Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

Imagine looking into the eyes of the Australian people who elected you as their nation's leader and repeatedly being untruthful—deliberately telling untruths? That is exactly what Anthony Albanese and this Labor government continue to do to Australians. They have built a government based on lies and broken promises, with a weak leadership team at the helm. Remember the $275 lower electricity price promise? What about cheaper mortgages? That also was a promise before the election. Do we remember the phrase, 'Life will be cheaper under me,' on the front page of the newspaper? The now Prime Minister continued to spout that during the last election campaign. And it turns out that we were all right all along, because it won't be easy under Albanese—and it hasn't been easy.

Adding to the list of broken promises is of course his monumental tax-cut backflip, which unfolded earlier this month. And now Australians are set to foot the bill for Labor's broken stage 3 tax cuts promise. After spending $450 million dollars—that's almost half a billion dollars—on a failed referendum and adding $209 billion in extra spending across the economy, the government will now spend $40 million on an advertising campaign to sell their tax cuts. At the same time, they're giving just $14 million to struggling food banks. That tells you what they're doing and what their priorities are under the Albanese Labor government. That's a whopping $55,000 of taxpayer money per day on an advertising campaign to sell their tax cuts. It's an eye-watering amount of money to spend on a public information campaign for a single measure—in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis—and I think that Australians will make up their own minds on that.

They'll decide—in fact, they'll decide this weekend in the electorate of Dunkley—whether they want to send the Prime Minister a message on what his priorities are at the moment and what they've been since Labor came to power. They know they can't buy integrity for $15 a week. The government know that, so they're looking to spend $40 million trying to convince people of their lie instead. But no amount of money is going to justify that calculated lie, and Australians are feeling poorer under this Labor government. Why are they feeling poorer? Because they are poorer! Australians are poorer after 18 months under this government. Personal income tax has risen by a record 27 per cent and living standards have collapsed by 8.6 per cent. That's a big difference. Labor's broken promises are piling up and taking more money out of the pockets of hardworking Australians. We know that: we speak to family and friends who are struggling. Parts of my community are struggling. The stats are clear: Australians are set to pay an extra $28 billion more in taxes over the next 10 years because of this decision to change the rollout of the stage 3 tax cuts, mainly through bracket creep.

Does a promise mean anything to this government? Anthony Albanese said, 'My word is my bond,' but it's blatantly clear that his word means nothing—

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