Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

It was excellent. But it begs the question: where was that lecture to the Prime Minister in May last year, when the Prime Minister said that he would not change negative gearing and he would not change the capital gains tax? He got quite upset. 'Fifty times,' the Prime Minister said. So it is amazing that the minister would give that economic lecture today. He obviously didn't have the ability to give that lecture last year. He just thought of it now. Suddenly, 12 months later, the world has changed. This is the reality. Every backbencher over there has broken their word with their communities. They all went to their communities and said they wouldn't change the tax settings. They made a promise and a commitment. Those first termers lasted about 12 months before they broke faith with their communities. It's not that surprising that they've had to break faith with their communities, betray their communities and mislead their communities.

We understand what it's like to be a backbencher in the Labor government. One of them had the courage to background the Saturday Paper this week. How did they describe the PMO? And I quote:

PMO is like North Korea, right? They're like Pyongyang …

I guess that would make the Prime Minister Kim Jong Un. It means the backbenchers know that they have to follow orders. They have to break faith with their communities. They have to break their own word to their communities, and that's something they'll have to live with. The worst part about this broken promise is that it was a clear, deliberate decision 12 months ago to mislead their communities. What makes it even worse is that it's actually not going to work. Supply is so important to getting housing down and affordable for everyone in Australia, including first home buyers.

The Prime Minister himself, in a moment of honesty, said that supply was the most important way to make housing sustainable. The problem with the tax changes and the broken promise of this government is that its own budget papers, its own word, confirm that these measures will decrease supply. Their own measures will make it harder for young people to get into a home.

It does say that. I can give you the page. Stop taking the talking points. Learn to read the budget paper yourself. Member for Banks, the budget papers confirm—

See this speech in context