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

I do feel the need to rebuke the member for Solomon for his assertions about the Northern Territory government. I would extend my great support to the Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro, on the great job that her team is doing for Northern Territorians, including in the electorate of Solomon. We send our best wishes to Northern Territorians, from the coalition and from the CLP in the Northern Territory.

I rise today to speak on behalf of my community and to call out this government's budget for what it actually is: the Albanese Labor government's war on aspiration. It's a war! This budget reveals something much bigger than a line item in Treasury papers; it reveals a government that increasingly sees aspiration, innovation, investment and risk not as something to encourage but as something to tax—something that creates a revenue stream to pay for their travel rorts, for example.

At a time when Australians are already under enormous pressure from the rising cost of living, Labor's response is not to help Australians get ahead. This is a desperate government that is trying to make life harder for all Australians. This government's changes to capital gains tax send a clear message to Australians: work harder, save wisely, build something for your family, and the government will move the goalposts and take it all away. That's the message that this government is sending to Australians. Nowhere is that message felt more strongly than amongst our small-business owners on the Gold Coast, who are rightly seething and angry, outraged by this government's tax backflip. Local business owner Mark says:

The Labor Party don't have a business brain in their heads.

I've never seen so much doom and gloom coming from entrepreneurs.

Every time Labor comes to power, I have to lay off staff and my business goes backwards.

On the Gold Coast we have literally tens of thousands of local businesses. They're not run by big corporate boards turning huge profits. They are risk-takers. They are entrepreneurs. They are mums and dads who own small and family businesses. They are tradies. They've put everything on the line, and often their business is tied to a mortgage for their house as well. Many go years without paying their own wages or super. It's a bit of a small-business joke that the Albanese government probably doesn't get, but most business owners get paid $2.50 an hour, when they break down their profit by how many hours they actually work.

This Labor government want to take nearly half of their profit. Many Gold Coast businesses structure their affairs through trusts—not as some loophole but as a legitimate and longstanding way to manage risk, to manage their succession and to manage, of course, their investments for their future and for their children's future. For the local builder who invested profits back into equipment under the coalition, that would be a $50,000 instant asset write-off. Under this government, it's only $20,000 instant asset write-off. They are taking away from business wherever they can, make no mistake. There are tradies who are working weekends and sacrificing their holidays to build something of their own just to have it taken away by this government. These changes are destroying confidence across our small and family business community. They are the engine of the Gold Coast, the absolute engine of our economy, and I thank them for the work they do every single day.

Every additional tax signal tells Australians that taking risks may no longer be worth it. That is the message that this government is now sending to the business community across our country. That matters because aspiration is not something we should punish. It's called reward for your effort. That is what it is called, and the Albanese Labor government is killing it. It's killing your reward for all of your efforts.

That's why the coalition has pledged, as I said, to increase the instant asset write-off to $50,000 and make it permanent, because we have to back small and family business. Aspirational Australians are not the problem. They are the solution to so many problems. These are outstanding Australians employing locals, sponsoring community groups and creating opportunity. When the government makes it harder to build wealth, invest and grow, eventually fewer people try.

The Prime Minister has spoken a lot about intergenerational equity in this budget, but what he actually means is socialism, where the outcome is the same for everybody. How is it equity when he's denying today's Australians the very opportunities that past generations were fortunate to benefit from and which helped them get ahead? He's shut the gate. He's dropped the guillotine. He's broken his promises. Young Australians today already face housing unaffordability, rising rents, higher living costs and increasing barriers to getting ahead. For previous generations there was a clear social contract: work hard, save hard and invest in yourself, in your business and in your community and you'll get ahead and have a better life. The Gold Coast was built by families on this premise and this promise. But the Prime Minister has now changed his mind. Young Australians and young Gold Coasters deserve that same opportunity. But, instead, the government continues to chip away at the very settings that helped Australians build their financial security. Our nation is rightly asking: if investing and building wealth is becoming harder, what incentive remains?

At the same time as the Prime Minister's taxing Australians to breaking point, government spending continues to expand. Why? Because this government continues to believe every challenge can be solved with more spending. They're addicted to spending. They have a spending problem. But spending does not grow the economy. Spending does not boost productivity. We know that. This Treasurer is simply just redistributing the economic pie. He even said so himself on a recent episode of Insiders. He said:

… over the course of the forward estimates our tax reform package is broadly neutral. We are returning what we're raising …

But they are redistributing it to different people. With the national debt set to hit $1 trillion any day now, this government continues spending for today and leaving the consequences for future generations. The national debt—hello!—is getting to $1 trillion, and it's going to cost future generations $80,000 a minute. How is that equitable? This government continues to prove that fiscal discipline is something only the coalition can restore.

As this government's poor decisions continue driving up cost of living, this budget completely ignores another consequence of these pressures, and that's participation in sport. Families are now having to choose between sending their kids to sporting events and not because they're under so much financial pressure. They're making these difficult choices. Parents are having to decide whether they can still afford football rego, netball fees, dance lessons or swimming. That's no small thing. Sport is not just recreation. It's about resilience. It's about friendships. It's about discipline. It's about teamwork. It delivers opportunities for young people and for families. When children miss out, communities lose too.

At the elite level, there are broader concerns at hand. Professional athletes often have uniquely short earning windows. We know that. They get hurt. They carry pain after they've been hurt. They carry injuries, and therefore their careers are cut short. And, unlike many careers, elite sport does not continue into someone's 60s. Athletes often rely on careful financial planning and investment to provide security after competition ends, and tax settings matter because they shape incentives to save and prepare for their life after their sport. At a time when Australians are under pressure, this budget does nothing to make participation more affordable or strengthen pathways for grassroots to elite sport.

And then there's the arts sector. Well, what is the arts sector? Oh—it's small businesses. The arts sector is full of small businesses. Australia's cultural sector depends not only on creativity but on investment, philanthropy and community support. Artists, galleries, organisations and cultural institutions rely heavily on donors and patrons who choose to invest in Australia's creative future. When taxes increase and investment incentives weaken, philanthropy will be affected. It will disappear because philanthropy is not an optional extra in arts and culture; it's often what keeps programs running, exhibitions open and opportunities—the great Aussie opportunity—going, especially under this government. The same applies across sport and community organisation.

When families and investors have less capacity to contribute, communities feel it. Government cannot simply assume public spending replaces private generosity. Strong societies need both. This budget discourages aspiration. It creates uncertainty. It risks leaving the next generation with fewer opportunities than the generations before them. Australians deserve better than a government that sees every challenge through the lens of higher taxes and higher spending. Labor have lost control.

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