Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two weeks ago, the PM and his Treasurer delivered a budget that confirmed this Labor government is the highest taxing government in Australian history. After the backlash, they're desperately trying to soften the edges and find carve-outs and exemptions, but Australians know the truth. The truth is this: when Labor runs out of money, it always comes after theirs. Prior to the last election, the Prime Minister promised no fewer than 50 times that he wouldn't be changing property taxes in this country. What'd he then do? He delivered a budget built on the very same taxes that he promised the Australian people he would never levy.

He didn't stop at property taxes. Convinced that trusts are only used by billionaires, they planned wholesale changes that will cripple nearly 300,000 small businesses. These are battlers; they're not billionaires. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer have attacked negative gearing and have gutted capital gains tax concessions—all while doing nothing about bracket creep.

This isn't intergenerational equity; this is intergenerational fraud. This is a Prime Minister who has used the very same mechanisms to build his private wealth, but he's now pulling up the ladder of opportunity. It's the ultimate 'up yours' to the next generation of young Australians, and he wonders why he gets booed at the footy—higher taxes, higher costs, less investment, less aspiration. You don't fix these toxic taxes with carve-outs; you axe them.