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

During question time, the Leader of the Opposition proposed a motion to suspend standing orders and sessional orders. The Leader of the House required, under standing order 47(e) that further proceedings take place after the matter of public importance, where the House is at the moment. I understand the seconder of the motion, the member for Canning, wishes to seek leave to address the House for five minutes.

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

I seek leave to address the House for five minutes.

Leave granted.

I thank the Leader of the House for the opportunity for some late afternoon truth-telling. The truth is that Labor's toxic taxes are a war on Aussie aspiration. Small businesses, farmers, families and millions of Australians looking to get ahead will be hit by the tax hikes that Labor has introduced today. The Prime Minister went to the election promising no new taxes. He said his word was his bond. Fifty times, he ruled out changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax. But, as Australians have found out, he's been planning this sneaky attack on Aussie aspiration for the last 12 months, and today we've seen exactly his battle plan. He is going to hit Australians with toxic new taxes. They say one thing before an election and do another thing afterwards.

Australians are being hit with more taxes. They're being hit with a housing tax, a small- and family-business tax, a tax on savings and investment and a tax on aspiration. The Albanese government has breached the trust of the Australian people. Australians can see through the sneaky way that this government operates. The Prime Minister is short on policy, but he is long on tactics. He has shown a very great ability, in fact, with his sneaky, stealthy hit on Australian aspiration.

Australians work hard. They make sacrifices. They put in extra hours, take risks and start businesses. They produce our food on farms, they invest in the future and they try to build something better for their children. That should be encouraged. That's what we're about on this side of the House. But this government sees aspiration as a source of revenue. Australians see right through the Prime Minister and this Labor government's sneaky war on Aussie aspiration. They see this as an attack on our prosperity, our security and our competitiveness as a nation. What kind of country do we want our nation to become? Do we want to be a country that rewards hard work, risk taking and enterprise or a country where government keeps taking more, spending more and making it harder for the average Australian to get ahead?

Under Labor, Australians are going backwards. This is exactly what's happening to them. Power bills are up, housing is less affordable, small businesses are under enormous pressure, families are cutting back on their budgets, there's less discretionary spending and now Labor wants more of Australians' money to pay for its failed policies and reckless spending. The truth is—and you know what I'm going to say here—when Labor run out of money, they come after yours. That is the story of this government—more tax, more spending, more bureaucracy and less opportunity for ordinary Australians.

The coalition believes in something different. We believe in protecting families and small business. We believe in rewarding hard work, and we believe in aspiration. That means restoring a culture where people who work hard and take risks are supported and rewarded by government—not punished by government, which is what's happening under the Albanese government. It means restoring the dream of home ownership for young Australians who feel locked out of our housing market. They are losing hope of ever having a stake in our great country. It also means rebuilding an economy that produces things again, things of value, because a strong country needs those things in times of crisis.

For that, we need affordable energy, and affordable energy means productive businesses. It means strong industries. That's why the coalition will always stand up for Australians trying to build something better for themselves and their families. We want to restore the Australian standard of living, we want to reward hard work, we want to restore home ownership and we want to secure Australia's future. That's why we want to give Australians more of their own money back with our tax-back guarantee, indexing income tax thresholds to inflation. We're going to stop the bracket creep. That's why we want to cap migration based on how many homes are being built. Housing supply matters, and young Australians deserve a fair shot at owning a home. To be very clear, we're going to peg net overseas migration figures to housing completions every single year.

That's why we're scrapping net zero. We believe this country could be an energy superpower. We have an abundance of coal, gas and uranium. We also have plenty of sun and wind, but you need reliable, affordable baseload power, and that only comes through fossil fuels. Australia is one of the biggest exporters of coal and gas around the world, and we export to some of the world's biggest and fastest growing emitters, countries like China, India, Japan and Korea. The reality is, under Labor, we deny those very fuels to the Australian people, and they're paying with their family budgets. They're paying with their businesses. We're seeing industry across this country collapse under this Labor government.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The taxation system in Australia is broken. When a teacher, a nurse or a police officer working hard to try and get ahead is paying more tax than someone who is simply buying and selling assets, that system is broken. That system stinks. That system is unfair. Our government is determined to fix that system to make sure that it works and to ensure that we're incentivising and supporting hardworking Australians who are trying to get ahead, not punishing them simply because they can't afford to own investment assets.

Who is opposing the reforms that our government is putting to the parliament? None other than the opposition, but they're not alone this time. We've got the Liberal Party. They've teamed up, of course, with their friends in the Nationals, but they've been joined in recent times by—I don't know if you can call them their enemy, but they're friends for this purpose—One Nation. So here you have the Liberals, the National Party and One Nation. A coalition of crackpots have come together to oppose the sensible reforms that the Labor Party and the government is putting to the parliament.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I must have hit a nerve.

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

The assistant minister is going to pause. I want to hear from the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives.

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

He's one of the most respected members on their side, and he's better than that.

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

If we're going to refer to the coalition, we'll just refer to them as 'the coalition'. Please withdraw the unparliamentary term that was made to members of the House.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw. Imagine the first meeting of this said coalition. Imagine when they came together. You've got the Leader of the Opposition, Senator Canavan, the member for New England and Senator Hanson talking tactics about how they're going to oppose sensible reform. But I think we all would love to know who's going to be the leader of this said coalition. If you go on raw numbers in the parliament, then it probably should be the Leader of the Opposition. But, when you look at recent polling and you look at recent trends, the trend is not his friend. The trend is not his friend, particularly when you look at the outcome of the Farrer by-election, where we know the Liberal Party lost a blue ribbon seat to their friends in One Nation. And the ironic thing is that they did it on the back of preferences from the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party helped One Nation get up in the Farrer by-election. Fantastic. Great move. Well done, Leader of the Opposition; you helped elect One Nation to one of your blue ribbon seats. This motion should be opposed—

Debate interrupted.