Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In a calm, measured response, I'll just repeat these words: no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no cuts to SBS—and every single one broken. There's the carbon tax. We all remember that great lie, and that can be said a lie, because the then chief of staff to Prime Minister Abbott, Peta Credlin—that great lefty—got up and admitted on Sky TV that their whole campaign was a lie, an absolute lie. But it was put on the Australian people. So you can't take the words of those opposite to be genuine and fair dinkum when they come in here with probably the greatest hypocrisy of events that we've seen in a long, long time. It's just not right.

But I'll tell you what is right. What is right is building a budget and building a nation's future. It's about picking up the pieces after nine long years. We were told we would have a budget surplus in each and every year. We were told we were going to have debt cut, but it went to $1.2 trillion. We've paid down debt, with billions of dollars saved in interest. Billions of dollars saved means that we can put it into the things that matter, such as housing, education, health and investment in roads.

At the last election we had a Liberal candidate get stuck into us because we hadn't finished building a road project that had been on the cards for 10 years. In those 10 years that it hadn't been built, we were actually in there doing it, standing knee-deep in mud. It was great fun. They came out and celebrated, standing there next to the brass plaque that said, 'This footbridge was opened by Fran Bailey and John Howard in 2003.' Imagine coming out to a marginal seat, the seat that you went to the election saying, 'This is our No. 1 target,' and the only thing you could celebrate was something that happened 22 years ago.

In fact, over the nine years of the Liberal-National coalition, not one dollar was spent on road projects. There were lots of press releases. Damian Drum was out there flicking press releases saying, 'We're going to do this;' 'We're going to that.' Apparently, they were going to duplicate 20 kilometres of the Hume Freeway—both sides, under bridges, over roads—at a cost of $50 million. That's a 10th of what they gave the Great Barrier Reef Foundation in a promise made to them that they didn't even know about. That was a government that could not deliver a pizza, let alone a road project, a hospital, bulk-billing—anything. But when our government came to power, we had to turn that around. And we're playing catch-up. Do you remember Victoria? It only received $7 out of every $100 in road infrastructure funding across the nation under the former government. But we're addressing that.

Our budget is about delivering for families, for young people, for working people and for those who rely on our safety net. It's a fair budget. It's a budget that faces the challenges we face today. When you work hard and save, you should be able to buy your own home. But, right now, first home buyers have been priced out of property by investors, where the tax department is on their side. We are on the side of Australians. We want to see people in their own homes. No more will you go to an auction and see investor versus investor because they can use tax breaks to get through. We want to make sure that the families that are working hard, trying to build their foundation and get somewhere to settle down, have the opportunity to buy a home.

That's the distinction between us and those opposite. We talk about housing and homes. We talk about putting people into homes—people fleeing domestic violence, people on low incomes, first responders, healthcare workers. It's about getting them a home to live in, whereas when you listen to the language of those opposite it's about houses being an asset. All they're worried about is a taxation break. You can still do that, and I think the decision that was made on housing and homes has been sensational. If you want to use negative gearing, then go out there and buy a new home. Get a new house built. Put one into the country's stock to help the biggest issue we have. You'll see a lot of deflection from those opposite about what's happening in the housing market. They'll try and blame every migrant, with every excuse under the sun, but you look at any major piece of work that's been done on housing and shortage is the No. 1 issue.

Having a government focused on getting homes built—places for people to settle down—and increasing stock is the way forward, not giving tax breaks to people who have 10, 20, 30 or 40 properties to be able to work off, not leaving the people that go to work every day to carry the burden of the tax system. We had a visit from Joe Hockey this week. Remember Joe Hockey, who stood in this parliament and said, 'We've got lifters and leaners.' The people that are doing the hard work of the lifting are those that come to work and use manual labour to get things done. They're the ones carrying the burden of the system. Those that are able to sit at home and invest in properties, because they've had the opportunity to build wealth—it's about time they chipped in a bit. It's about time the tax system worked for people trying to get ahead.

Right now first home buyers are being priced out of the market—no ifs and buts—but the tax reforms are all about reducing the gap between how Australia taxes income from work and income from wealth or investment. If we think about a worker who's earning $120,000 in wages, they're generally paying the full marginal income tax on every dollar earned, while investors are able to reduce tax through concessions like negative gearing and the 50 per cent capital gains discount. The reforms aim to narrow down that difference, so workers are not, effectively, shouldering the load and subsidising the investment losses of others. Redirecting tax incentives for investors towards newly built homes, as I said, is the way forward, and that's what we're doing. These are investments that add to housing supply, rather than increasing prices on existing homes.

Four years ago, we inherited a broken taxation system, and we've been focused and determined to fix it. The concessions favour those who produce in our economy, and they couldn't come at a better time, with a global oil shock and a housing crisis. We are delivering tax relief. We are building an economy that works for people. An economy begins with homeownership. A dream of homeownership is part of the Australian story. Sadly, as I said, right now it's just too hard for many Australians to get into their own home and get ahead. A decade of coalition government let these conditions take root. In recent weeks, the opposition has made much of the 'aspirational Australians' budget, but it's a very narrow and limited view of the world. Why should aspiration be limited to people who can afford to trade assets? Aspiration should extend to a childcare worker, a nurse or a teacher who's working hard and trying to get ahead. We know this. That's why these landmark reforms to capital gains tax and negative gearing are being introduced. I'm happy to be on the record, even as late as last year, saying that I had discussed with the Treasurer my support for restricting tax breaks for housing investors to brand new properties and for grandfathering the current arrangements for existing landlords. I was clear that I'd certainly support changes to capital gains tax and I would support changes to negative gearing. Now budget night has come and gone and we are getting on with the job, cleaning up the mess that was left to us by those opposite.

From these reforms we'll get 75,000 extra homes on the market. I want to emphasise the scale of that assistance. That's 75,000 families, in their own home, who can feel secure and realise an Australian dream. Labor is leading from the front by putting money back in the pockets of regular working people. A total of 3.5 million Victorians will benefit from our new $250 working Australians tax offset. That's just the latest step in Labor's track record of tax relief. We're not the party of vested interests; we are the party of the fair go. On top of that, the Albanese Labor government will introduce a $1,000 instant tax deduction next financial year, with around 6.2 million workers set to benefit directly from that. Charitable donations and other non-work related reductions will continue to be claimed on top of the instant tax deduction, as will union and other trade or business or professional association membership. It's simple: with Labor, Australian workers can earn more and keep more of what they earn. In total, the average Australian average worker should benefit by about $3,000 in their pockets by 2028. Let's be clear, it's about helping everyday Australians.

We on this side look at local investments in our community. While listening to the tirade about investments in infrastructure and Black Spot programs, I was shocked because we know that, under the previous system, they were set up in such a way that a fair go was not a fair go. We saw with Black Spot programs three major things: rural and regional areas, being prone to major disaster and new transport routes. Somehow the 'One Neurone' member got 28 towers in their electorate of New England, but the seat of McEwen, which had about 83 per cent of it burnt out in the last few decades—200 lives lost during fires—and has the Calder and the Hume freeways, got 1½. You would have to say that was not a program that was treated fairly and equally and based on the criteria.

We have also delivered roads, and delivering roads is something I'm very proud to see us doing. We are delivering Donnybrook Road, which was neglected since 2004, with not a piece of road work being done. We're also delivering $175 million into a new overpass on the Hume Freeway and the first stages of the duplication. We couldn't be prouder of this. With our state government's $7.7 million, the much-needed upgrades will make a real difference to the people who live in those communities, who have to suffer every day with the traffic. Our minister for infrastructure put it best: it's an upgrade people living in Melbourne's outer north have called for and deserve. We're a peri urban electorate. We're situated on the city's biggest growth corridor. We are growing like topsy. It's clear investment in McEwen is investment in our future.

It doesn't end there. In Wallan, we took on the Watson Street interchange, the one that was promised and never delivered. The Northern Highway intersection is now going ahead at stage 2 of those three-stage projects. The Watson Street upgrade completes the diamond interchange for Watson Street and Hume Freeway, with new ramps giving drivers direct access to Wallan north and south on the freeway, ending congestion, improving traffic flow.

We've got the duplication of Yan Yean Road commitment at stage 2 as well. These are the important arterial roads that carry us around. The Hume Highway carries people not only to Melbourne but across Victoria and across regional communities. It's also where we've delivered the Cameron's Lane Interchange, nearly $1 billion in investment to build the Beveridge Intermodal Precinct. That's the Melbourne end of the Inland Rail, the rail that was multibillions of dollars overdue, multiyears behind. We fixed that, got it back on track. We've got shovels in the ground actually delivering it. We're not saying we're going to do it; we're actually getting on with the job and getting it done. You can actually see it in the ground now. When we think about the nine years of the previous government, there was not one drop, not 1c, of infrastructure funding going into our region. So with over a billion dollars in roads, we're getting on with something else that's been neglected for a long, long time—the old Sydney Road promise.

We've got bulk-billing rates going up far in excess of what they were even during the COVID period, when bulk-billing rates went up and people could go and get their vaccination for nothing. But we're also backing small businesses because we know the importance of that. The recent reform direction set by the Treasurer's Economic Reform Roundtable will deliver a significant package of practical reforms that will meaningfully boost productivity growth. The $20,000 instant asset write-off will be permanent from next year. That is so important. It was a great Labor policy that we kept on to make sure that we help supported small businesses, to give them a fair go and the confidence they need to invest. We're sending a message: we will give you a fair go. We're cutting red tape by reducing financial sector compliance costs by $780 million a year by progressing 14 legislative reforms; reforming the research and development tax incentive to unlock $400 million per year in additional R&D by young firms; and expanding tax incentives for venture capital. These changes build on the work done in our previous budgets to help actually make life better for small businesses in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. We've also been working every day since we came to government to help with the cost of living, with, already, three rounds of tax cuts, more bulk-billing, cheaper medicines, free TAFE, cheaper child care, more support for parents—all these things.

In an uncertain world, we're making sure Australia is prepared for whatever comes next. And it's not just members of the government praising the budget. I'm constantly hearing from locals, especially young people, that we are doing the right thing by them. Whether it's in Woodend, Wallan, Doreen or Diamond Creek, McEwen residents are in a better position for growth. In this parliament, we have already weathered global headwinds outside the control of one government. But, with this budget, we can improve the lives of Australians even in the face of international challenges.

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