Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor's tax attack is killing confidence in Australian real estate, and Mallee is feeling it. While the Minister for Housing was bragging in the House yesterday, people on the ground in Mallee were seeing the damage firsthand. Wes Davidson is a prominent real estate agent in Horsham, in Mallee, and he says: 'We are now seeing the biggest lack of confidence in real estate that I have ever seen in over four decades in the industry. I am seeing clearance rates at record low levels across the country. They are lower than in the first couple of weeks of COVID, and that was a pretty uncertain time. Now people are saying we're in a more uncertain time because aspirations are being killed by these regulations.' Wes goes on: 'This is the dumbest economic policy we have and the dumbest government I've seen, both state and federal, in terms of housing policy. It's wrong. It's criminal. And hopefully they'll both get the boot at the next election.'

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

'Twas the night before delivery, and all through the House not a creature was stirring, not even those in their five per cent deposit houses.

When the calendar turns to 1 July tomorrow, the following changes will come into effect. Working Australians will wake up with another round of tax cuts, keeping more of what they earn, which will help ease cost-of-living pressures. Families will gain greater security through the continued expansion of paid parental leave, moving us closer to six months of support for new parents. Workers will receive higher minimum and award wages because a fair day's work continues to deserve a fair day's pay. Small businesses will have the certainty of a permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off. Everyone will benefit from stronger investment in our public hospitals alongside permanent Medicare urgent care clinics that make it easier to receive treatment close to home. More women will have access to specialised endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, ensuring conditions that have been overlooked for far too long receive the attention they deserve. Veterans will be supported through a dedicated veteran wellbeing agency, recognising that those who have served our nation deserve coordinated care and lifelong support.

While those opposite remain divided on who should lead their party or whether they require a glam-up or a makeover, we will continue to deliver change and a better tomorrow for every Australian.

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

There was a time when governments actually did the hard work. They consulted widely. They carefully considered the impacts of policy, and they understood and dealt with potential unintended consequences. But we are in a new era now. Under the Albanese government, we get a cluster of thought bubbles delivered as a budget and presented in half-baked legislation that requires more backflips than a trampoline competition.

The Treasurer has been unable to explain changes to trust arrangements, and the frontbench are all over the place to the point where they don't seem to have understood the policy change or the rationale for it. Then, in a deal with the Greens, out of nowhere comes this attack on self-managed super funds and their ability to borrow for housing. As it turns out—and this should have been understood by the government—these arrangements have been used by widows and divorcees to ensure they have security and dignity into their later years, but a law was passed that threatens that security. The government say, 'We'll fix it in a new tranche of legislation.' But wouldn't it have been better to have understood what you were doing in the first place and prevented the fear and confusion that have been the result of this mess?

All of this confusion leads to a stall in investment, including housing investment, and that leads to fewer houses. At the World Cup in North America at the moment there are a few own goals being scored, but the Albanese government has just scored a few own goals as a result of this budget, and the Australian people are the ones who are losing.

David Moncrieff (Hughes, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker, you just assured me that I could speak. Tomorrow, 1 July, working Australians will get another tax cut. Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest. See those chaps over there? These are the blokes that voted against the tax cuts. When we propose cost-of-living relief for working Australians, they grapple with it and then they vote against it. Ah yes, I see that they know their judo well. When residents of my electorate visit one of the 23 bulk-billing clinics in Hughes, what is the charge? It's free. When they get scripts for their PBS medicines, what is the charge? It's $25, the lowest it has been since 2004. Good one! Australians told those opposite at the last election, 'Get your hands off my Medicare card.'

Those opposite claim to oppose monoculturalism, but they won't defend the multiculturalism that defines modern Australia when it counts, even if it's eating a meal, a succulent Chinese meal. Tomorrow, from 1 July, underpaid—I'm under what? Underpaid minimum-wage workers will be getting a pay rise—a pay rise not backed by those opposite. Why did they do this? For what reason? Are they waiting to receive another tax cut to vote against? This 1 July the Labor government is delivering higher wages and cost-of-living relief for working Australians while those opposite talk down our country. Tata and farewell!

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

The PM is the ultimate political insider spending his life working in politics, and he has the same playbook every time: he rushes legislation through the House, he stifles and guillotines debate, not allowing members to have a say, and then he does a dodgy deal with his good friends and coalition partners in the Greens. This flawed insider action has consequences—real consequences—for Australians. It has resulted in tax increases for widows, widowers and divorcees—people at their most vulnerable. It says it all about this government, taxing people at their most vulnerable.

We saw the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury last Thursday say that they would not change this legislation. The Treasurer refused to outline how and when they would change this legislation. This is causing heartache. It is causing confusion for the Australian people. This is a heartless government. They have destroyed confidence in the housing market. They have destroyed confidence for small-business owners and tech start-ups. They have destroyed confidence for every Australian.

Every Australian is struggling. They realise that they have a prime minister that is focused on internal politics, focused on ramming things through this House not in the best interest of the Australian people but in the best interests of his own agenda, and he will pay the price.

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Today there are three very special little visitors to the gallery: my niece, my nephews and my niece. They're just up there. And what an appropriate time for us to talk about what we do in this place and what the Labor government is delivering for Australians. Given that it's their first visit to Canberra, and their first visit to Parliament House, what greater day to visit than the day before 1 July. On 1 July—tomorrow—your mum and dad, along with every other taxpayer in this country, will get a tax cut. Tomorrow, if your parents or your friends' parents want to expand your family, they will be able to access 26 weeks of paid parental leave. Tomorrow, the first National Environmental Protection Agency will roll out and come into effect so that the environment that you will live and work and raise your families in will be protected. Tomorrow, people who work at early childhood centres as educators and workers—the people who look after you every day—will get that 4.75 per cent pay rise. We welcome you to this House. Our job is to make your life better, and even though we live in a challenging time, your future is very bright.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese government is not so big on truth bombs, but they're definitely big on inflation bombs. The first of July this year brings in the next round of consequences from the Treasurer's active inflation agenda, where he stokes inflation, taxes inflation then spends inflation, and he's got families and small businesses on his hip list. The Treasurer keeps pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire, and what's the consequence? Well, because he can't control his spending addiction, many fees automatically go up because of indexation. Company registration fees will go up. Business registration fees will go up. NBN plans will go up by 10 bucks. The cost of sending a parcel will go up by close to five per cent, and the price of fuel will increase too. That's the way the Treasurer likes it. He wants inflation to be the silent thief in the night so he doesn't get caught with his hands in your pocket. What he's doing is charging—and, of course, it's going to be the same thing with taxes. That's why the coalition's tax back guarantee will return overtaxation from inflation automatically. We're on your side. The coalition actually backs Australians and their wages to hold their money. We think you should have it better. We will draw a line under the Treasurer's tricky take.

Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

From 1 July, a whole range of changes come into effect that will make a real difference to Australian households. As a proud geriatric millennial, I have to say it is nice to see government policy for people who survived dial-up internet, MSN Messenger, WorkChoices, overpriced uni parking and being told for 20 years that, if we stopped buying avocado on toast, we could finally afford a house. From 1 July, every taxpayer gets another tax cut. Award workers and people on minimum wage will see their pay go up. Super will have to be paid on payday, not months later when everyone has forgotten about it, which is good because nothing says retirement security like actually receiving money you earned. Paid parental leave expands to six weeks, because raising children is real work and toddlers behave like they're in tiny workplace relations disputes with no cooling-off period. Small businesses will benefit from the permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off, and we are cutting more annoying tariffs. And we are cracking down on supermarket price gouging because Australians should not need a forensic accounting degree to work out why a cucumber suddenly costs as much as a streaming subscription. These changes are practical. They are about wages, tax, super, families, small business and the cost of living. Or, in millennial terms, a few system updates have been installed and for once they're not asking us to accept cookies!