Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

Yes. The bad news is that it is only going to get worse because of this government's higher taxes. The reality is that Australians are facing the highest tax burden in Commonwealth history under this government. Today, Labor and the Greens made a dirty deal in the Senate, and we all know how this ends: more tax, more complexity and more attacks on aspiration with higher taxes on self-managed super funds. It was aspiration that our country was built on, making it one of the most prosperous nations in the world, and I am proud of that. Yet, to Labor and the Greens, aspiration is a dirty word and is simply something to be taxed.

Young Australians are doing as we told them to do: work hard, invest wisely, buy a home and build a better future. But today they are being told to expect less. They're being told, 'You don't deserve to get ahead.' They're being told, 'The government wants you to stay right where you are.' They're being told to forget their potential, to forget their ambitions and to just tread water because they don't deserve to get ahead. Labor's toxic taxes mean fewer homes will be available and rents will be higher, pushing the dream of home ownership even further away. If a young Australian wants to build their deposit through investing, they're being punished for that as well.

Nearly half of all investors on CommSec are under 40 years of age. If you are a young Australian taking a risk, building a portfolio and trying to set yourself up for a better future, Labor wants to tax you more on these investments. The Financial Services Council data confirms that aggressive investors, typically Australians around 35 years of age, will be the hardest hit by the capital gains tax changes—not the ultra wealthy, as the Prime Minister wants us to believe. They're just ambitious, hardworking young Australians with huge potential. Gen Z and millennials are investing more than three times the share of their income than baby boomers. The government's response to this ambition? Just tax it.

Small businesses have been smashed by Labor in the last four years, and they are not exempt from the budget of broken promises. Labor's spin machine claims that their new carve-outs will make small businesses better off, but here is the truth: this so-called carve-out is a con. Nine out of 10 small businesses will still get nothing while Labor feasts on their hard work. That's the local sparky, the local hairdresser, the butcher or the mechanic—all still worse off. Labor's idea of backing innovation is a committee in Canberra deciding whether they are innovative or not. Is it just me, or does anyone else see the irony in that? The whole point of innovation is that it cannot be written up neatly in a rulebook. It is born out of courage, hard work and good ideas that no-one has had before. It can't be written down in a rulebook.

Every day, our trust in this Prime Minister decreases. He misled the Australian people at the last election, telling us over 50 times that he would not touch capital gains tax or negative gearing, just to do the complete opposite as soon as he got a chance. We have consistently asked the Prime Minister to rule out the tax on the family home. He has yet to rule that out. In fact, it was only in question time today that he again refused to rule out the taxing of the family home. Why is that? Why isn't our Prime Minister being straight with the Australian public? Why can't he answer that question? Well, I don't know. But he has got form. Today showed the government is prepared to be held hostage by the Greens party. If the Greens call for a tax on the family home, will Labor follow?

The attacks don't end there. Labor have vowed to continue to go after senior Australians by cutting the private health tax rebate for over 65s, effectively putting a 21 per cent increase on private health for over 65s. These are proud, hardworking Australians who have saved diligently and sought to reduce pressure on the public health system by maintaining private cover. While the government neglects aspiration in Australia and the needs of our proud senior Australians, the coalition will back aspiration and hard work every day until we get rid of this terrible government.

See this speech in context