Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Ryan for bringing forward this motion. She is quite right. It is time to have a look at our taxation system, and I've certainly called for that. I do, however, believe in trust in government. We went to the last election promising that the stage 3 tax cuts would go ahead. We actively campaigned on it, and people should be able to trust us in that commitment. I do agree with you that those tax cuts are poorly targeted—absolutely. They're targeted to the wealthy. Although many people on those sorts of incomes are not necessarily what I would call wealthy. If you live in Sydney, many people have mortgages of a million dollars or more, transport costs are huge and education costs are huge, so I think we need to be very careful about some of the language that's used around aspiration and people's want to improve themselves and the tax cuts.

The member for Ryan is quite right. The previous decade has seen complete negligence in governance by successive coalition governments with stagnant wages, flattening productivity, weak business investment, skills shortages and complete energy policy chaos—thanks to the Greens—all deeply affecting the economy and Australian households. It's important to note that the rise of inflation and interest rates began well before our government came to power, and we are working now to provide the relief and assistance that we can to Australian households. Access to things like cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, cheaper education and vocational education—in many cases, free—is thanks to our government and our new policies.

Whilst we stick to our promises, I fully support review of the entire taxation system and I can tell you that housing is at the centre of that. I still believe in the Australian dream, but it's a dream that is slowly fading into the distance. It breaks my heart every weekend to see young people going to property auctions and being outbid by property investors and wealthy people. Good on them—they've got money to spend—but we have given outrageous advantages to property investors. I see my own children go to auctions every weekend and lose out to investors, and that is disgraceful.

We have walked away from the Australian dream of homeownership, which I think is incredibly important for social stability and for people to provide for themselves in their old age. We know that the biggest increase in homelessness and in difficulties in paying rent and mortgages is among older women. It must be absolutely tragic to reach your 60s knowing that you have no stable roof over your head. As a paediatrician I see many families whose children have to change schools all the time, as they have to move from one rental property to another.

Governments have walked away from providing housing for the Australian population, and whatever we are doing now is tinkering at the edges unless we change the taxation system. It is my unwavering belief that that system has to change. The $25 billion to $30 billion every year given to property investors, giving them an advantage over first home buyers and poorer people trying to get a roof over their heads, has to change. There is absolutely no question about it.

The superannuation changes that we mooted recently have led to squeals of opposition from, in particular, the shadow Treasurer—the favoured son of the bunyip aristocracy screaming about those minor changes to superannuation. It just shows you that it's almost impossible to have a sensible discussion about taxation in this country. No-one's happy to pay tax, but tax pays for the things that I've called for: increases in Medicare funding, better aged care, a better public education system. It really is time we had a sensible debate in this country about taxation; fiddling at the edges is not going to cut it. We need to change the system. I fully support discussions about our taxation system. I also support trust in government. And, whatever we do, we should have a discussion with the Australian people about it.

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