Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Labor government has declared war on Aussie aspiration. Tonight the Treasurer will outline his battle plan when he hands down the Albanese budget. The Prime Minister has given the Treasurer a clear mission: to destroy aspiration; to destroy ambition; to destroy the Australian dream.

Now, how will the Treasurer do this? Through new taxes on the Australian people to pay for Labor's reckless spending. Labor will impose new taxes on housing, savings, small business and retirement. Families trying to save will be taxed. Tradies trying to build their businesses will be taxed. Entrepreneurs building something new will be taxed. Farmers producing food for Australians will be taxed. All of them will be hit by Labor's new taxes.

What's worse is that Labor has already softened up the economy with its record spending. Australia has some of the highest inflation in the world. We've seen 15 rate rises by the Reserve Bank under Labor. Bracket creep is already costing Australians $2,000 extra in income tax per year. People are doing it tough. And tonight, under the cover of darkness, Labor launches its surprise attack on Aussie aspiration with new taxes. They've cleverly used deception to get to this point, having ruled out these tax changes before the election. You know you did, Prime Minister. But now we all see the truth: Labor's budget is built on broken promises and higher taxes.