Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The verdict is in. This is the worst budget Australia has seen since Paul Keating's in 1993. The Prime Minister gave a promise that there would be no changes to negative gearing and no changes to capital gains tax. He ruled out changes in his own words 50 times. Now no Australian can trust another word that comes out of his mouth. Labor's mask is off. This is a government that sees every Australian who gets ahead, or wants to get ahead, as someone to tax more—a nation of wealth redistribution, not wealth creation, where opportunity is obliterated, not created. Every Australian will be worse off because of this aspiration-killing budget. There will be higher taxes on housing, on saving, on investment and on small businesses, as well as a death tax by stealth. This government is now talking about carve-outs for tech startups but not for small businesses, not for plumbers, not for hairdressers, not for other tradies and not for any other small business. That's what this government does. It pits Australians against Australians, young Australians against older Australians. I'll tell you what: Australians don't want carve-outs; they want these taxes axed.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.