Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

At this time last night, the Treasurer delivered one of the most uninspiring speeches I have heard in this place. I wondered why. I think maybe it was because the realisation was that he was delivering the crystallisation of a broken promise. Of course, the Prime Minister was sitting there smiling happily, and he would, because he was seeing his successor fail on the national stage. The person most satisfied with last night's speech, of course, was the Minister for Health and Ageing, who's now been outed as the Prime Minister's hand-picked successor.

The problem is this: before the last election, this Labor government ruled out changing capital gains tax and negative gearing, and we're supposed to believe that, in some fanciful way, things have changed so substantially in less than 12 months that they have now decided to break that promise. The Treasurer was on morning television again this morning, this time ruling out taxing the family home and ruling out inheritance taxes. Seriously, who would trust him now!

This budget has crystallised Labor lies, higher taxes, lower living standards and fewer homes. There was a level of delusion in that speech last night that knew no bounds. You see, the Treasurer thinks he is Paul Keating. There were repeated and self-indulgent comparisons to Labor of yesteryear, but the Treasurer and the Prime Minister are not a patch on the Labor greats that they seek to emulate. The true historical comparison of this Labor budget is that it cements this Labor government's place as the highest-taxing government Australia has ever had.

The big play in this budget was housing. Labor's budget papers confirm exactly what the coalition have been saying—that higher taxes will mean fewer homes. Page 158 of the budget papers reveals that Labor's new housing taxes will lead to 35,000 fewer homes. Labor promised more homes; instead, all we got was more taxes. The objective of all of this is to add 75,000 additional first home buyers. It's an admirable goal, although none of us can trust the forecasts that this government puts forward. That's 7,500 additional first home buyers per year, but let's give that some context. Under the current system, without any change, we would expect that there would be about 1.2 million first home buyers purchasing a home in a business-as-usual scenario. So what we're seeing is a very small upside with a very high risk. This government and this Treasurer are prepared to tip over a well-settled tax system on speculation of a six per cent return.

As much as anything in these budget speeches it's about what is not said, and the one thing that the Treasurer did not mention last night was migration—not once. Now, why wouldn't he mention migration? I'll tell you why. It's because migration has caused part of their housing crisis. You cannot fix this housing crisis while ignoring population pressure. The budget confirms that net overseas migration is still forecast at 295,000 in 2025-26 and 245,000 in 2026-27. This is adding to the already 1.4 million people that Labor has added over its time in office.

The other word that got a big run last night was 'war'—the conflict in the Middle East. Do you know what, Speaker? The budgetary difficulties that this government finds itself in are a result of four years of poor economic management, not four months of a conflict in the Middle East. This Treasurer should be ashamed of what he has done to the Australian people. It is only a coalition government that will protect Australians' way of life and restore their standard of living.

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