Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 3) Bill 2023 is a 4-schedule Treasury omnibus bill that the coalition will be supporting, and many of the changes in this bill continue the work of the former coalition government. However, support for passage of this bill is no substitute for a government that is refusing to take responsibility for high inflation, rising mortgage repayments, rising prices at the checkout and rising energy bills—just to name a few of the challenges we face in this country. We need a government to take responsibility—or else Australians will continue to pay a very high price.

This bill does not provide any cost-of-living relief or support for Australians, and even today the Treasurer won't support Australians, telling those that are coming off fixed mortgages and are about to see a tripling in their interest rates to just speak to their bank and work it out. There is no support for those Australians.

So what is in this bill? Schedule 1 introduces new rules that prohibit schemes designed to avoid the application of product intervention orders made under the Corporations Act 2001. Schedule 2 changes limitations in the education requirements for new entrants who are registered tax agents to enter the financial advice profession and removes the education requirements for experienced financial advisors with 10 years of experience and, importantly, a clean record who have passed the financial advisors exam. Schedule 3 amends the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001, the Corporations Act 2001 and the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to facilitate competition in the provision of clearing and settlement services for cash equities traded in Australia. Schedule 4 makes a number of technical changes to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to support the operation of the First Home Super Saver Scheme so that it works better for first home buyers. There are definitely some good things in this bill, which is why the coalition will be supporting it.

Australia has a strong financial services sector that we need to continue to support. The coalition remains committed to ensuring that Australians have access to high-quality, affordable financial advice. In government, we implemented a series of measures to improve consumer protections and streamline and strengthen oversight of the financial advice sector. That's why we are supportive of the measures that continue this work, specifically in schedule 2 of this bill, which will help make it easier for financial advisers with good records to remain eligible to provide personal advice.

This bill also makes technical changes to the First Home Super Saver Scheme in schedule 4. This is an initiative of the former coalition government that helps Australians boost their savings for a first home by allowing them to build a deposit inside superannuation, giving them a tax cut. For most people, the scheme could boost the savings of a first home buyer by around 30 per cent compared with savings through a standard savings account. This was just one of the measures of the former coalition government that was aimed at helping Australians get into their first home.

The coalition is absolutely committed to helping more Australians achieve the dream of owning their own home. That's why, in the Leader of the Opposition's first budget reply speech last year, the coalition reaffirmed its commitment to the First Home Super Saver Scheme. We know that we have a responsibility to ensure that all Australians have the opportunity to buy their own home. Currently, a super fund can be used to buy a residential or commercial rental property. It can buy shares; it can even buy livestock. In fact, it can be used to buy almost any asset class except a home to live in.

Under a coalition government, we will extend the same opportunity to women who separate later in life, to women with very few housing options and to women who are increasingly left homeless. Your super is your money. The government thinks that it's their money. This brings me to what is not in this bill. While containing many worthwhile measures, this bill disappointingly fails to address the biggest challenge facing Australians—the impact of inflation and rising interest rates being felt by businesses and families across Casey and the nation. Rising mortgage payments, rising prices at the checkout and rising energy bills are all eating away at already tight household budgets. Australians are having to work more hours to make ends meet. They have to dig into their savings to survive. Real wages are going backwards under this government. Our core inflation is higher than any G7 nation, except for the United Kingdom. This is a tough time for Australians.

During the midwinter break, I spent five weeks in my electorate talking to many businesses and residents. I welcomed Senator Jane Hume to the electorate as the Chair of the Senate Select Committee on the Cost of Living. We wanted to speak to the community about their experiences and learn about their challenges. We started the day in Belgrave, visiting local businesses. One of the most disturbing facts that came out of that was that a real estate agent I talked to said that one in three of the houses they're putting up for sale is because of a separation, and this is the first time during his lifetime in real estate that there has been such a significant number that it is actually measurable—one in three. It's heartbreaking to think that financial stress is, as he said, in many cases the key driver of those separations.

We also had the opportunity to meet with Belinda Young and the fantastic team at Mums of the Hills. This is an organisation of over 6,000 mums. It started as an online group. We went to see their new facility, and it was wonderful to be there to talk to Belinda and the team and to be at the opening that weekend. Mums of the Hills are a voice for the mums in the Dandenong Ranges, the Yarra Valley and across the outer east, who have very particular challenges. One we spoke about a lot on that day was child care and the absolute childcare desert that is the Dandenong Ranges in particular but also the Upper Yarra and all across the regional areas of the Yarra Valley—mums having to drive for more than 45 minutes to put their kids into child care if they could find a spot and the impact it is having on families and the stress. So, thank you Belinda and the team at Mums of the Hills for supporting mums all across the outer east, the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley and for being a great advocate for them. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with you so we can support more residents across our electorate.

After that we had a round table with some amazing local women in business, and I want to thank Lisa Glassborow for taking the time to organise that round table. It was insightful to talk to those mums, those women, about their challenges. A common theme was just wanting government to get out of their way, reduce red tape, so they could continue to develop and grow their business and allow them to keep more of what they earn from all the hard work they do.

Then we had a wonderful tour with Sue Sestan and the team at Inspiro, which is a community health organisation. Unfortunately for them they are seeing increased demand as more people are struggling to make ends meet and medical bills are putting even more pressure on their organisation and on families. We finished the day with a cost-of-living forum in Wandin North, and thank you to all those residents who took the time to attend and to those who couldn't attend but shared their views with my office via email and over the phone. The turnout was amazing, and talking to people—and they are struggling; they are struggling to make ends meet, to put food on the table. One lady shared the heartbreaking story of literally having to decide to turn her heater off in the middle of winter because they couldn't afford to pay the bill and to eat. These stories we hear are tragic.

It is disappointing that this bill does not address these problems. And these problems are not coming out of Ukraine, as the Prime Minister wants us to believe. These are problems that are coming from Canberra, and it's important to note that we are debating this bill at a time when this government is overseeing an economy that's shuddering to a halt as inflation continues to rage. A typical Australian family with a mortgage and kids is $25,000 worse off compared with a year ago. The annual accounts for the March quarter show that after a year of Labor the economy is growing at the slowest rate since September 2021, when New South Wales and Victoria were in COVID lockdowns. Australians are now working the most hours since 1978 but are feeling poorer for it, with real wages continuing to go backwards. Australians are saving less. The household savings ratio is 7.6 per cent lower than it was a year ago. Australians are being taxed more. Individual income tax has increased by 11.4 per cent since last year. The government will talk about their surplus, but they won't talk about how inflation creates bracket creep, which means that Australians pay more in income tax. And labour productivity in the past 12 months, under Labor's watch, has fallen by 4.6 per cent. But this bill does not address any of these economic challenges. The fact is that hardworking Australians are paying a heavy price for this government's failures.

It's not just Australians who have been abandoned by this Prime Minister and Treasurer. Small business has been abandoned by the Minister for Small Business. ACCI-Westpac research shows that 42 per cent of businesses are seeing their margins eroded, despite increasing prices, and the ANZ is reporting the longest slump in consumer confidence since the 1990s recession. Yet we hear nothing from the Minister for Small Business on how she or the government will support small business. Small business knows it has been abandoned by this government.

We need to remember that small businesses are families. I spoke to Arun, who owns a restaurant in my electorate. He and his wife are now working over 80 hours a week, as wages go up, as energy price goes up, as food prices go up, trying to make ends meet. We need to be supportive of small-business owners in this country, because they're family people looking to put food on the table, to feed their kids, send them to school and make sure they're healthy.

Productivity is also a key driver in reducing inflation. It is disappointing to note that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have not engaged with the Productivity Commission's five-year report on how to increase productivity. One of the key recommendations of this report is technology as a vital pillar in driving productivity. I would, again, ask the Prime Minister to appoint a minister for the digital economy, to oversee a national strategy, to make sure we are taking advantage of technological opportunities, like AI, to drive economic growth and productivity.

The reality is, the cost of Labor's inaction is sky-high energy bills, surging mortgage repayments, increasing rents and soaring grocery prices. Australians are under the pump and making huge sacrifices to pay their bills, and there is no end in sight to Labor's energy price spiral, rising inflation and rising grocery prices. This is the consequence of a government that has let inflation get out of control and has failed to take responsibility for addressing the biggest economic challenges facing Australians.

Australians cannot afford Labor's complacency on inflation. The challenges faced by Australians are not addressed in this bill. Instead, we have a government that doesn't have a plan or the priorities or focus to fix the problems facing Australians, facing families and facing small businesses in Casey and across the nation.

See this speech in context