Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) | Hansard source

I'm happy to change the words of what I've said, Deputy Speaker, but I think we need to be realistic. No-one actually believes that the stoking of excise and the continuing raising of excise on tobacco by this government has not been a direct contributor to the proliferation of organised crime. I'd love to hear a Labor member contest this and say in their speech: 'No, it's got nothing to do with excise. It's just magically appeared out of nowhere.' The profiteering of organised crime and the reason for the very incentives that mean they've stepped into the marketplace are anything but. That's why you tend to get organised crime engaged in low-product-value, high-margin products. One is illegal drugs. I don't think we're disagreeing on that. One is illicit tobacco. I don't think we're disagreeing on that. It's just like, once upon a time, they engaged in things like selling illegal DVDs. But no-one buys DVDs anymore, so that has been taken out of the equation.

The tax rates are set in the federal budget last I checked. We've got one of these federal budgets before the federal parliament right now. Last I checked, Labor members voted for the last four budgets. So, alright, I'll set it up this way. Labor members of parliament vote for a budget. The budget then increases the tax rates. The tax rates then increase the incentive for organised crime. The organised crime then profiteers. But there is no connection between any of that that brings any of the Labor members into complicity in that activity. I need to be clear about that. It's just a fantasy. We're all making it up. I can tell you it's only in the parliament of Australia, in the House of Representatives, that people don't think that there's some sort of connection between those series of events that have led now to firebombing of small businesses and increasing insurance premiums. The biggest explosion of organised crime in Australia's history has been under this government. Now there's the risk that we're going to see equivalent behaviour with the expansion of illicit alcohol across the sector, which is leading to attacks on small grocery shops, attacks on small businesses and firebombing that's risking people's lives and destroying small business. But, hey, according to the member Fremantle, there's no connection between any of that. It's just a coincidence.

I think we've just got to get real. It's not a coincidence. It's real. It's what Australians are living. It's propagating crime. By the way, that criminal activity and the money that's raised from that activity is then going on to fuel other things, like terrorism. This, by the way, has been a point that has been made by our police services and is very distressing. I know that the Labor members don't like drawing the connection between their budget, their tax regime and organised crime and terrorism, but I'm afraid it's real. Australians are living with this, but we've seen this constant attitude of being drunk on deceit and drunk on denial from this government about the reality of what it is its doing. But Australians are living it. I have no issue calling this out, because there has to be a point at which we in this parliament wake up and people actually start to realise the consequences of their actions. As I outlined, it was the progressive movement in the early part of the 20th century that was responsible for prohibition that went on to lead to the propagation of organised crime, the proliferation of organised cartels and the profiteering, as I said, of organised crime. But, more importantly, it led to violence and death on the United States's streets.

Once again, we are seeing a repetition of behaviour. We have progressives who think that their grand intentions are greater than the actual lived outcomes of Australians and that, if only they were left in charge and they had every lever that they could pull at their discretion, all of a sudden they would build a better society. In fact, that's wrong. They're handing our streets over to organised gangs that then use that money to proliferate criminal activity which harms every Australian either financially or in their safety and has gone as far as financing terrorism, and—can I tell you what?—some of us are sick of it.

Some of us are sick not just of the drunken denial from the government about the consequences of this but of the fact that there seems to be this complete disregard of what they're doing to Australian streets. We know that crime is a massive issue in our country. We know who's paying the price for the Labor government's denial on these issues and the consequences of their decisions. We know, because we're living it in our communities and our on our streets, and, while there might be Labor members who like to turn a blind eye, the Australian people are not turning a blind eye.

This measure, of course, is a step in the right direction, but it is a long way from how far we need to go, and until the Labor member for Fremantle, the member for Macnamara or any other members on the other side of this chamber are prepared to be honest with the Australian people and stand up—and we know honesty, by the way. We know full well it was not exactly something that came naturally before the last election. But if they are going to do it, we'd need a sense of honesty about what the consequences of Labor's policy are going to be. I can tell you that the small businesses of the country are desperate for a sense of leadership from this parliament, and it certainly isn't being provided by this Labor government.

See this speech in context