Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister rule out changing the current tax treatment of the family home?

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The House will come to order. The Prime Minister hasn't said a word. I remind all members about interjecting before a minster even begins speaking.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about the tax changes before parliament?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the Treasurer as well.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer does make a point. We have just introduced very significant legislation before this parliament to give every Australian a tax cut. Every Australian taxpayer, whether or not they own their home, all 13.6 million of them. What do those opposite talk about? They've had two weeks to think about their first question and it has nothing to do with what we're doing and something to do with something that no-one will ever do.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my left.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They've had a fortnight to think of it because they have been all over the shop.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When it became clear that we were going to have a position of supporting every taxpayer getting a tax cut, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition—because the leader went missing for a while—charged out there and she said, 'We will fight this legislation in the parliament'. She went on and said, 'We don't even know what it will look like.' She actually said that. There's no gap between the sentences—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will pause. The Minister for Climate Change and the member for Page. The member for McNamara is warned. I don't care if it is his birthday; he is now warned. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question was: 'Will the Prime Minister rule out changing the current tax treatment of the family home?' It was a very simple, straightforward—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat. I listened carefully to the Prime Minister's answer. He actually answered that part of the question directly.

Honourable members interjecting—

Order! Resume your seat. Members on my right. The member for Barker and the Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting. The Prime Minister will pause a moment. The Leader of the Opposition.

Government members interjecting—

The ministers on my right will cease interjecting, including the Minister for Home Affairs. It is only the first question. I will get the Prime Minister to return to the question.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I have answered the question. Now I am adding to it, giving a bit of colour and movement. Last night I was there watching Nemesis, watching all the coalition of hatred along there, an hour and a half that explains in three parts why they were such a hopeless, divided government full of hate of each other. It was all played out. I was reminded that the Leader of the Opposition's big commitment to be made leader was that he would smile more. He was going to be like Little Miss Sunshine; instead, he gave us Jack Nicholson in The Shiningsmashing through the walls—his clear hatred, full of negativity, full of abuse. Come on, if you were fair dinkum, you would vote against our measure and you would commit to roll it back, just like your deputy absolutely promised to.

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is far too much noise. The member for Holt shall resume her seat. The member for Lyons on a point of order.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader made a disorderly remark, and I ask she withdraw it.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In defence of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, there was far too much noise for me to hear anything, but I remind all members I will be watching very carefully for any unparliamentary language and action will be taken. I give the call to the member for Holt.

Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How will Labor's new tax cuts provide cost-of-living relief and support the aspiration of every Australian taxpayer?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Holt for her question and for her advocacy for people in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The legislation that's before this parliament will give a tax cut—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will pause. The member for Deakin has interrupted three times during this answer. No-one else is interrupting. He is now warned. The Prime Minister has the call.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our legislation will give every taxpayer a tax cut, all 13.6 million of them. One of the great divides that we are seeing play out in Australian politics at the moment is the concept of aspiration. Those opposite think that, for people to aspire, they have to be someone who has been to the right school, had all the right background, been part of the elite and that they are the only people who aspire.

In this nation, what I know as I go around is that every taxpayer in the electorate of Holt has aspiration, every single one—every cleaner, every supermarket worker, even those who work at Woolworths, those 200,000 that this bloke wants to lose their job. Every single worker in this country aspires to a better life for themselves and for their families. That's why, in an electorate like Holt, people have come from all over the world for a better opportunity for their kids, for the next generation. So we think that this is the right decision for the right time.

It's not an easy decision. We knew that there would be pushback. We knew that those opposite in their heart of hearts would object to this so strongly, even though I'm not quite sure what their position is today on this. We knew they would object to it. But we knew that it was the right thing to do. I said at the National Press Club—for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition, that's the little building down the road there—where I spoke before the last election—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Barker will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I said that our core principles would be no-one left behind and no-one held back. That's why we wanted to make sure that those battlers who weren't going to get a single dollar under the existing frame of the Morrison tax cuts got a tax cut, got a break, because that's not just good for them; it's good for the economy as well. But we also wanted to acknowledge that you can't say that there are cost-of-living pressures out there on middle Australia and then not be prepared to do everything that you can to make a difference. We will make a difference, which is why these tax cuts should be supported.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister rule out any changes to the current tax treatment of negative gearing?

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister has the call and will be heard in silence.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for her question. But it was hard to see across there because there's this big elephant in this room. It's in the form of the legislation that the Treasurer just introduced at 12 o'clock—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will return to the question.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

legislation that will assist every taxpayer to get a tax cut. That is what we are focused on. The Leader of the Opposition—

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will pause. He has had 30 seconds or so dealing with the preamble, and I did call him to order to the question. He was about to answer something—I'm not sure what it was—but I will take—

Order! The Assistant Treasurer is warned. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, it was a very simple question. Can we get a straight answer from this man ever?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that he will get the call; he just needs to state the point of order, which was about relevance.

An honourable member interjecting—

Order! The Prime Minister has the call.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did see a slight curling of the corner there. I thought it was going to come out, that smile we were promised. He asked about negative gearing. I'll quote what one of his team has had to say about that—the member for Menzies. Those opposite like talking about each other, so why not add to it—Nemesis episode 4: the Dutton years?

Senator Maria Kovacic:

We should not be afraid to consider tax changes, whether they be capping—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will pause. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition has already had one point of order on relevance, so she'll need to state the point of order when I give her the call, and she has the call now.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek your ruling: is the Prime Minister being relevant?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, the Prime Minister was—that's not a point of order. It's not a point of order! It's the first day back—

Government members interjecting—

Order! Members on my right. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the Minister for Home Affairs! I want to hear from the Prime Minister, and I'm making sure that his answer is being relevant.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I resisted talking about negative gearing and the member opposite! But Senator Kovacic said this:

We should not be afraid to consider tax changes, whether they be capping the number of properties that can be negatively geared …

That was in her first speech. You know, that's where you go along and you think, 'What do you really believe in?' There it is, just there, from September 2023. And then the member for Menzies had this to say about negative gearing:

Every lever must be on the table.

I'll tell you what we're doing about housing: we're focusing on supply. That's what we're doing: focusing on supply. We had a tax change in the budget to encourage build to rent. That was the tax change that we had in the budget. I'm not sure if they noticed it, because they were just too busy opposing everything—which is what they do. Except, maybe—I'm not quite sure what their position is on these tax cuts, because they're asking questions about everything but.