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

I note then that Labor members are not shaking their heads at the idea that we have record small-business insolvencies. Apparently it does not concern Labor members that they have overseen the greatest collapse of small business in this country. The cost of the small-business crisis that is occurring right now is an absolute tragedy. Every time a small business closes, what goes with it are standards of living. What goes with it are livelihoods. What goes with it is aspiration. What goes with it is the contribution it makes to the community, including providing the first employment opportunity for somebody to get their foot on the ladder of economic opportunity. But, clearly, this is not a cause of distress for the Labor members in this chamber.

When you increase the price of fuel, it goes through and flows into the consequences of small-business costs. When you increase small-business costs, it has an impact on the household. What a surprise that we have record low small-business confidence! We have record low consumer confidence, and that might be part of the reason why we have record small-business insolvencies, directly off the back of the ruinous economic policies of the Albanese government, only exacerbated by, or compounded by, international events.

There's a point when we need change, and I can tell you we need change right now. Small businesses in this country have never done it so tough as under the Albanese government. They are living the consequences of record low consumer confidence. Small businesses in Australia have never done it so tough in this country as they are right now. They are living with record low small-business confidence and record low consumer confidence, which is at an all-time low. And, of course, there are record small-business insolvencies.

If we want to give Australians hope in communities and those who are backing themselves and applying effort to back themselves, we need to be backing small business. Instead, we've got the complete opposite. We've got an economic model from the Albanese government that is constantly focused on how it undercuts and undermines small business. We've got an economic model from the Albanese government that has one mad proposition: to constantly stoke inflation, then tax the inflation and then spend the inflation in a vicious cycle. It continues go round and round as the government takes more control over Australians' incomes.

We know the direct consequence. As inflation continues to go up, it's being stripped out from wages. Every time wages go up to adjust, what's happening is people are paying more tax and are moving higher up the tax bracket. That's why the coalition have our tax back guarantee—because our tax back guarantee is focused on how we return that overtaxation back into the hip pockets of Australians so they can control their own lives and make decisions about their own destiny. That's important because it directly contributes to consumer confidence.

We've got an economic environment where small businesses are living with the worst economic environment and the highest record level of insolvencies. We have record low small-business confidence, we have record low consumer confidence and, of course, we have record small-business insolvencies. This is sapping the aspiration and the economic opportunity that exists at the heart of communities.

We want small business to have confidence, to be able to build, to grow, to invest and to employ so they have a pathway to realise their dreams and their success. We should want a society that's built off the aspiration of Australians who apply their energy to back themselves. What we don't want is an economy that's built on the idea of dependence or control from Canberra. It should start with community, and we should want small business to succeed in a way that they never have before—not do as the current government wants, which is to put a limitation or a cap on their ambition or their success. We also want to make sure that Australians have a pathway to keep more of their own hard earned money in their own hip pocket. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief No. 2) Bill 2026, which focuses on fuel excise, is about how there's short-term relief to address one limiting factor on the amount of money that goes into people's household bills.

We want an Australia where Australians have control of their own financial future. We want an Australia where Australians pay their fair share of tax but it's also assumed that the first place that their money should be is in their own pocket. We believe in an Australia where we defer to individuals, families and communities being better deciders of how they spend their money than the government. We believe in an Australia where small business succeeds and is in control of their own destiny to grow, contribute and employ. That's why we believe in making sure we limit the amount the government spends. But, more importantly, we believe in how much people can keep in their own hip pocket to decide their own destiny, to invest in their communities, to back small businesses and to grow the state of the overall economy.

That's what's so tragic about what the Albanese government is currently doing in its approach in the economy and in this budget. At every point, this government has turned around to young Australians; to those who are aspiring to get ahead; to those who are working hard, saving and sacrificing; or to those that are seeking to retire with security and directly assaulting their financial sustainability and their fiscal confidence to be able to control their own lives. This government is trying to kneecap Australians from getting ahead, because it has the arrogance to think that it understands better how to control people's lives and to decide their destiny. This government has the arrogance of believing that, if it controls people's money and more money is hoovered out of the back pockets of Australians up into the Treasury in Canberra, better decisions will be made for all of us.

The government has no confidence and no belief in Australians and what they seek to achieve. The Albanese government doesn't believe in Australians or them being able to realise their ambitions or their dreams. The Albanese government doesn't believe that the best interests of Australians are realised by them being able to determine their own destiny. The Albanese government believes in one thing: themselves, their sense of control and dictating the terms about how Australians can get ahead, because they believe they better understand how to live people's lives than Australians do on their own.

The Albanese government believes that control is central to their political objectives. At every stage of their lives, they want to control what people learn so they can understand how they think. The Albanese government wants to dictate how people work and be able to do it under the terms in which they set and under the unions that control them. They want people to only be able to save on the terms or invest on the terms that suit them. Whether or not they've done any work to achieve it, the Albanese government wants to take half of it. They want to make sure that, when Australians have a choice, they want to compel as much money as possible into the industry super funds to be able to dictate how their money is invested on their behalf and control them so that they can lever control over the financial system and Australia's economy, even when they're thrown out of government by the Australian people.

The Albanese government is the most immoral government in Australian history. It is the one that has sown the most social division and fed the worst cost-of-living crisis in our country. The Albanese government has done the most to kneecap Australians, their ambition, their dreams and their sense of aspiration. The Albanese government continues to corrode the very foundations of our country and its strength. There's a time when immoral governments need to be removed. Keir Starmer is experiencing this in the United Kingdom right now. The Albanese government should not be far behind—because it is led by a man, by ministers and by a backbench who simply have lost their moral compass and understanding of how Australians can live out their best lives. They believe deep down that they can decide how Australians can live their lives only on the Albanese government's terms.

While we're passing this legislation through the parliament to enable Australians to be able to get some relief at the petrol bowser—and, if they're involved in shipping or freight, to be able to remove some of the cost pressures—this bill doesn't relieve the much bigger problem that sits at the heart of the Albanese government. At the heart of this Albanese government is a direct assault on the aspiration and dreams of Australians, particularly those who want to back themselves to get ahead, to build a small business and to be part of building their Australian dream.

My hope, of course, is that one day the Albanese government wake up. They wake up and realise the consequences of what they're doing in their budget are directly assaulting the foundations and the economic foundations of this country. My hope is that one day the Albanese government stops taking the terms being dictated by the Greens and now their assault on retirees. My hope is that one day the Albanese government wakes up and realises that there's a serious consequence to continuing to drive the country downward, where we seem to have a Treasurer whose primary objective in policy is to run the economy down, to crash the economy because it gives the Labor government the best pathway to build the case to take control of Australians' lives. My hope is that the Australian people understand and are watching and witnessing exactly how bad this Albanese government is operating and that they're thrown out at the next federal election. And I will point out that increasingly that looks like precisely what's going to happen.

My hope is that one day we have a government that's built on building out and backing Australians to get ahead, where, for those who apply themselves and put in their effort and hard work, we have their government cheering them on, not what they currently have in a government that's focused on how to kneecap them from their success. My hope is that we'll have an Australia that's filled with aspiration and ambition not just for who we can be individually but for who families can be and, more importantly, for where communities and small business can be. My hope is that we're able to build out a better nation for every Australian—one where we have a government that cheers Australians on to their full success. That isn't going to happen under this government, but change is on the way. Hope is on the way, and, believe me, Australia can be a better country, but it's only going to come with the end of the immoral Albanese government and its direct assault on Australians and their capacity to live out their ambition and their dreams.

And so, while we pass this bill today on the important issue of excise, let us never forget what the objective of this bill should actually be about. It should be about providing a pathway for Australians of all stripes to be able to get ahead. Instead, this is the consequence of living with the impact of the active inflationary agenda of the Albanese government, which they're now trying to provide short-term relief for. They're going to give with one hand and then take with another, whether it's families, small businesses or communities, because we are living with the ruinous consequences of a terrible Albanese government.

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