Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy) | Hansard source

Yes, a little bit of honesty. The member for Parramatta is always smart enough to never put it in email, but he did speak in the media about how he had concerns about the budget changes. The member for Bennelong has also spoken about his concerns. They were a little bit more cryptic in their criticism. They've been around a little bit longer.

What concerns does the member for Sturt have such that she agrees with her constituent? Well, let me quote from Mr Cooper:

I think the government spends more than they need to because it helps keep them in power. They may need the money but I'm not sure this is the way to do it. I think if they are going to do tax changes, they should have taken it to an election in the same way John Howard took the GST to an election.

So the member for Sturt agrees that the Prime Minister broke his word, he misled the Australian people and he should have taken these changes to an election. While I admire the courage of the member for Sturt, I do fear for her career options, because we know what this Prime Minister does to those who dare question him. He is very vindictive. He runs the facade of unity. He forces unity. But, as they say, he protests too much. We know that quietly behind that there is a group that aren't happy.

The member for Brisbane has told her constituents that she will raise this matter with the Treasurer when she's next in Canberra for parliament, referring to the tax changes. I wonder how that conversation went. She wasn't prepared to defend the changes to the constituents. She said she'd have a conversation with the Treasurer. We know that the Treasurer, as he said today, doesn't listen or doesn't care about the backbench.

Another MP—and this MP didn't want to be named; they had a bit of sense—said a 'group of Labor politicians' were calling for further changes after hearing complaints from self-funded retirees, young people who are investing in shares to save for a home deposit and younger women who may have had time out of the workforce. These budget changes are a disaster, all overseen by this Treasurer. Those on the Labor backbench know it. They were prepared to vote for it, and it cost their own communities.

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