Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is no wonder that we have a trust deficit in Australian politics. I've been sitting in this chamber and listening to the contributions of those opposite, and there are a few points that I would like to make. The member for Cunningham said that she doesn't think Australians would have been better off under a coalition government. Well, what I'd say is: Australians aren't stupid. Australians, I say to you—I say to every single person that's listening—ask yourself this question: am I better off now than I was four-and-a-half years ago? The people in my electorate, on the southern Gold Coast, are not coming up to me and talking about how great things are. They're coming up to me and talking about their issues.

I go back to that trust deficit. The member for Cunningham said that she would leave no-one behind—that it's Labor's philosophy to not leave anybody behind. Tell that to the small-business owners. Tell that to the 50- to 65-year-olds who are being affected in terms of their private health insurance rebate. Tell that to people who have done the right thing by this country, who have worked hard, who have secured their future—or so they thought—and who are now seeing the rules shifting below them. Because I can tell you now those are the people who this government is leaving behind.

The pain and the pressure is real. This cost-of-living crisis that Labor has created is absolutely devastating. It's devastating households, business owners, individuals and pensioners. This is at a time where we've come out of an election where the Prime Minister and the government promised relief. Instead, we've seen that they've delivered pain. They promised $275 off your power bill, but electricity prices have gone up by around 40 per cent. They said mortgages would go down, but we've seen 15 interest rate rises since this government was elected. They promised to implement the stage 3 tax cuts, but that backflipped. And they promised that the cost of living would fall, but we've seen prices rise and pressure build.

We've now seen this disgraceful budget put forward by the Treasurer. It's a budget of broken promises. We're seeing higher taxes, more debt, lower living standards and fewer homes. So it is no wonder that there is a trust deficit in Australian politics. I'll just say, on this recent budget, we've seen the changes that have been announced in relation to the capital gains tax and negative gearing and also in relation to trusts. These are the biggest and most indefensible, broken promises that we've seen by the government, because, before the election, the Prime Minister categorically, without any sense of doubt, ruled out any changes to negative gearing, to trusts and to capital gains tax. He told us that his word is his bond. He said one thing before the election, but he's doing something afterwards. The sad reality is that it's not actually making Australians' lives easier. It's not making housing more affordable for young Australians. It's not making retirement any easier for older Australians, and it's not making it any easier for those who are wanting to put their aspiration to the test and make sure they start a business or invest to secure their future.

But there is another way. I say to Australians and to people in my electorate that it's one thing for us in the opposition to hold this government to account, but it's another thing for us to put forward an alternative vision for the country. That's a vision that will have a fairer, freer and better Australia. We've spoken about generational tax reform, which is something that the Leader of the Opposition outlined in his budget reply speech, a tax back guarantee to once and for all end Labor's inflation tax by indexing income thresholds to inflation. We've spoken about actually addressing the housing crisis and, in part, looking at migration so that we can make sure that migration numbers are linked to how many homes Australia builds, because we all know that this government is not building enough homes. We're looking to put Australians first and make sure that when it comes to social welfare, including the NDIS, it is preserved for Australian citizens, because we all know that we do need to make some tough decisions when it comes to reining in this government's reckless spending. We've also spoken about a future-generations fund so we can actually bank some of the resource windfalls to pay down the debt and build national infrastructure. There is another way. This government has broken its promise to Australians, and it's contributed to this massive trust deficit.

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