cuts have helped one cafe owner afford… you guessed it, a $6000 toaster.