Anne Urquhart (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government's landmark tax reforms mean Australians will be able to earn more and keep more of what they earn, and more people will be able to buy their own homes. Our reforms go to the heart of what Labor governments are about: fairness, opportunity and making sure the next generation, like the ones in the gallery up there, get a fair go. We've also seen what the opposition is about: running a protection racket for vested interests and leaving ordinary Australians behind.

As the party of working Australians, Labor is cutting income tax five times in three different ways. We've already brought tax rates down and pushed thresholds up. Another tax cut was done on 1 July this year, and another will happen on 1 July next year. This, together with the tax relief in today's bill, means the average Australian worker will receive a combined benefit of around $2,800 in 2028.

We're also helping first home buyers achieve the dream of homeownership. In my electorate of Braddon, I hear every day from people who want to buy their own homes but have been locked out of the market. For too long, the tax system designed by the Liberals has driven property prices beyond the reach of ordinary Australians. Our reforms remove the distortions in the system that have warped our housing market. This means 75,000 more first home owners will enter the housing market over the next 10 years. Labor's reforms are about rewarding hard work, strengthening opportunity and building a fairer future for all Australians.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) | Link to this | Hansard source

The big question today is: will Labor vote for our tax-back guarantee for bigger and better tax cuts for working Australians, or will they keep taxing Australians into the Stone Age? There is white-hot anger in the community about Labor's toxic taxes. Let me quote Philip, from Dural. He says:

… the utter dishonesty and deceit of Albanese and Chalmers in not first taking these extreme changes to an election. This egregious dishonesty is compounded by the Government's refusal to even acknowledge these are broken promises and their attempts to pass them off as merely changed positions. Even Whitlam, for all his superciliousness, would not have actively lied and broken solemn pre-election promises like Albanese … has done with this budget.

Nailia, from Hornsby, has two kids, a mortgage and a family business. She says life's been much harder over the past four years. Inflation swallowed any relief that came from tax rate cuts. Her family's weekly grocery bill has gone up by 100 bucks, and her electricity bills are now 40 per cent higher. Before the budget, she said, there was still some hope. She said:

Things were difficult but we believed if we kept working hard we could eventually come out the other side—grow the business, perhaps sell it one day, buy a second … home where ageing parents could live and continue doing the right thing by our family and our community.

But this Budget feels like that hope has been taken away.

Labor did not just take 'Today' from me. They took 'Tomorrow' too.

To every Australian: you didn't vote for this. You deserve better, and the coalition has your back.