Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is going in the wrong direction. Under Labor, Australia is becoming poorer. Under Labor, Australia is becoming weaker. Under Labor, Australia is becoming more dependent on other nations. And the only way this can be turned around is if the Labor government starts to put the Australian people, rather than the government itself, at the centre. In order to do this, a prerequisite is to fix the budget. We all know—on both sides of this chamber—that the Australian government's budget is not sustainable. We know that Labor also appreciates that, because the Treasurer conceded as much only weeks ago. Herein lies the test for the Labor government: the starting point for fixing the budget is to stop the spending spree.

As a percentage of GDP, spending has gone up from 24 per cent to 27 per cent under this government. To put that into perspective, that means Labor's spending this year is $160 billion higher than when the coalition left office. This equates, on a household level, to $16,000 per Australian household.

You can imagine doorknocking your local community and asking them whether or not this year they're feeling value for money, with an extra $16,000 being paid out by this Commonwealth government.

The spending spree is genuinely out of control, and the problem is that what's funding it is more debt. The Treasurer has added more than $112 billion in new debt, which is why, this year, debt is set to reach $1 trillion. Debt hits $1 trillion this year under this Albanese government. Of course, nobody would argue that this is not fiscally irresponsible. But, more than that, this is morally bankrupt, and it is so because every single dollar that this Treasurer borrows goes on the shoulders of the next generation. This is akin to the Treasurer taking the credit card where the words imprinted on it are 'future generation' and just racking up debt. It is like the mums and dads of Australia going into their children's rooms, stealing their credit cards and going out on a spending spree, hoping that maybe one day the kids will pay back that debt. That is where this is so morally repugnant.

We know that Australian families have been doing it tough. They've been in household recession, and what have they been doing? Unlike the government, they have been living within their means. If the everyday Australian family has to do it, why shouldn't the Australian government? That's not fair. That's not genuine. Even the most recent national accounts show that the savings-to-income ratio has gone up to 5.2 per cent. So, at the very time that households are showing fiscal prudence, this government is spending.

Not only are we going to see $1 trillion of debt this year but we will see deficits over the next 10 years. That is this newly elected Labor government's plan for the Australian economy: $1 trillion of debt and 10 years of deficits. This places the Treasurer at a fork in the road. He has a choice here. He can turn right and stop the spending spree, or he can turn left and increase taxes. Is there any guess as to which way the Treasurer might go? Could this treasurer, the member for Rankin, possibly increase taxes?

Often, history is a good record as to where someone might go, and so I dug out the taxes that this treasurer has had something to do with. We're talking here about the carbon tax, the mining tax, the superprofits tax, the resource tax, the safeguard tax, the family car tax, the housing tax, the retiree tax, the family trust tax, the small-business tax and the deficit levy tax—and this is just a sample.

See this speech in context