Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget has not gone down like a lead balloon. It has gone down like a lead zeppelin. The best way of describing the attempts of the Prime Minister and Treasurer to explain it would be 'dazed and confused'. There are three main reasons why it has gone down like a lead zeppelin.

Firstly, it was predicated on a mistruth. The Prime Minister said 'for the 50th time' that negative gearing and capital gains tax were off the table. That was just over a year ago. Now, one year in, they've snuck it through the door. The Australian people do not appreciate that way of running an election campaign. You deceive them by saying you're going to do one thing and a year later do something completely different.

Secondly, they can't explain it. The member for Gippsland asked a perfectly reasonable question about farm trusts tax treatment and CGT, and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry couldn't explain it.

Thirdly, it's just unfair. People spend so much time and effort setting these businesses up. For the government to slug them with all of this capital gains tax is just not fair. As I said in this place yesterday, if the Treasurer and the Prime Minister want that money, they should be setting up the businesses. They should be helping out. They should be helping. They should be doing fencing on a farm. They should be pulling calves out of cows at three o'clock in the morning, planting fruit trees and doing all of that hard work that you have to do to get a capital gain. The government wants to treat them as a cash register. It's not good enough.

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

This year's federal budget is about helping people now while making responsible changes for the years ahead. It delivers cost of living relief, strengthens fuel security, lifts productivity and reforms our tax system to address longstanding housing challenges. In health, we continue to strengthen and invest in Medicare. The Albanese Labor government is delivering $1.8 billion to make Medicare urgent care clinics a permanent part of our health system. The clinics are fully bulk-billed, walk in, open for extended hours and designed for urgent but non-life-threatening care. They are essential to the health of our communities.

In my community of Griffith, the South Brisbane, Coorparoo and Carina clinics have already seen more than 40,000 presentations. This means a parent can get help for a child with a fever, a worker can get treated for a minor injury and an older person can be seen after a fall. Our community loves them. I recently heard from Rebecca, a single mother from Coorparoo. She wrote in to me about her local clinic. She said:

I just wanted to thank you for the Urgent Care Clinic as I am not always able to afford to see a doctor due to being on Centrelink payments, studying and being a single mother of two kids.

Today I had incredible tooth pain after having a tooth pulled and it becoming infected.

Thank you dearly for providing this walk-in clinic.

It is so helpful and beneficial to people on the lower socio-economic side of life.

This story speaks volumes about why these clinics matter. This is what strengthening Medicare looks like, and this is what this budget delivers.

Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all know the recent budget was a disaster. However, there's an initiative that I do welcome, and that is the $10.7 billion fuel security package, comprising $7.5 billion to establish a fuel and fertiliser security facility, $3.2 billion for a government owned Australian fuel security reserve and $10 million for a feasibility study into new or expanded refining capacity. Gladstone is ready to take the next bold step forward. A new oil refining and fuel storage facility would deliver long-term, high quality jobs; attract significant private investment; and strengthen Australia's fuel security at a time when it has never been more critical. Our region already has the foundations in place: a world-class port, a highly skilled workforce and a long established industrial base that continues to deliver for both Queensland and the nation. It is a clear opportunity to build on that strength and secure Gladstone's future as a powerhouse of industry and energy. With the right backing, this project can drive economic growth, support local businesses and provide greater certainty for families across Central Queensland. Importantly, it would also reduce our reliance on imported fuel, improving resilience in times of global uncertainty. By supporting this development, we can deliver real opportunity, stronger communities and lasting energy security not just for Gladstone but for Australia as a whole.

David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What has become clear since the delivery of the budget is that those opposite have no desire to help our young people live the Australian dream by owning their own home. On this side of the House, we are reforming a tax system that, unlike what those opposite have claimed, has only acted to increase the cost of housing and done nothing to address its supply. When house prices have grown by 400 per cent since 1999, you know that reform is needed. That's why we're levelling the playing field. Combined with our five per cent deposit program, we're shifting the scales in favour of aspiring first homebuyers. In my electorate alone, over 2,200 first home buyers have accessed the five per cent deposit scheme. Alongside this, we are investing in projects to ensure that housing supply increases, including over $18 million into infrastructure in my community of Bean to unlock future housing, and we're extending the bans on foreign property investors buying existing homes.

On this side of the house, we have the courage to stand up for younger Australians and are proud to do so. We take no shame in backing in our future generations every opportunity we can.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the extraordinary services and sacrifices of Australian veterans and members of the Australian Defence Force and the immense contribution they and their families make to our nation. The coalition strongly opposes Labor's $5,000 annual cap on veterans allied health services. These supports are essential, including psychology, physiotherapy, exercise physiology and occupational therapy, and help veterans manage the physical and psychological impacts of their service. For many, this care is not occasional. It's ongoing and life sustaining. A cap like this risks delaying treatment, reduces appointments and ultimately worsens health outcomes, placing greater pressure on families, community services and our hospitals.

At the same time, older Australians are already under significant cost-of-living pressures. Labor's proposed changes to private health insurance rebates for people over 65 will increase premiums for around 1.4 million seniors. That means some will be forced to downgrade or even drop their cover altogether, shifting pressure back onto our already stretched hospital system.

We should be strengthening healthcare support, not making it harder to access care and not making more expensive to stay covered. I'll continue to stand up for veterans, and I'll continue to stand up for seniors in the electorate of Wright and oppose every change, every step of the way. Today, Labor is pushing tax hikes on millions of Australians through its new laws. We will oppose them. (Time expired)