Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians know something isn't right. No matter how hard they work, they're just not getting ahead. After the Prime Minister himself said 50 times 'no changes to housing taxes', Labor now wants to change the rules. Working Australians are told they'll receive a $220 tax offset, while bracket creep takes away double that. That's not relief. It's giving with one hand and taking with the other.

While housing pressures persist, instead of focusing on increasing supply, Labor is targeting investment, including higher capital gains tax on assets people rely on to build their financial security. For younger Australians already struggling to enter the market, that doesn't create opportunity; it closes it off. When negative gearing was wound back under Paul Keating, rents didn't fall; they went up. If you remove the ability to offset losses, the costs don't disappear. They're passed on, and the renters pay.

Labor talks about intergenerational equity, yet the choices being made today are narrowing the opportunities available tomorrow. Pathways that allowed earlier generations to invest, build security and get ahead are being closed. To paraphrase Churchill, trying to tax your way into prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up by the handle. We must weigh the decisions of today on the scales of tomorrow because, with government spending rising, the next generation foots the bill.