Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

():  I'll be on my best behaviour—I promise, Madam Deputy Speaker!

Over the last four years of this government, we have seen the sharpest decline of living standards across the OECD and we've seen the highest rate of government expenditure in 40 years, outside the pandemic. I don't need to stand here and tell this to members on both sides of the House, because we're all hearing it. When we get out into our electorates, we're all hearing how much our constituents are doing it tough.

But, since the budget was released a couple of weeks ago, small businesses have been coming to me and telling me how fearful they are about the changes that are being made by this government. This government has effectively brought in these changes to increase tax when they had no mandate to do so. At least Bill Shorten, as the Leader of the Opposition at the 2019 election, had the courage to take these changes to the people. He was beaten because the Australian public said: 'Thanks, but no thanks. We're not interested.' But the Labor Party realised that, if they took these policy changes to the election, then the same thing would happen to them, so they didn't do it. These are tax changes by stealth. This is surreptitiousness. There's no other way to describe it.

The Prime Minister and the Treasurer had been asked time and time again whether there were going to be any changes to the tax of capital gains, negative gearing or trusts, and they said, 'No, that's not part of our policy.' We know that it was part of the Labor Party's policy. It has been part of their policy, since the 1980s, to make these changes. But with this thumping majority that Australians have given this government, with 94 seats, this government wasn't going to waste it.

To those members opposite who are sitting on wafer-thin margins—a little Monty Python joke there—you should be very worried about your seats because you know that Australians in your electorates are coming after you because they are very, very angry. They are angry because this government is driving up the cost of everything—rents, mortgages. We've seen 15 interest rate rises under this government. The average Australian mortgage holder is now paying $29,000 a year more on their mortgage than they were under the coalition, and that's after tax. Just think about that—$29,000 more.

Those members opposite talk about consultation and how this is all very usual and normal for a government to bring out a budget and then consult afterwards. Why didn't they consult before? Why didn't this government go out and speak to stakeholders about these changes before the budget was announced? I'll tell you why. It's because those members opposite lack courage. They lack the courage of Bill Shorten, because they knew that, if they took these changes to the Australian people, the Australian people would say, 'Thanks, but no thanks.' So they didn't.

As the father of a child who lives with disabilities, I can tell you one of my fears, and one of the fears of just about every parent who has a child who lives with disabilities, is: What's going to happen to my adult child—hopefully—after I go? How are they going to be looked after? That is one part of the importance of trusts, and now this government is going to change the way that those trusts are dealt with.

One thing that seems to have escaped the net here is the pre-CGT assets. Prior to 19 September 1985, any assets you owned were pre CGT. Now, as a result of this budget, from 1 July 2027 those assets, even if they were purchased pre 19 September 1985, are going to be taxed at a marginal rate. This is a breach of trust. It's a breach of faith, and this government will pay— (Time expired)

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