Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on a matter of national disappointment. It is a matter concerning the current government and their refusal to be honest with the Australian people about their plans for new taxes prior to the last election. Despite having slipped this week on more than one occasion, I'm actually a student of the standing orders, and I will respect them. I know full well that I am from forbidden from using a certain three letter word to describe the statements made by those opposite. I'm simply not allowed to call those pre-election guarantees Labor—I can't do it. Therefore, out of respect for you and the rules of this House, I will not do that today. I will refrain from calling this government and their promises what every single Australian sitting at home already knows.

Let us look at the facts. Before the election, the Australian public was looked squarely in the eye and offered a very solemn pledge: no changes to CGT. It was an unambiguous commitment—52 times. Yet what have we seen? We've seen a relentless and calculating rollout of toxic taxes that will suffocate regional economies, punish families, cripple our small businesses and do nothing to positively impact housing. When the government went to the polls, they were, let us just say, remarkably creative with their foresight. They presented a complete fiscal fantasy. They suffered a sudden and highly convenient bout of pre-election amnesia regarding their true socialist taxation agenda. They painted a beautiful picture of the future, completely omitting the dark and taxing clouds they'd already prepared in the background or should I say that Bill Shorten had prepared in the background.

The people in my electorate of Grey, the builders, the butchers, the farmers, the fishers and the small business owners—they are certainly not fools. They know when a politician is selling them a pup. They know when a promise is written in disappearing ink. They were promised relief, but instead they are being handed a massive bill by this government for their ideological crusade. If a mechanic in Port Augusta or a farmer in Bute conducted their business the exact way this government conducts itself, they would be run out of town quick smart. In the real world, a handshake means something, a commitment is binding, but here in Canberra, under this government, a pre-election guarantee is merely a rough draft subject to immediate reversal the very moment the polls close and the ballot boxes are safely sealed away.

I will adhere to these strict rules in the chamber today. I will not say that banned three-letter word—heavens no! I instead say that Labor engaged in a breathtaking display of storytelling where fact and fiction blend to create a river of falsehood.

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