Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I agree it was particularly harsh of former prime minister Turnbull to say that, but I'm not the one who's out there proving former prime minister Turnbull right now.

I would say to all those opposite—we just heard from the Leader of the Opposition that he thinks the tax cuts that Labor introduced into parliament are a good idea. Well, there's only one way to show that you think Labor's tax cuts are a good idea, and that is to vote for Labor's tax cuts. That is a choice that those opposite will have. If they choose to vote for them, I'll commend them for that. But if they choose to follow the path that they followed just a year ago, then I think everyone on the benches opposite will have questions to answer.

Unlike those in the Liberal and National parties, I have indeed read the review of the 2025 federal election, written by two well-respected former parliamentarians, Pru Goward and Nick Minchin. That review—and this goes to the economic capability and credibility of the Leader of the Opposition—said very clearly:

The Opposition announced that it would oppose that tax cut on Budget Night and voted against it when the legislation was introduced.

I think that's in our recent memory, but it seems that those opposite have forgotten that very quickly. Then it singles out the then shadow treasurer, now Leader of the Opposition, who was a member of the leadership group. It says:

The leadership group's decision to oppose an income tax cut, which many MPs told us they had not been consulted about and would have opposed, immediately impacted on the Coalition's economic credentials, historically, a strong part of the Coalition's brand.

That's something they chose to give up.

It wasn't just at a clandestine meeting of the leadership group that the Leader of the Opposition went out and opposed a tax cut and made that decision unilaterally with just a small group. He then went and led the campaign publicly. It was the Leader of the Opposition who was out there in the media calling Labor's tax cuts 'a betrayal'. It was the Leader of the Opposition who campaigned against Labor giving a tax cut to working people, which he described as 'class warfare'. It was the Leader of the Opposition who said that Labor's determination to give a tax cut to working people was somehow 'a war on aspiration', and as if he hadn't gone far enough and embarrassed himself too much already he then described the idea to lower taxes for those on low and middle incomes as 'Marxist economics'. Well, I've got news for the Leader of the Opposition: if you didn't notice, on 3 May last year, the people of Australia endorsed Labor's tax cuts and they endorsed the tax plan that we outlined when it came to lowering taxes for working people, as well as the package that we brought into the parliament today that, again, lowers taxes for working people.

But it's not just me who thinks that sometimes, just sometimes, the Leader of the Opposition gets it a little bit wrong. There are those who once were in his own party that have now left the Leader of the Opposition's party. We had the then Liberal senator Hollie Hughes say this about the Leader of the Opposition:

I have concerns about his capability. I feel we have zero economic policy to sell.

She went on to say:

I don't know what he's been doing for three years. There was no tax policy, there was no economic narrative.

That is from a member of the then opposition two days after the election. So what is the Leader of the Opposition's solution? He goes: 'I've been told I've got no economic narrative. I've been told by my own people I've got no policies.' What does he do? Does he sit and do the hard work of writing some policies out? Does he go into a consultation with his colleagues? No. Do you know who told us that they hadn't done the hard work? It wasn't anyone with any guts on that side. It was One Nation.

One Nation came out on the budget reply night, outraged, and the headline in the Financial Review was 'One Nation says Liberals are copying its housing and migration policies'. So, in this coalition of chaos that has been formed between the Liberal Party, the National Party and One Nation, they're already an unhappy family. They're stealing homework from one another. If we've seen that the migration policy and the housing policy have been stolen from One Nation, it'll be interesting to see what the Leader of the Opposition steals from One Nation next. Will he be having a fundraiser in a private jet over Sydney in the middle of a fuel crisis? Will he come into the chamber in dress up? I don't know; it'll be interesting to watch.

What we do know and what is very clear is that when it comes to the Leader of the Opposition he lacks credibility on tax just as he lacks credibility on fuel. We've heard too many times the fact, which has never been denied by the Leader of the Opposition, that he had Australia's fuel reserves in Texas. People on my side of the country know that when it came to fuel security it was not helped when the Leader of the Opposition oversaw the closure of the BP refinery in Kwinana, Western Australia. Then of course there was that really interesting way that the Leader of the Opposition, when he was in government, decided that he would hide energy price rises. He made the decision before the 2022 election and thought that it was better not to tell anyone until after the election. In fact, we have a report from the Guardian that it wasn't an accident; it was a deliberate ploy from the now leader of the opposition. The report says:

The former energy minister—

the Leader of the Opposition; I'll refer to him by his title—

… asked his department to consider delaying telling voters about electricity price rises before the May election, then made the decision to do so.

I'll take the interjection about mentioning the measures in our budget. We've talked a lot about the $250 permanent tax cut for Australian workers through the working Australians tax offset, and I challenge all of those opposite to vote for it, but I also want to talk about some of the measures that maybe haven't had as much attention in the budget. In question time just a few moments ago we heard from the Minister for Social Services about the $182 million investment in the child support system to make sure we address the issues of weaponisation, financial abuse and noncompliance. Many of us know, and have heard a lot, about the $25 billion investment in public hospitals, which is a record investment in our public hospitals. But I also want to highlight one of the measures that haven't got as much attention, and that is the $44 million to extend Birthing on Country—again, a program that supports Indigenous mothers and their children with culturally-safe maternal care.

Now, we've heard a lot about the $14.9 billion investment our government has made in Australia's fuel resilience. But I want to point out that we've also invested in protecting the Great Barrier Reef, with another $91 million for restoration and protection efforts. Again, we've talked a lot about our investments when it comes to housing and helping Australians into a home of their own. But I also really want to commend the work that's in the budget when it comes to AusAlert, a new national messaging system to help and support Australians to get the information that they need when they are in the middle of a crisis.

I want to finish with some really good news that you won't hear elsewhere. You won't hear it from those opposite, but you can find it in a good, reputable publication like the West Australian newspaper. We hear, so often, 'Catastrophe!' from those opposite, about what's happening in so many parts of our economy. Well, we had some good news today, and this is the headline: 'Investment in WA resources sector hits decade-high and $226b in sales generated for 2025'. Now, that's not happening under two conservative governments; it's not happening under two Liberal-National-One Nation governments. That's happening under two Labor governments that are supporting the jobs of Australians—supporting Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. And I can guarantee that all on this side of the chamber will be voting for a tax cut for working Australians.

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