Peter Dutton's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
To Australians listening tonight, thank you very much for your time. Soon, you'll have a say in determining the future of our great country. We live, literally, in the best country in the world,...
To Australians listening tonight, thank you very much for your time. Soon, you'll have a say in determining the future of our great country. We live, literally, in the best country in the world, and we're the beneficiaries of what our forbears have built and defended. We love this country because it has forged us into a remarkable people. We're compassionate, we're stoic, we're fair and we're quietly patriotic. We cherish this country because it affords opportunities like no other, but only—and I stress this point—if we're governed well. When Australia is governed badly, dreams and ambitions become beyond reach. And that's what has happened during the last three years of the Albanese government. In my travels across the country, Australians tell me that they're working hard but they're not getting ahead. In Perth, a mum in a grocery store in tears told me how she, her husband and her children couldn't keep their heads above water with the bills stacking up. In Adelaide, I spoke with a food manufacturer whose electricity prices had gone up by about 300 per cent. In Victoria, I spoke with a supermarket employee, a woman in her 60s, who had a machete held against her throat during a robbery. In Brisbane, I listened to a young couple in their 30s who have moved back in with their parents because they simply can't buy a home even though both of them are working overtime. Such stories have now become commonplace across our country—stories of rent and mortgage stress; stories of power, shopping and insurance bills going through the roof; stories of home ownership being out of reach for so many; stories of it being increasingly difficult to see and to afford a GP; and stories of crime on our streets. For so many Australians, aspiration has turned to anxiety, optimism to pessimism and national confidence to national uncertainty. The truth is Australians can't afford three more years of the Albanese government. Every election is important. But this election does matter more than others in recent history. It is a sliding-doors moment for our nation. A returned Albanese government in any form won't just be another three bleak years. More economic mistakes will take a lot longer to recover from. Setbacks will be set in stone, and our prosperity will be damaged for decades to come. But you have the power to change the path our country's on, you have the ability to reverse decline, and you have the opportunity to get our country back on track. You can do that by voting for your Liberal or Nationals candidate so that a new Dutton coalition government can be elected. At this election, the choice could not be clearer. Tonight, I'll outline the choice Australians face at this election and our plan to fix Labor's mess. We have a positive plan to deliver: a stronger economy with lower inflation, cheaper energy, affordable homes, quality health care and safer communities; a plan to help you and your families; a plan to bring about a stronger, safer and better Australia; a plan to usher in more confident, resilient and self-reliant people right across the country. And we need to accept that we live in a more dangerous and disruptive world. To these ends, tonight I'll announce new policies that a coalition government would implement. Tonight I commit a coalition government to the following. We will introduce four critical pieces of legislation on the first sitting day in the next parliament: (1) the energy price reduction bill; (2) the lower immigration and more homes for Australians bill; (3) the keep Australians safe bill; and (4) the guaranteed funding for health, education and essential services bill. This is my signal to the Australian people of what my priorities will be in government. In his fourth budget, like the previous three, the Treasurer again painted a rosy picture of the economy. But Australians aren't silly. Your bills tell the true story of Labor's cost-of-living crisis, and here are the facts of the Albanese government's economic record: rents are up by 18 per cent, housing is up by 14 per cent, groceries are up by a staggering 30 per cent, electricity is up by 32 per cent and insurance is up for many households and businesses by 35 per cent. Australians have experienced the longest household recession and the worst collapse in living standards in our country's history. Under Labor, interest rates have gone up 12 times but only been cut once, and they've stayed higher for longer compared to other, comparable nations. This budget makes clear that Labor was only able to deliver two surpluses, piggybacking off the former coalition government's strong economic management, as well as record commodity price windfalls. And now the outlook is one of deficits as far as the eye can see. For three years Labor peddled the lie that they inherited a trillion dollars of debt, yet the budget papers that we saw on Tuesday night confirm that the Labor Party will burden Australia with a trillion dollars of debt as of next year. Tuesday's budget was one for the next five weeks, not one for the next five years. It was a shameless election voting exercise, not a plan for our country's future. It was about saving Prime Minister Albanese, not about you and certainly not about safeguarding our nation. Jim Chalmers's so-called tax cut top-up is simply a tax cut cop-out. It's a cruel hoax. Labor will spend $17 billion of taxpayers' money to give you back 70c a day in 15 months time, and yet a family with a typical mortgage under this government is $50,000 worse off. I think it's insulting, to be honest. We oppose these tax cuts and will repeal them because we think there's a better way to provide assistance to Australians. We will provide immediate cost-of-living relief for Australians. A coalition government will halve the fuel excise for 12 months, and then we'll review it. We'll make sure that that comes in on the first day that our parliament sits. For a household with one car filling up once a week, that's a saving of about $14 a week, or around $700 over the year. For a household with two cars filling up once a week, that is a saving of $28 a week, or around $1,500 over 12 months. Compare that to 70c a day in 15 months time. Working with industry, we'll ensure that heavy-vehicle road users also benefit from this measure, and we'll make sure the ACCC will ensure that the fuel excise cut will be passed on in full to consumers. The policy will cost $6 billion. Amidst Labor's cost-of-living pressures, charities are experiencing increased demand, including from Australians who never previously relied on that support. To scale up assistance and provide immediate relief, we will commit $50 million for food charities like food banks SecondBite and OzHarvest to expand their services and to include school breakfast programs. They approached the government with this plan, and it was rejected in this budget. Of course, to get out of Labor's economic mess and to tackle Labor's cost-of-living crisis, we need hard decisions and a proper plan. A coalition government will do three things: first, we will rein in inflationary spending; second, we will reduce the cost of energy; and, third, we will strengthen the economy so that it works for you. I just want to address each of those aspects in turn. Over three years, the Albanese government has increased spending as a share of the economy more than any government since the recession of the 1990s. It's lifted spending by an extraordinary $425 billion. That's about $40,000 per Australian household. Much of this spending hasn't gone to essential services or generated economic activity. Rather, it's been inflationary, it's been ineffectual, and it's been wasteful. Such rapid and unrestrained spending is not only adding to the debt that our children will have to repay but also keeping the pressure on inflation. During a cost-of-living crisis that's the last thing that you want. The Reserve Bank governor has independently pointed out this great failing in this bad government. Core inflation under this government has averaged more than double what it was under the coalition. Personal income taxes paid have also increased by about 24 per cent under Labor. The average taxpayer is now paying $3,500 more tax this year alone or, for a dual income household, $7,000. That's a big hit. I want Australian families to be making choices about what they will eat, not choices about whether they can eat or heat, which is the prospect facing many people, particularly pensioners and people on low incomes, in our country right now. I want to make sure that we can fight the cost-of-living pressures, because we need to get interest rates down. To get interest rates down, we need, of course, to get inflation down. To get inflation down, we need to address its underlying causes, and that's something the government hasn't done. We want to stop wasteful government spending, and tonight I announce that a coalition government will reign in key inflationary, ineffectual and imprudent spending, which has been a hallmark of this government. We will end the reckless $20 billion Rewiring the Nation Fund. We will stop the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which has not built a single additional home. We will scrap Labor's nearly $14 billion of production tax credits for green hydrogen because it is not going to work. We'll reverse Labor's increase of 41,000 Canberran public servants because it will save about $7 billion a year. That's money that we can provide back to the Australian people in frontline services. The growth rate of public servants under this government in Canberra is about three times the rate it was under the Rudd-Gillard government. But I make this guarantee to the Australian people tonight: in line with our national interest, we will continue to invest in essential services and critical areas of the economy like health and aged care, veteran support, the NDIS, Indigenous affairs, child care and defence. We won't cut frontline service delivery roles. We will ensure that the services Australians rely on are sustainable. Under Labor, you will be guaranteed a number of things, but one thing I'm sure of is more reckless and wasteful spending, which will cause interest rates and inflation to stay higher for longer. That means you'll pay more for everything—more for food, more for your rent, more for your mortgage, more for power and more for insurance. You'll continue to pay more tax too. But, under the coalition, we will fight cost-of-living pressures at their source. At the very centre of Labor's cost-of-living crisis, is, of course, the skyrocketing cost of energy. That's due, of course, to Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen's reckless renewables-only policy train wreck. As every Australian knows, energy is the economy. Australians are paying some of the highest power prices in the world—indeed, up to three times more than comparable economies—and the Albanese government has broken its core election promise when it comes to energy. Your electricity bill hasn't gone down by $275 as Labor promised on 97 occasions. The Prime Minister and Treasurer refuse even to mention that word, even though they looked you in the eye and said that they would bring your power prices down by $275 each year. As Australians can attest, they're now paying $1,300 more than what Labor promised in their energy bills. I think the point to make is that it's not just homeowners and renters who are paying higher power bills. It's farmers, it's business owners, it's cafe owners, and it's manufacturers too. Across the economy, it's costing more to grow food, more to produce goods, more to store the food and the goods and, certainly, more to deliver services, and those costs are just passed on to Australian consumers, which is why Australians are feeling the crunch at the moment. I want Australians to be putting items in their shopping trolley, not putting them back onto supermarket shelves. I want businesses to be able to hire more staff, not put more money aside to pay ever-increasing power bills. Gas is the key in our country, as it is around the developed world, to manufacturing, to making electricity and to keeping the lights on. But the Albanese government has stalled projects from getting off the ground and created a national gas emergency due to insufficient supply. We now know that, in our country, Victoria is about to spend money building an import terminal to bring gas into Victoria—to import gas into Victoria. Under Labor, gas prices have gone up for households and businesses by 34 per cent and 43 per cent respectively. The coalition understands what Labor won't: you can't run a full-time and functioning economy using part-time and unreliable power. Under Labor, the energy crisis—and, therefore, your pain—will continue. Bills will keep going up because the cost of putting out 28,000 kilometres of new transmission lines will just be passed on to Australians. Our energy grid will become more unstable, with a greater reliance on sometimes-on power, which equals blackouts and brownouts. And you can expect a lot of energy rationing in Australia under a re-elected Albanese government. Under the coalition, energy will become affordable and reliable again, where we use a mix of technologies which include always-on power to firm up the renewable sometimes-on power. And the only way to drive down power prices quickly is to ramp up domestic gas production, and tonight I announce our national gas plan. This plan will prioritise domestic gas supply, address shortfalls and reduce energy prices for Australians. This is all about ensuring Australian gas is for Australians. We will immediately introduce an east coast gas reservation. This will require a proportion between 50 and 100 petajoules of spot cargo exports to be delivered to the domestic market. This will secure an additional 10 to 20 per cent of the east coast demand—gas which would otherwise be exported for use in other markets by consumers in those countries. But our gas needs to be first and foremost for our people. Gas sold on the domestic market will be decoupled from overseas markets to protect Australia from international price shocks, and this will drive down new wholesale domestic gas prices from around $14 per gigajoule to under $10 per gigajoule. And this is just the start. We will immediately audit development-ready projects, with a focus on the southern states. We will fast-track a decision on Western Australia's North West Shelf project. The government has delayed a decision on that project, conveniently, until 31 May, which happens to be after the election. So good luck in WA! We will halve approval times. We will defund the activist led Environmental Defenders Office, which has been disgraced and which has obstructed projects. We will accelerate new investment into gas projects by reinstating a $300 million strategic basin plan and include gas in the Capacity Investment Scheme. We will invest $1 billion into a critical gas infrastructure fund and increase gas pipeline and storage capacity. We will put in place 'use it or lose it' stipulations for gas-drilling companies so offshore gas fields are not locked up for years. And we will ensure that we have a fit-for-purpose gas trigger to safeguard supply. This plan will lower wholesale gas prices, which will flow across the economy. Our national gas plan is expected to push prices down for new gas sales to below $10 per gigajoule, compared to the $14 in the market today. Energy prices will always be lower under a coalition government. A coalition government will also secure our nation's energy security for decades to come and over the longer term. We will join the other 19 top economies in the world in adopting proven zero-emissions nuclear power. This is one of the most visionary and necessary policies put forward in our country's history. It was supported by Bob Hawke, and it's supported by John Howard and other leaders of our nation. It will underpin our energy security for the next century. Our plan has been independently costed at 44 per cent cheaper than Labor's plan. Labor has never been able to dispute that outcome. What it means is that there are savings of $263 billion for Australians. If a plan is cheaper, electricity prices will be cheaper as fewer costs are passed on to consumers. Nuclear power's high yield of energy and small footprint means that there's no need to carpet our national parks, prime agricultural land and coastlines with industrial-scale renewables. The coalition has the only energy policy which protects our environment and safeguards the livelihoods of regional Australia. The exorbitant cost of energy is one reason why a record 29,000 small businesses have gone insolvent under Labor. It's one reason why there's been a threefold increase in the number of manufacturers who have closed under Mr Albanese's watch. But another reason is Labor's excessive regulation and interference in the economy. Sectors critical to our economy, like mining, manufacturing, forestry, fishing and agriculture, have been crippled by Labor's weaponisation of environment industry IR and cultural heritage laws. We are seeing industries simply pack up and go offshore and international partners withdraw investment from our country. For all of Anthony Albanese's talk of a future made in Australia, the opposite is actually a fact. Less is being made in Australia under this government's watch and more is being made abroad. The last three years are a lesson: no government can subsidise the economy to success. Under Labor, we will continue to see a hollowing-out of our economy. Industries and businesses will continue to collapse in record numbers or simply move operations offshore, which means that we'll lose those jobs. Under the coalition, we will build a stronger economy, not only by getting power prices down but also by ripping up as much red tape and green tape as possible. Tonight, I commit to removing regulatory burdens where we can, where there's duplication across local, state and federal government, during a first-term coalition government. My intention is to make Australia a mining, agriculture, construction and manufacturing powerhouse once again. The revenue generated from these revived sectors will create more money to build new infrastructure, to fund health and education and, importantly, to equip our defence forces. In addition to backing our natural strengths, we will encourage new areas of the economy, like artificial intelligence, automation, cybersecurity, space, and bio- and nanotechnologies. AUKUS, too, has the potential to foster a new arm of our economy and transform our civil industrial base. We will spend taxpayers' money wisely, in a manner which has an economic multiplying effect, in a way which generates productivity and can attract new investment. That's better for you and your family. It will create jobs for your children and grandchildren. We will curtail union militancy in workplaces. We will revert to a simple definition of 'casual worker'. The corrupt and disgraced CFMEU, who have donated $11 million to the Labor Party, which in turn has seen the Labor Party turn a blind eye to them and their illegal conduct, will be deregistered. The construction industry watchdog will be restored so that we can have safety again on big building sites. New antiracketeering laws will be legislated and a dedicated Australian Federal Police led taskforce will tackle the criminal elements in our building sector that are ripping off Australians and undermining productivity. Prime Minister, I would never tolerate seeing a member of a union—or any person, for that matter—kicking a woman on camera and not even commenting in relation to it. It was a disgrace, and it was a disgrace that this government allowed it to happen. It is a common practice from the CFMEU. Reviving growth also means having the backs of small business, including through tax relief. We've got tax relief coming for small business. We will increase the instant asset write-off from $1,000 under this government to $30,000, and we are going to make that arrangement ongoing. We will provide a deduction of up to $20,000 per year for small businesses for business related meal expenses, which is also a much-needed shot in the arm for struggling cafes, restaurants and pubs. If your kids or grandkids work in a local cafe or at a local pub or club, this will see them get more hours and have more secure employment. It will allow the local real estate agency or a builder to take staff to a local cafe to celebrate a big sales event or simply to say thank you to their hardworking employees. It creates jobs, and it supports the struggling hospitality sector. I want small businesses to be taking calculated risks, not shutting up shop. Reviving growth and preparing our economy for the future also means supporting skills development. Tonight, I announce that a coalition government will set a target of 400,000 apprentices and trainees in training across Australia. Our plan is to restore targeted and proven incentive payments for employers to hire and train an apprentice. We will provide small and medium businesses with $12,000 to support them to put on a new apprentice or trainee in critical skills areas for the first two years of their training. It will have a particular focus on the building and construction sector. Addressing Labor's cost-of-living crisis and energy crisis is just the start. In its first two years, the government brought in a million people through the migration program. That's 70 per cent more migrants than in any two-year period in Australia's history. Of course, there will be consequences. And yet, after three years in power, the Albanese government hasn't delivered a single additional new home built under its failed housing policies. Australians are generous and welcoming people, but they want migration to be sustainable and the government to be in control of it. Labor neither is in control of migration nor has kept migration at sustainable levels, and Australians know it. I don't want young Australians locked out of the property market or having to rely on the bank of mum and dad. I want to see fewer Australians homeless and more Australians in homes. Under Labor, migration will continue to put pressure on housing, on infrastructure and on services. But, under the coalition, we will cut the migration intake to free up housing and restore the great Australian dream of homeownership. We will cut the permanent migration program by 25 per cent. We will ban foreign investors and temporary residents from purchasing existing Australian homes for a period of two years. We will set stricter caps on foreign students to relieve stress on rental markets, and we will invest $5 billion in essential infrastructure to get stalled housing projects up and going, and it's going to create 500,000 new homes. We will allow for first home buyers to access up to $50,000 of their super for a home deposit because it's better to get into a home sooner. When a government doesn't have any achievements to speak about, which is the reality for this government, it resorts to smears and scare campaigns. There's no greater sign of the Albanese government's desperation than its 'Mediscare' campaign—Labor's third attempt in less than a decade. But, while Labor peddles falsehoods, we'll remind Australians of the facts. On this government's watch, bulk-billing nationally has fallen by 11 per cent. There have been 41 million fewer bulk-billing episodes with GP services under this government. And more than 270 GP practices have closed under this government's watch. Australians should never have to choose between seeing a doctor or paying their bills. Under Labor, Australians will have ongoing pressures on the health system, but, under the coalition, we will deliver quality health care. We will invest $9.4 billion into health. That includes incentivising junior doctors, as I announced last year, to work as GPs to address the current shortages at your local clinic. We will boost Medicare bulk-billing. We will invest in hospitals, especially in high-population-growth areas where there is the biggest strain on services. We will guarantee cheaper medicines and lower the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment to $25, and we'll invest $500 million into women's health. And we will double the subsidised mental health sessions from 10 20 and make this arrangement permanent. Many young Australians require access to mental health services in any given year, and tonight I announce that a coalition government will invest an additional $400 million into youth mental health services. We will expand the remit of the National Centre for Excellence in Youth Mental Health, which I created in 2014, into a national institute. We will boost regional services and expand treatment to Australia at the forefront of youth mental health treatment in the world. We will continue to support the world-leading Medical Research Future Fund, which I established as the then health minister. There is now more than $20 billion in that fund, and it's providing support to our specialists all around the country, to scientists, to researchers and to labs—all of them working on incredible projects. That funding will continue to provide them with support and Australians with hope. In my travels across the country, Australians tell me they've never been more worried about crime and division in our community. It started with the Prime Minister's Voice referendum, which sought to divide our country by ancestry and race. He then left a vacuum of leadership following the crime wave in Alice Springs and the antisemitism on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. All too often, the Prime Minister is too weak, too late and too equivocal. This government has released 300 hardcore criminals from immigration detention into the community, with more than a third having reoffended against Australian citizens. It granted tourist visas to 3,000 people from a terrorist-controlled war zone, conducted without security checks that should have been put in place. It has failed to deter people smugglers trying to reach our shores by illegal boats. It has turned a blind eye when our military personnel have been endangered. It didn't stand up for our country when Chinese communist warships entered our waters without notice. It relied on Virgin Australia pilots to alert us to the Chinese navy's live fire exercise off our coast. Australia should be a country where people live without fear and without worrying about the future. Under Labor, you'll get the same weakness of leadership that has compounded crime and emboldened antisemitism on our streets. You'll get a nation that is less safe and less secure. But, under the coalition, we will provide the moral and political leadership needed to restore law, order and justice. We will establish a dedicated antisemitism taskforce to turn the tide of this scourge of hatred. Every Australian should be equally treated. We will work with states and territories to develop national uniform knife laws. We will toughen bail laws to stop domestic violence offenders. We will again stop the boats, just as we did in 2013, and we will again deport dangerous non-citizen criminals, just as I did as home affairs minister in cancelling 6,300 visas of murderers, sex offenders and drug traffickers, something this government hasn't continued. We will again invest in defence to play our part as a credible partner to deter aggression and to maintain peace. We've already committed to $3 billion of additional funding to reinstate the fourth squadron of the F-35 joint strike fighters cancelled by Labor. Our plan is to energise our domestic defence industry and to retool the ADF with asymmetric capabilities to deter a larger adversary. During the election campaign, we will announce our significant funding commitment to defence—a commitment which, unlike Labor's, will be commensurate with the challenges of our times. The Prime Minister of our country and the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Defence, tell Australians regularly that we live in the most precarious period, the most dangerous period, since the end of the Second World War. What leader of a country says that and then doesn't do anything about it? We will nurture pride and unity in our country. We will provide support to the Australian Defence Force to keep us safe today and into generations ahead at a time when we most need it. That starts by making sure that we don't fail young Australians. I think this is an incredibly important point. A coalition government will restore a curriculum that teaches the core fundamentals in our classrooms, a curriculum that cultivates critical thinking, responsible citizenship and common sense. This election is as much about leadership as it is about policy, and the choice is clear at the next election. I will be a strong leader with a steady hand. I will make the tough decisions, not shirk them. I will put the national interest first. I will lead with conviction, not walk both sides of the street. I have real life experience to demonstrate it, as a veteran of the police force who dedicated nine years to protecting Australians, especially women and children; as a small business owner who started and successfully ran businesses; as someone who came from a working-class background and knows the value of hard work and the aspiration that drives Australians; and as a parent, along with my wife, Kirilly, who understands that family is the most important unit in our society. I want to give a shout-out to Kirilly tonight. She's just had surgery on her wrist and is at home watching with Rebecca, Harry and Tom—unless maths clashes with this broadcast. I've been an assistant treasurer in our country. I've been a minister for health, a minister for immigration, a minister for home affairs and a minister for defence, which was an enormous honour. I lead a united and incredibly capable team. We're ready to govern. We're ready to deliver a stronger economy with lower inflation, cheaper energy, affordable homes, quality health care and safer communities. We will govern with respect for the views, values and vision of everyday Australians. Australians are worse off under the Albanese government, and Australians cannot afford three more years of this bad Labor government. I say to Australians tonight: at this election, you can make the right choice. You can make a better choice for you, a better choice for your family and a better choice for your country. Together, let's build a stronger, safer and better Australia, and let's get our country back on track. Debate adjourned. House adjourned at 20 : 08 The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Payne ) took the chair at 09:30.
Defence Procurement: Submarines | Questions without Notice | House debates
on indulgence—I think that was a pretty good answer, and I wanted to support the Prime Minister on what I think is an issue of national significance and importance. The Prime Minister and...
on indulgence—I think that was a pretty good answer, and I wanted to support the Prime Minister on what I think is an issue of national significance and importance. The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have rightly pointed out that we live in the most precarious period since the end of the Second World War. It's based on intelligence and the advice of the best people in uniform, not just here in Australia but in Europe and in other allies' intelligence networks as well, so it is appropriate that we make this investment. I think the Prime Minister, when he was the then Leader of the Opposition, made a brave call in supporting the then government's decision to go with the AUKUS nuclear propelled submarine. It is a safe technology. It provides the stealth capacity that the Prime Minister pointed out. It gives us the best in class of the technology, and it allows us to project and to provide defences to our country in a very uncertain century. I think to question that is not wise and not in our national interest, and I think it is important for the Australian public and for our allies to hear that there is and there always will remain a bipartisan position when it comes to the submarines. As the first line of defence, it will underpin our national security for decades and decades to come.
Taxation | Questions without Notice | House debates
The Prime Minister has caused a lot of pain for Australian families over the last three years. Will the Prime Minister join with me in cutting the price of petrol and diesel to save tradies,...
The Prime Minister has caused a lot of pain for Australian families over the last three years. Will the Prime Minister join with me in cutting the price of petrol and diesel to save tradies, pensioners and families up to $28 a week instead of his 70c-a-day tax cut, which doesn't even come in for 15 months?
Migration | Questions without Notice | House debates
Budget | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Prime Minister. Given last night's cruel hoax of a budget, can the Prime Minister explain how giving struggling Australians just 70 cents a day in 15 months time will help...
My question is to the Prime Minister. Given last night's cruel hoax of a budget, can the Prime Minister explain how giving struggling Australians just 70 cents a day in 15 months time will help them with their mortgage, energy, insurance and grocery bills today?
Treasury Laws Amendment (More Cost of Living Relief) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
I don't want to show my age here, but you'll remember The Comedy Company, and there was a great character on The Comedy Company called Uncle Arthur. Remember Uncle Arthur? There he was floating...
I don't want to show my age here, but you'll remember The Comedy Company, and there was a great character on The Comedy Company called Uncle Arthur. Remember Uncle Arthur? There he was floating around, rambling around. That speech by the Prime Minister darted back to the Gillard years. He projected himself forward. He was stuck yesterday. What was that incoherent rant from this Prime Minister who is out of luck and out of time? The reality is that this government has let down the Australian people. We saw from the Prime Minister then somebody who has lost his way, somebody who has an inability to hear what it is that Australians need. Last night, we saw a budget which really encapsulated what we already knew about this government and what we knew about previous Labor governments, going back to the Whitlam government. This is a tax-and-spend government. This is a reckless-spend Labor government at its very worst. This Labor Party has racked up a trillion dollars of debt, and they're saying to Australians, to an average family who is $50,000 worse off under the last three years of the Albanese Labor government: 'Be grateful. Be thankful, because 70c a day is coming your way in 15 months time.' You heard the Prime Minister earlier say: 'Mission accomplished. The job is done, and Australians should be thankful for everything they've got.' Well, Prime Minister, there are a record number of homeless Australians. There are a record number of single parents. There are a record number of pensioners who are sleeping rough this very day. There are millions of Australians who have lost their businesses, have lost their livelihoods and have lost hope in this government. This government had an opportunity in the budget to deliver support. Indeed, they had the opportunity in the last three budgets to deliver support. They didn't do that. They've spent money on projects which have driven up the cost of electricity, and I say to the Australian people that, at this election, we will provide an opportunity for you to make a choice. The choice will be between a high-spending Labor government that will drive up the cost of electricity, that will force you out of a home and that will make our country less safe and secure on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a coalition government which has a vision for our country and which has a plan for our country to make sure that we can address cost-of-living pressures that have been created by this bad Labor government. We have a plan to sort out the energy crisis that Labor have created. We will make sure that we put in place structural reforms that allow us to address the impact on grocery prices. Grocery costs under this government have gone up by 30 per cent. We will address that in our offering to the Australian public. We will then say that we will have a plan to reduce migration so that we can increase houses for Australians. We will restore the dream of homeownership for young Australians. We will say to Australians that we're going to put you first, because we're going to put a two-year ban in place that will stop foreign buyers from competing against young Australian homeowners bidding at an auction. We will put Australians first. We will say to the Australian public that we want to keep our country safe and secure. I want Australians to feel safer in their homes, in their communities and in their regions. I want to make sure that we reflect, in our policies, the difficulties that are the reality of today's world. And we don't know what our children and our grandchildren will face, but, if we don't prepare for it today, we will be a weaker and less safe country into the future. This election will be about the difference that people make between a government that's going to continue to ramble along, put us into further debt, make it harder for families and crush small businesses, and a coalition that has a plan for our country to get it back on track. Last night in the budget, not only was this cruel hoax perpetrated on the Australian public in its offering of 70c a day in 15 months time, not only did they rack up a trillion dollars worth of debt, not only did they say to the Australian public that they don't have a clue what they're doing on housing—they rehashed the same housing policies from the last four budgets. Do you know how many houses they've delivered? Out of the four budget announcements, you would have thought, if they're promising 1.2 million homes, that, maybe after three years, they would have achieved 400,000 homes. You might think that was reasonable. It's not 400,000 homes. You might think that it could be 250,000 homes. That would help young Australians get into a home. You would have thought 100,000. It's not 100,000. We could have said thank you for 100 homes—not one home! If anything sums up the hopelessness of the Albanese government, it's their housing crisis. At the same time that they've choked supply and they have increased demand for housing, they've also driven up the cost of housing. They've allowed the CFMEU to run riot across the construction sector. Why would they do that? Why would they abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission—the cop on the beat—on day one? I'll tell you why, because $11½ million was donated to the Labor Party by the CFMEU so the CFMEU and Gatto and all of the other crooks associated with the CFMEU—the bikies, the enforcers and the people breaking arms and kicking women on building sites—have all been allowed to run riot under this government, and Australians have paid the price of Labor's inaction. There has been a crisis on Labor's watch, but it's not just cost of living, it is not just in relation to health and it is not just in relation to national security but it's everything this Prime Minister touches which turns to dirt. On the weekend, we saw the Treasurer out on Insiders, and normally the idea on the Sunday before the budget's delivered is that the Treasurer would be out there putting forward some ideas, responding to a policy that they dropped to the Sunday papers and getting their grabs up and hoping that that was going to be the package on that night's news. But without precedent, strangely enough, knowing that the Treasurer was due on Insiders at nine o'clock, the Prime Minister popped up in the prime ministerial courtyard with an impromptu press conference. Why was it held? Was it because the Prime Minister thought that the Treasurer wasn't competent enough to deliver the lines on Insiders? As the Treasurer tells us, he is the greatest communicator in this country since settlement! He has been an amazing communicator in front of the mirror regularly! But the Prime Minister is out there in this beauty contest with the Treasurer. There he is on Sunday morning trying to insert himself, claiming the $150, because behind the scenes at the moment it's not so rosy on the Labor side. They want to paint this picture going into the election. But you have the Leader of the House out there trying to win votes in Western Sydney by signing up as many people as he can to vote for him before the election because he knows that he is on the nose as much as the Prime Minister. You have the health minister who is presiding over a bulk-billing rate that is much lower than when I was health minister. When I was health minister, it was 84 per cent. It's now 77 per cent under him. So he's not going to be a contestant. Who's the dark horse here? I would say— An opposition member: Chris Bowen! No, it's not Chris Bowen. Let's stay in the credibility space. It is not Chris Bowen. For goodness sake, for the sake of our country, it is not Chris Bowen. That is comical. Tanya Plibersek's not going anywhere. The Prime Minister has legislated over the top of the environment minister because the environment minister won't make the decision that he is hoping she will make in relation to the North West Shelf gas extension in WA or in relation to the salmon industry in Tasmania. This government is in disarray. Our country can't afford three more years of this. Our country cannot afford three more years of a Labor government. As every political commentator is pointing out, the Albanese government cannot be elected in a majority form after the election. It can only be returned here with the support of the dangerous, reckless, extreme Greens and with the Green teals, and that would be an absolute outrage for our economy and for our country. Twenty-nine thousand small businesses have gone broke under this government's watch, and many more will follow if we have a Labor-Greens minority government. This government has been dictated to by the Greens over the course of the last three years. This government has responded by seeking to trash industry and jobs in Tasmania and doing the same in Western Australia because they have played to the Greens. The environment minister and the Prime Minister are desperately worried about what the Greens will do to them at the next election, and that's why they have sold out our country. That's why they have sold out parts of our community, including the Jewish community—because they have seen political advantage in putting forward policies that will see support from the Greens in their seats in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne. It has been a shameful way to act and it has been on full display for the Australian people. Right here and right now, we contemplate a budget under this government which will make it much harder for Australians at a time when families deserve support. Last night, the Treasurer demonstrated that this Albanese government is in form with the Whitlam government and with other high-spending Labor governments, and this is a point worth making. We need to make sure that we understand that we live in uncertain times—economically uncertain with tariffs, uncertain in relation to the energy crisis that we have seen grip Europe as a result of war and uncertain in relation to inflation, which hasn't gone away in our country. A government that has spent an additional $425 billion is, ultimately, fuelling inflation. I want a country where families can afford to pay their mortgages again. I want a country where we can afford to go to the supermarket again. I want a country where people aren't forced into rough sleeping arrangements, sleeping in the back of their cars or couch surfing as young people. I want a country again where young Australians can achieve the dream of homeownership. I want a country where we can live with peace and certainty in an uncertain world. The first charge of a prime minister of our country is to keep us safe. This Prime Minister, along with the defence minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, has repeatedly said to the Australian people that we live in the most precarious period since the end of the Second World War in 1945. That's a big statement. In 80 years, we've spanned the Cold War and we've gone through the Vietnam War, the Middle East campaigns and uncertainty now with the prospect of war in broader Europe. We see what's happening in the Middle East. The Prime Minister of our country and the Deputy Prime Minister say we live in the most dangerous period now in 80 years. You would have expected that, in the budget, they may have put money into defence. Instead, they've taken $80 billion out of defence. Defence industry is collapsing in this country. Defence industry saw some light of hope and opportunity when the Deputy Prime Minister became the defence minister, but I tell you, that flame has long extinguished, and there are many people across the country who are worried about our ability to protect and defend ourselves in an uncertain century. I give this commitment to the Australian people, and I demonstrated it as defence minister and as home affairs minister: I will take the decisions that we need to take to keep our country safe. I took a decision to deport 6,000 criminals: bikies, rapists, pedophiles—people who made us less safe. This government has released criminals unnecessarily from jail, and those criminals have gone on to commit further offences. I will keep our borders secure. I will make sure that our government keeps our country safe when we don't know what the next years or decades hold for us and for our region. We will lead a government which will stand with our allies and make sure that we do so proudly and with distinction. We will make sure that we make the investments to keep us safe and to keep Australian families with hope. We will support small businesses. We will grow manufacturing in this country again. We will have an energy system which will be the envy of the world—not one where we're now featuring blackouts and brownouts and paying three times the electricity cost as in comparable markets in the world. We will achieve cheaper, greener and more reliable power, because we have the plan to do that. And between now and the election, we will outline that plan, and we will give a very stark choice to the Australian people to have a more definite and brighter future for their families, for their small businesses and, most importantly, for our country. And that will be the test at the upcoming election. Australians cannot afford three more years of an Albanese government which will be bad for them, bad for their families and bad for our country.
North West Shelf Project | Questions without Notice | House debates
It's about timing. Is it before or after the election? It's a basic question.
Economy | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Prime Minister. Before the last election, Prime Minister, you promised that Australian families would be better off. The Prime Minister promised a $275 cut on 97 occasions...
My question is to the Prime Minister. Before the last election, Prime Minister, you promised that Australian families would be better off. The Prime Minister promised a $275 cut on 97 occasions before the election. Instead, they've gone up by $1,300. We've had the largest fall in living standards in history, our country is divided and 29,000 small businesses have gone broke. This Prime Minister's record adds up to nothing. How can struggling Australian families and businesses possibly afford another three years of the Albanese government?
Tropical Cyclone Alfred | Statements on Indulgence | House debates
I thank the Prime Minister for his words and for his update. I do also want to add words of thanks to the many people who were involved in what was an incredible preparation period but also those...
I thank the Prime Minister for his words and for his update. I do also want to add words of thanks to the many people who were involved in what was an incredible preparation period but also those involved in the response period as well. I had the great fortune of speaking with SES workers and many first responders who were preparing, many of whom had travelled from Townsville and other places which had been affected by natural disaster, most recently in relation to flooding. In fact, I acknowledge—I was just speaking to the member for Herbert before—the flooding that's taking place in Townsville right now and people who are sandbagging and worrying about their businesses and their homes in that greater Townsville area. But they were there, rolling their sleeves up, and they were involved in the response. It was again a demonstration of that great Australian spirit. The work, in my own case, of the Moreton Bay council and Moreton Bay city, was exemplary. I acknowledge the work of not only Peter Flannery but also Adrian Schrinner in Brisbane City Council and Tom Tate on the Gold Coast, all of whom I caught up with and who did a remarkable job of responding. I also want to acknowledge the work of Premier Crisafulli, who was able to lead the state in an exemplary fashion and, to his great credit, provide the initial planning and the response as well. I want to thank the member for Page, the member for Moncrieff, the member for McPherson and the member for Fadden and all of those who were involved. I was just speaking before to Scott Buchholz, who was talking about growers in his electorate who still hadn't received the necessary support that they needed to get up on their feet again and to recover from what was a very serious event for them. We know that, for those people in Lismore, as the Prime Minister rightly pointed out, this is yet the latest devastation for them and for their communities. That is something we really acknowledge in this place. There were about 44,000 insurance claims made, but the response of all of those, including Disaster Relief Australia and those in uniform, is something that we acknowledge. We also acknowledge the loss of life of Tom Cook, who was 61 years of age, as well as the 36 Defence Force personnel who were involved in the collision, and we wish a speedy recovery to those who are still unwell and still recovering from what was a terrible event.
Albanese Government | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
Well, if you're sitting at home at the moment around the kitchen table working out how you're going to pay bills, looking at your insurance premium which has gone up dramatically, looking at the...
Well, if you're sitting at home at the moment around the kitchen table working out how you're going to pay bills, looking at your insurance premium which has gone up dramatically, looking at the rent bill, looking at the grocery bill—if you're looking at any aspect of expenditure in your household or, indeed, in your small business, you would've watched question time today and believed that this Prime Minister and this government were living in a parallel universe. This government is so far out of touch with where the Australian public is that it is deeply offensive. As day after day goes by, the Australian public realise that this Prime Minister has no solution for them, has no answer to their problems and is, in fact, the architect of the problems that have been created over the course of the last long 1,000 days. What we have seen from this Prime Minister and from this government from the very start is an absolute abrogation of their key responsibilities. Their first responsibility is to keep Australians safe. What has happened since particularly 7 October 2023 is that our country has become less cohesive and less safe. That is the reality. There are thousands and thousands of people in the Jewish community today who know that our country, their community and their neighbourhood is less safe because of the inaction and the weak leadership of this Prime Minister. This Prime Minister has demonstrated that he is out of his depth. When those people went to the steps of the Sydney Opera House, they weren't condemned as they should've been by this Prime Minister. When those protests started on the steps of the Opera House, they spread to university campuses and they went on unabated for months and months on the streets of Melbourne and of Sydney. People knew no red lines whatsoever because the police were instructed by a weak Premier in Victoria and by the Premier and the police minister in New South Wales to hold up law and order and to keep peace but not to intervene and arrest people for committing serious crimes. Australians have been horrified by what they've seen on their television screens in the last 24 hours, with those two healthcare workers and their disgraceful, deplorable comments. That is the face of what the people of the Jewish community have been experiencing for the last 15 months at their local shopping centres, when they go online, when they read emails and when they've been disenfranchised and disowned by people in their own communities. That is exactly the sort of vile filth and racism that these people have been experiencing in our country for the last 15 months. It's given the Australian public a window into the way in which this Prime Minister conducts himself. This Prime Minister has made it his core business to prioritise policies that will win them the votes of Greens voters in the inner-city suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. That is what's driven this Prime Minister because that is where this Prime Minister sees political opportunity. It's not just in relation to issues around national security; it's also in relation to issues on the environment. People in Western Australia—the powerhouse of this economy and of this nation—know that, if this Prime Minister is to be re-elected, he can only do so with the support of the Greens and the Green teals. If that is the case, mining will be on its knees overnight. The people of WA aren't stupid. The people of WA know that this bill—which is ironically called 'nature positive' but really is mining negative—is all about how it can frustrate mining. If we close down mining in Western Australia, we stop funding schools on the east coast. If we close down mining in WA—as the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Greens would do after the election—we won't fund infrastructure projects, including in North Queensland, as the member for Kennedy rightly pleaded only a few moments ago. If the Labor Party is re-elected, we know that the nature-positive, mining-negative bill will be reintroduced in its worst form as part of the construct between the Labor Party and the Greens. It will kill the economy, not just in WA, but across the nation. It doesn't stop with just national security, social cohesion and the environment. It also goes to what we've seen in the government's decisions on salmon farming. The economy and the environment in Tasmania will be adversely affected. Those workers in Tasmania will be adversely affected by the decision that the government's taken to close down the salmon industry in Tasmania. Why would they do that, when it's a central part of the economy, the economic life and the social life of those living in Tasmania? It's because the Prime Minister is again seeking to appeal to voters who would otherwise be voting for the Greens in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne. This Prime Minister has decided to put, as his first priority, the interests of Greens voters in Sydney and Melbourne, and he has hung the people in suburbs and regional and remote areas of the country out to dry. That's exactly what has happened under this Prime Minister's watch. When we speak about 1,000 long days of this Prime Minister's reign—it feels like 10,000, first of all—we consider the impact has been negative on so many families, with so many people struggling to pay their mortgages after interest rates have increased 12 times. Interest rates have already gone down in the United States and the United Kingdom, in Canada and in New Zealand, but they haven't gone down here yet. I hope and pray they go down next week to provide some relief to mortgage holders. It's not just households. There are 27,000 small businesses who have gone bankrupt under this Prime Minister's watch—a record high. There are manufacturing workers in this country with very few prospects of a future under this Prime Minister, particularly after the election in a minority government, because there has been a threefold increase in the number of manufacturing businesses which have closed over the course of the last two-and-a-half years. Have a look at what has happened in the area of health. When people go to their doctors, they know there's no bulk-billing available. When I was health minister the bulk-billing rate was at 84 per cent; today it's at 77 per cent and heading south. Of those 27,000 small businesses which closed under the Prime Minister's watch, 272 of them have been doctors surgeries—a record number of closures of doctors surgeries under the Albanese government's watch. That is an outrage. We need to provide support to aging Australians. We need to provide support to those mothers going through maternity services. We need to provide support to every Australian who needs a doctor at the time they need that doctor, not to make them wait for two weeks to get in to see a bulk-billing practice. We've promised $400 million to train more doctors and to get more doctors into the system. We've promised to prioritise households and small businesses and businesses otherwise, because we want to grow the economy again. We want to get this country back on track. We want to fight the cost-of-living scourge that has been created by Labor. We want to make sure that we can help the health system grow, not shrink as it has under Labor. We want to make sure we can help all those businesses grow so they can employ more people, and help them with their priorities in life. We want to make sure that we can support every Australian to be the best they can be. We have outlined a vision for the Australian public. We have put forward a plan and will detail more of that as we go into the election. We will fight the cost-of-living pressures. We will build a stronger economy. We will cut government waste, which has fuelled inflation. We will back small business. We will deliver affordable and reliable energy. We will rebalance our migration program. We will fix the housing crisis. We will deliver quality health care. We will focus on practical action for Indigenous Australians. We will grow a stronger regional Australia. We will build strong and sustainable communities. We will keep Australians safe. I promise the Australian people, as we go to the next election, that our government will be a government of strength, prepared to make the decisions to keep our country safe. My government will be a government which stands up for our interests on the world stage. We will do what it takes to rebuild the Australian economy, to clean up a Labor mess, exactly as John Howard and Peter Costello did in 1996. We won't shirk the responsibilities that sit on the shoulders of the government and a prime minister of the day. We will clean up this government's mess and we will get our country back on track.
On a point of relevance, the Prime Minister was asked a very tight question; it was one sentence. We ask for a straight answer. Will he rule out changes to negative gearing and capital gains...
On a point of relevance, the Prime Minister was asked a very tight question; it was one sentence. We ask for a straight answer. Will he rule out changes to negative gearing and capital gains treatment of property during his period as Prime Minister? Can he just say yes or no? Can he be honest with the Australian people?
My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister rule out any changes to negative gearing and capital gains treatment on property during his time as Prime Minister?
Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
on indulgence—On behalf of the coalition I want to formally congratulate our colleague Paul Fletcher for the amazing contribution he's made to the Liberal Party, to many areas of endeavour,...
on indulgence—On behalf of the coalition I want to formally congratulate our colleague Paul Fletcher for the amazing contribution he's made to the Liberal Party, to many areas of endeavour, in different portfolios, but most importantly to the betterment of our country. He has been in our leadership group as Leader of the House. As he said, he's served under four leaders in our party, and we have each seen great qualities in Paul, and he hasn't let us down. He's been able to contribute to many debates because of his business background and because of his intellect, and his capacity has been on display around the shadow cabinet table and the cabinet table for a long period of time. We will miss him in his seat, but I know he's done a lot of work to help Gisele and provide support to a transition, which is going to be incredibly important, because we want to maintain that seat, and we want Gisele Kapterian in this parliament as the next member for Bradfield. Can I just say thank you to all of Paul's supporters who are here today and, most importantly, to his beautiful family. Families often make a sacrifice, and that's true in the Fletcher household as well. But Fletch has an incredible next career ahead of him. He has been a dear friend, a confidant and a great supporter to many of us for a long period of time, and we wish him every success in the next phase of life.
Personal Explanation | Statements | House debates
In question time today, the health minister claimed that I'd initiated a pause on the indexation of Medicare rebates, which is not true. The member for Sydney, under the former Labor government,...
In question time today, the health minister claimed that I'd initiated a pause on the indexation of Medicare rebates, which is not true. The member for Sydney, under the former Labor government, was health minister at the time when the pause on Medicare rebates was initiated in the 2013 budget. This is clearly stated on page 177 of Budget Paper No. 2 of May 2013. The then president of the RACGP said that Labor's 2013 indexation pause would slash $664 million out of primary healthcare services. When I was health minister, the bulk-billing rate was at 84 per cent; today it's at 77 per cent.
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
Crime: Mandatory Sentencing | Questions without Notice | House debates
The words from the Prime Minister, that ramble that he provided before, should have no bearing on your decision whatsoever, and you shouldn't be bullied into a position which is against your...
The words from the Prime Minister, that ramble that he provided before, should have no bearing on your decision whatsoever, and you shouldn't be bullied into a position which is against your natural and right instinct.
Mr Speaker, to your words that you've just offered to the House, it is with longstanding precedent in this place that, if offensive words are uttered by a minister of the Crown, which, in this...
Mr Speaker, to your words that you've just offered to the House, it is with longstanding precedent in this place that, if offensive words are uttered by a minister of the Crown, which, in this case, they most certainly have—that is not in dispute. The argument that the Leader of the House puts is not that the words were unparliamentary. His point is that they weren't dealt with in the first instance. Again, that is an argument that fails because the course of action taken was that, given the offensive nature of it, we responded in a way that was obviously proportionate to what were disgusting comments. There is a long precedent—not to mention the fact, Mr Speaker, that your predecessors have required, even if they haven't heard the words themselves, for the minister to withdraw that statement. That was your instinct, rightly; that was your direction to the minister. And now, with the weight of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House trying to— Government members interjecting—