Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy) | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a tricky government that says one thing and does another. It might talk about lower taxes, but the reality is this budget is delivering $77 billion in higher taxes for the Australian people. They also talk about tax cuts, but they don't talk about when they let the low- and middle-income tax offset lapse, costing the Australian people $1,500. They took that $1,500 back from you. They then also wait for your wages to go up as you work harder, as you earn more money and as you pay more tax through bracket creep, and then they will give you a sprinkle of that back. You'll notice it with this announcement from the Treasurer. It follows his standard playbook. He announced that you'll get $250 back. He talked about it for the last two weeks. You'll receive that money in 12 months time. He'll keep talking about it for the next few weeks. That doesn't help you today. The reason he pushes it out for 12 months is you're paying for that yourself. Through earning more money, you're paying more tax. Inflation will mean you pay higher taxes. You'll pay more than $250 in extra tax through inflation under this government in the next 12 months. They'll give you a little bit back and then they'll pat you on the back. Watch them this week. Watch them talk about the tax cut that you'll get on 1 July. That was promised last year. This is what they do. They drip it out and drag it out. They're not giving the money back to you. They're taking more of your money and giving you a little bit back less.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

This federal budget is about the aspiration of everyday working Aussies. If you are trying to get into your own home, this is a budget for you. If you're a worker, you're receiving your fifth tax cut under this government because we want you to earn more and to keep more of what you earn. If you're a young person, this is a government for you, supporting you with free TAFE and less HECS debt. If you're a small business trying to get ahead and make an investment, this budget is for you, with a permanent instant asset write-off to help you grow your business. This budget is about the aspiration of Australians trying to get ahead, and nowhere is that aspiration more important than in the housing market, where we have had so many young Australians who have had trouble getting into the housing market, often crowded out by professional property investors. Currently, negative gearing arrangements are grandfathered, and that will continue, but negative gearing remains for new builds, and that's great. That's great for supply. But the reforms in this budget will help young Australians by providing a fairer go at the Australian dream of homeownership. With our government's five per cent deposit scheme for first home buyers, more than 1,350 people in my electorate of Solomon have purchased their first home.

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

This prime minister thought he could wage a war on aspiration. He thought he could hit us with toxic new taxes and no-one would notice. Labor thought that families, small businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs, the forgotten people of Australia, would simply absorb another hit to their standard of living. Well, they won't—and we won't. We're going to stand in the way of this sneaky tax grab. We're going to fight these toxic taxes all the way to the next election. Our commitment to the Australian people is to axe these toxic taxes and build a stronger Australia. The coalition pledges a tax-back guarantee that protects Australians from inflation by giving them an automatic tax cut that gets bigger every year. We pledge to get migration under control and to build more homes. We will cap migration based on the number of houses built every year and invest $5 billion into roads, utilities and sewerage to get housing construction moving again. We pledge to abandon net zero and bring on cheap and reliable Aussie power. We pledge a sovereign wealth fund, where windfall profits from commodities like gas will be set aside for nation-building projects that benefit all Australians. We pledge to boost small business, allowing them to immediately write-off assets costing up to $50,000. We pledge to put Australians first by reserving welfare payments and NDIS for Australian citizens. We will build a stronger, more secure and prosperous Australia.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor's budget delivers for young people aspiring to own their first home. Labor's budget delivers for every working Australian through more tax cuts. This budget delivers $3½ billion worth of new spending to support small businesses. Lost in the flood of an openly exaggerated meme campaign are measures in this budget which back aspiration and back economic growth. I'm here to push back against that rubbish because this budget backs small businesses to grow. This budget makes the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent, providing certainty for small businesses to invest in growth. This budget delivers a permanent two-year loss carry-back for all companies up to $1 billion in turnover, as well as a new loss refundability scheme for small startups in their first two years, which will help with cash flow. This budget expands tax incentives for venture capital and reforms the research and development tax incentive to target startups as they grow. On top of that, the new $250 working Australian tax offset will benefit 1.5 million sole traders around the country. All these measures back small businesses. No AI memes, just facts. And whilst the Liberals and One Nation will team up to defend the status quo, Labor hears you when you tell us that things need to change and change for the better.

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

Something significant and something badly significant happened in this country two or three weeks ago when the Albanese government announced its budget and changed the risk-reward equation in this country. If you wanted to have a go, if you wanted to start your own business, if you wanted to put your own money on the line, if you wanted to hammer up a shingle or roll up a door and put your money and skills towards making money, there was a reward there. Now there's a big change! What happens now is that you take the risk and the Albanese Labor government takes the reward. That's what's happening now—and that is a disgrace! And why are they doing it? Because they don't understand it. None of them have ever taken that risk in private enterprise. We now have one of the highest capital gains tax rates in the world, and that's what is going to kill the entrepreneurial spirit in this country. We on this side understand it. We will reverse these changes. We will have the tax-back guarantee as well. There's one other thing that we all have to remember. There's one thing about not taking something to an election and then bringing these major tax increases to the public, but what is unforgivable is the deceit behind this. When you say you're not going to do it—you should all hang your heads in shame. You went to the last election deceiving the Australian public.