Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight, it appears the cost of ambition is about to go up. Based on what has already been leaked to the media, tonight's budget is looking like a direct tax on success and a calculated betrayal of the people who do the heavy lifting. Think of the small-business owners, the people who have skipped holidays, worked through the night and salary sacrificed every spare cent to build a future. For them, their assets are their superannuation. It is their reward for a lifetime of risk. Now, Labor wants to slash that reward the moment they cross the finish line.

This budget is set to be framed as a hand up for the next generation, but it's more like a government robbing Peter to pay Paul. Peter is the hardworking Australian who sacrificed everything for their retirement, while Paul is a bloated government spending spree that is out of control, a government that wastes billions on net zero and fuels a migration surge that it simply cannot house. This government is setting itself up to take on the people who have worked the hardest. This budget isn't looking like reform; it's looking like a raid. Labor is burning the floorboards to keep the furnace going, and it's starting with the incineration of every single Australian's future.