Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk about this week's budget. I want to talk about a couple of measures in it that I think are going to be really damaging to our prosperity as a nation. But I really want to remind those opposite that this budget was built on misleading the Australian public. We know that just a year ago the Prime Minister was asked over 50 times—it's well documented—whether he would change the policies of his government in relation to capital gains tax, in relation to negative gearing and in relation to trusts, and over 50 times he said no, he wouldn't. It's exactly that type of behaviour and that type of language and then immediately doing in his first budget exactly the opposite to what he said he would that brings great shame upon himself and great shame upon the government that everyone over there represents, because it is a real mistrust you now have with the Australian public.

The first one I want to talk about is the capital gains tax. We now have one of the highest capital gains taxes in the world. We won't notice it this week. We won't notice it necessarily this year. But this is going to change the behaviour of Australians in the sense of taking a risk. As someone said to me yesterday, Labor wants you to take the risk, and they'll take the reward. That is how this is going to filter through. People will not, because of the taxes, be prepared to take the risk that they once would when they're building businesses, they're building asset values et cetera. I have so much more to say, but anyway I'll sit down.

Kara Cook (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget delivers for Queensland and for my community of Bonner. It delivers cost-of-living relief, stronger health care, more housing and a more resilient economy for the future. Queensland will receive $42.3 billion in Commonwealth funding. This budget is taking real pressure off Queenslanders with tax cuts for working Australians, including a new $1,000 instant tax deduction and a $250 working Australians tax offset. That means more money back in people's pockets when they need it most. This budget is also focused on boosting housing supply—$2 billion through the new Local Infrastructure Fund to help deliver the roads, water and essential infrastructure needed to unlock more homes. For Queensland, that means access to more than $395 million in funding.

When it comes to health care, we are investing $1.8 billion to make Medicare urgent care clinics permanent, providing certainty for Queensland's network of 25 clinics, including the two clinics that service my community in Bonner, with over 8,000 people already seen. Bulk-billing is increasing, with 663 fully bulk-billed practices in Queensland, and the number in Bonner has doubled. This is a budget focused on helping Queenslanders now while building a stronger future for our state.

Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget declares the intergenerational war over. It was a massacre, and the boomers won. This is the highest-taxing budget in Australia's history. The next generation will be the poorest ever in Australian history. Why? Because of the bracket creep tax. Young people now pay a higher share of income than I did. Because of Labor, young people pay a higher capital tax than I ever did. And, because of Labor, young people will be subsidising me negatively gearing my properties. That is what this Labor government has done. They have ripped the ladders of opportunity away from young people and entrenched it in the older generation, and they have had the temerity to gaslight younger people and say, 'This is going to solve intergenerational inequity.' If this is such a good idea, Australians should ask themselves this question: Why, just 12 months ago, did the Labor government need to lie about it? Why did they stand up in front of an election, look the Australian people in the eye and lie about changing capital or negative gearing? It will rip hope and opportunity away from young people and entrench it in older generations. We are for providing those ladders of opportunity to young people, the same ladders their parents had.

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

At a time when household budgets are stretched and families are feeling the pressure, this Labor budget is focused on what matters the most: easing cost-of-living pressures now while building a fairer future for the next generation. For the people of Holt, that matters. This budget delivers more tax relief for workers, including a new $1,000 instant tax deduction and a $250 working Australians tax offset, helping people keep more of what they earn. It delivers $2.9 billion in immediate petrol price relief, while also strengthening Australia's fuel security and supply chains. It supports housing reform by levelling the playing field and giving first home buyers a fairer chance at achieving the great Australian dream of homeownership. It backs small businesses with permanent tax relief, including the $20,000 instant asset write-off and a permanent two-year-loss carry back. And it strengthens Medicare, making urgent care clinics permanent, making medicines cheaper and delivering record investment in public hospitals. This is the budget that understands the pressure people are under. It backs workers and small businesses. It supports families. It strengthens Medicare. It helps first home buyers, and, most importantly, it delivers practical— (Time expired)

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The members opposite have got more spin than a carousel at the Ekka, quite frankly. What this budget actually did was crystallise Labor lies, higher taxes, lower living standards and fewer homes. This budget cements this Labor government as the highest taxing government this nation has ever seen, and the big play was apparently housing. But guess what? Labor's own budget papers reveal, on page 158, that actually their new taxes will lead to—you guessed it!—fewer homes being built.

The one thing they didn't mention in the budget speech on Tuesday night was migration. Out-of-control migration has absolutely contributed to this housing crisis. In fact, under this Labor government, we've seen 1.4 million people come into this country. Quite frankly, housing supply just can't keep up. You cannot fix the housing crisis without addressing the population pressures that have been imposed by this Labor government.

They ruled out changing capital gains tax. They ruled out changing negative gearing. And they broke those promises, those solemn promises, to the Australian people. This mob's got form now. They've never seen a tax that they don't like, so we ask: what tax is coming next from this Albanese Labor government?

Renee Coffey (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

More than 20 years ago I bought my first home: a run down flat in Cannon Hill. I was 21. I was living out of home, working multiple jobs and saving half my pay cheque. Within two years, I had a small deposit, and with it I bought a home of my own. For young people today, including my niece. who's up in the gallery, that same pathway is out of reach, and that is not fair. I hear it from young people trying to get a foothold, from parents worried about their children's future and from grandparents who want the next generation to have the same chances that they had.

That's why our budget invests a further $2 billion in infrastructure and continues our five per cent deposit scheme, which has already helped more than 1,215 people in my community of Griffith buy their first home. And we're building an additional 100,000 homes reserved just for first home buyers. We will limit negative gearing to new builds, reform capital gains tax arrangements and extend the ban on foreign investors buying existing homes. This budget delivers a historic package of reforms that will help rebalance the system. Young people today deserve the chance to buy their own place.

It is clear the status quo on housing isn't working. Australians are facing a housing system that is stacked against them, so we are changing it. This is what real action on housing looks like, not like what we've seen from those opposite, who want to blame it on our migrant communities and God knows what else.