Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

The theme of this budget is deceit, deceit and deceit. That is the whole theme of the budget. Why do I say that? Because, when you are doing radical reform of the tax system—and this is a radical reform of the tax system, what the Labor government are doing—you never do it as a matter of course through a budget; you always take radical reform like this to an election. Historically, that's how it's always been done. With respect, that's what Bill Shorten attempted to do. Bill Shorten attempted to do what this government is now doing in this budget. Bill Shorten at least had the credibility to take the reforms that this government are now doing to an election. And, in the 2019 election, the Australian public had the opportunity to have their say on that, and they said no by voting against the then Bill Shorten Labor opposition.

What this government has done is deceitful. It's disrespectful of the Australian people and is almost dismissive of our parliamentary democracy. Why do I say that? Not only did they not get the mandate from the Australian people by taking it to an election—it actually gets worse than that. Not only did they not take it to an election, like Bill Shorten tried to; what they also did, which is an insult to the Australian public—and shame on every member of the government for it; shame on every single member of the Labor caucus for it!—is they actually said at the last election that they weren't going to do this. Infamously, the Prime Minister was asked 52 times if he was going to make these changes to negative gearing, if he was going to make these changes to the capital gains tax and trust, and over 50 times before the election he said no.

There are two very distinct things here: (1) they didn't take it to the Australian public to vote on, like Bill Shorten did in 2019 and got rejected, and (2), worse than that, they actually said they wouldn't do it. Shame on every member of the Labor caucus who voted for this and put this through. They have basically deceived the Australian public. They were deceptive in their language before the last election, and they deceived the voters of Australia. Shame on every single member of the Labor caucus for doing that.

The other thing that's been interesting is that, in reaction to this budget, there's been an organic uprising from small businesses in Australia and the mum-and-dad investors of Australia across social media and many other platforms. It's been an organic uprising led by them. I raised this in the House of Representatives yesterday in an MPI. What I think one of the main major problems the Labor Party have, especially the leadership of the Labor Party—being the Prime Minister and the Treasurer—is that they have no real-world example. It's actually embarrassing, I think, to the Labor Party and to this government that both the Treasurer and the Prime Minister are bubble boys. They have never worked outside of politics. They've never worked outside of a Labor minister's office or this chamber. That's embarrassing, and it shows they have no real-world example.

From memory, I think the Prime Minister's first job was with Tom Uren, a Labor minister. Then, he worked for the General Secretary of the Australian Labor Party in Sussex Street. Then he worked, I think, for Bob Carr, and then he became a Labor MP. He has no real-world example. Does he know what it's like to open a small business? Does he know what it's like to work in a small business? Let alone does he know what it's like to work in private enterprise in any structure? No.

I thought I might get a bit more encouragement from the Treasurer having some real-world, practical economic, financial experience. As the Treasurer, you would hope he would have that. But, no. He went from Wayne Swan's office, I think, to Kim Beazley's office to Morris Iemma's office and then back to Wayne Swan's office—God help us! That demonstrates the hubris and arrogance of the leadership of the Labor government and the bubble that they operate in, where they have no practical, real-world example, as the Prime Minister and Treasurer of this country. So there are two things.

This has been deceitful to the Australian public not just because they said they didn't take it to the election but because they were deceiving and misleading the Australian public before the last election in actually ruling it out. Shame on them! Not only is it the three tax increases—the capital gains tax, the changes to negative gearing and the changes to trusts—which they were deceptive about, which they misled the Australian public on and which they didn't give the Australian public the opportunity to vote on or talk about, but the other issues too.

As an aside, I make the point that, while the Treasurer and the Prime Minister have no idea about and have never stepped in a private enterprise as an employee, let alone owned or operated one in their lives, two state premiers seem to have a little bit more connection with their communities. Chris Minns and Premier Cook in Western Australia are also saying that this government's lost the plot on this stuff. They're saying that. That's not me. I give credit to some Labor MPs who have had real-world experience. The member for Parramatta has done very well in private enterprise. He's been a staffer as well, but at least he stepped out into private enterprise. He's made comments about the inappropriateness of this.

I also read out a number of quotes from business people yesterday. Forty under 40 leaders have said that this will crush ambition. We've had people like the starter of Boost Juice and many others saying it. Australia was built on a fair go, and we all know this. If you had a go, you had the opportunity to do well. That's what's been the successful culture of this country. But not our socialist Labor prime minister and our Labor socialist treasurer.

They don't get it. When you work in private enterprise, when you have to make money not only to fund your salary but to fund other people's salaries, there is something cellular that happens to you. You understand the importance of private enterprise and the importance of building something. You understand that. When all you've done is operate within this building, or with people who work in this building, it's just theoretical. As the Prime Minister said, the most important thing he does in this building is fight Tories. He's actually said that. That's not my quote. That's his. It's all just politics. It's all just the art of what this building is about. It's not about the real world. It's not about private enterprise. It's not about people trying to build this country, build the economy of this country and, importantly, employ people.

I reiterate that this Labor government did not take this to the last election like Bill Shorten did in 2019, when it was rejected. Worse than that, he actually ruled it out. I think there's an important message for the Greens here too. The Greens, at least, admit to their socialism and their crazy left-wing ideas. I respect that. They don't pretend to be something they're not, like the Labor Party does. I also put the challenge out to the Greens. The only people who can leverage the government into doing something here is the Greens in the Senate. I made the point with one of the Greens senators this morning on an interview panel we were both on. Are they going to support this? They might agree with the policy, but do they support the fact that the Labor Prime Minister was deceptive to the Australian people at the last election, because he didn't take these policies to the election? His worst deception was that he actually denied he was going to do this. So the Greens have a question here too. Are they going to support deception? Forget the policy for a second. Are they going to support the deception of this Labor prime minister and this Labor government?

I encourage all the Labor caucus members who are in here to stand up to this. You might agree with the policy. I respect the fact that you might agree with it. I disagree with it. I think it will kill private enterprise. I encourage the Labor caucus members in this chamber to go to the leadership of your party and at least question whether it was appropriate to be deceptive with this. Was it appropriate that, 12 months ago, we, as a political party, as the government of this country, deceived the Australian people? Dave Hughes has gone public. He said he voted for you lot in the election last year. He is saying that you do not have the mandate for this. And you don't have the mandate. If you think you have the mandate, look at how you important you think democracy is and how important you think elections are. If you're going to bring important legislation—this is not just normal budget appropriation stuff. This is radical reform to the tax system. That's when you take that to an election first because of the ramifications it will have. I say shame on every Labor MP who's going to vote for this.

Debate adjourned.

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