Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

As the member for Petrie I want to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 2) Bill 2022. This second reading amendment and what the Greens are talking about here is total rubbish. The reality is that the Greens do not love this country. The Greens want to change everything that is successful about Australia. The reality is that their own leader won't even stand in front of the Australian national flag. He can't do that, yet he's an elected member of this House.

The reality is that the member for Griffith and the member for Brisbane probably got 35 per cent of the vote when you count in LNP preferences, because LNPs voted 1 and they put Labor next above the Greens. So those two members are here with probably 35 to 40 per cent of the vote. The way the system works delivered the seats to the Greens rather than the Labor Party, which is a real shame. It shows that our democratic process is not working when these two members can get elected with 40 per cent of the vote and when 60 per cent of people in their own seats voted for Labor before they voted for the Greens.

The Greens here won't stand in front of the Australian flag. The Greens want to cut the Defence Force budget in half. As a father with a son in the Defence Force I say that is shameful. And that is before the previous coalition government committed to increasing the budget, which the Labor Party will, hopefully, support. They want to cut it in half. The Greens here want to ban private schools. They don't want a Catholic school in the country. They don't want a Lutheran school in the country. They want only state schools. Their policies are absolute rubbish. They don't deserve to be taken notice of by the Australian people.

When it comes to stage 3 tax cuts the reality is that the former government and the current government supported stage 1 and stage 2 tax cuts, which gave tax cuts to the poorest people in our community. They ensured that $18,200 earned by every person, including students, is tax free. They ensured that earnings from $18,200 to $45,000 are taxed at 19c in the dollar. Stage 3 ensures that everyone earning from $45,000 to $120,000 receives a tax cut from 32.5c to 30c. The Greens talk about politicians, wealthy people and Clive Palmer, but the reality is that most people in Australia will get a tax cut under stage 3.

Rather than talking the country down, start talking about what's good in this country, like the government and the opposition often do. That's all I have to say on this issue.

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