Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bowman for his question. I know that he is working hard for the more than 14,000 small and medium-sized businesses, the more than 25,000 retirees and the thousands of families across his electorate. They know that the Australian economy is strong and growing. Growth is up. Unemployment is down. Over the last financial year, more than 100,000 young people have got a job—the highest number on record.

All of this is put at risk by a Labor Party that will tax you from the cradle to the grave. In fact, they've got a new agency. 'Births, Deaths and Taxes'—That's their new agency! They have a $200 billion down payment—increased taxes on your income, increased taxes on your business, increased taxes on your electricity, increased taxes on your savings and a despicable increase in tax on your property with their changes to negative gearing and capital gains.

We've seen today from Master Builders Australia what the impact would be of Labor's policy—32,000 jobs lost, including for plumbers and carpenters. There would be an $11.8 billion hit to the Australian economy and 42,000 fewer dwellings would be built because of Labor's policy. So, as a result of Labor's new property tax, not only will rents go up, not only will jobs go down, but the value of the family home, the No. 1 asset, will be hit.

The Labor Party has flip-flopped on company tax. The Labor Party has flip-flopped on the retiree tax. It's only a matter of time before the Labor Party lacks the courage of their convictions to take this disastrous property tax to the Australian people.

See this speech in context