Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Each generation should have their own opportunity to pursue their life, their opportunity and their enterprise. Australia's social fabric rests on a generational contract—an unspoken agreement between the young and the old, bound together by responsibility and sacrifice, in pursuit of the greatness of a country, through the advancement of people's own interests, to build the foundations of a life and to be able to stand on their own two feet to support themselves and their families. On the first occasion on which I spoke in this chamber, I argued liberalism creates an opportunity for society, where social mobility for the next generation is preserved through equality of opportunity. Our interdependence, mutualism and sense of social justice is that everybody has their fair go. Young Australians get the opportunity to choose their future, that takes advantage of the compounded effort of those that came before them, but are unshackled from the obligations or the burdens of decisions made prior to them. So they're in a position to be free to take responsibility and build their own lives.

Older Australians get their security from the earnings of a working life and, of course, respect for that sacrifice and saving in their retirement with dignity. As Australians move between the opportunity stages of their lives through to security, the tests they face can be overcome through their own efforts, and at all stages we respect our role as stewards of a united nation, a respectful society, a prosperous economy and a sustainable environment.

In the past few months, the world has faced a significant health crisis. COVID-19 has infected every part of our country—and that of many others as well—and suffocated our shared progress. While we are a long way on the journey to cleansing the virus, the reality of the economic crisis that will follow is only just starting to be unmasked. It's resolutely true that while the health impact of COVID-19 has predominantly fallen onto older Australians, the economic impact will fall onto younger Australians disproportionately: job losses, public debt and lost opportunity into the future. This is an enormous burden for a generation to bear, and we do not want a lost generation.

The task of those members who sit in this House is to decide what it is they're going to do about it. Will their focus be, like the Morrison government, to keep people in jobs and build opportunities for the future so that young Australians get their fair go too? The reality is that we are going to need to embark on an ambitious wave of reform to do so. We have unnecessary rigidity in industrial relations that has slowed productivity and limited the creation of new jobs, and if you want to be competitive in a global market place you need to make sure you're an attractive destination for investment. We're familiar with the scarring effect of recessions. Lower employment means young workers lose vital life experience. They lose their time and the opportunity that goes with it, which damages their future bargaining power and contribution. Lower wage growth harms them worst.

As Liberals we want the next generation to be able to turn to their human capital and turn it into economic success. We want to speak to people's aspirations throughout the whole of the stages of improving their lives. And the great deception promoted by members from the Australian Labor Party is that the state can solve these problems—rather than looking at what the role of the state is, which is to help support an environment for people to prosper and to be able to achieve their full individual potential.

Labor wants to extend government stimulus and subsidies into the never-never, without any honest discussion about the fact that the same people they claim to be benefiting will be lumped with the bill. But, as Menzies said, social welfare and state ownership is not creative of real things; it creates an illusion of prosperity. This reduces the incentive to effort, so production lags and living standards actually fall. You borrow from the future to pretend you can do something today. That's why this government is being so prudent, so responsible, in comparison with the alternative vision out there.