I want to thank the people who helped me. I want to thank Didi from Enhance Painting for coming out and helping me paint over some of that graffiti. It was particularly noticeable on Deception Bay Road. It was really bad there and had built up over the years. It was also particularly bad at Mango Hill, down near the Mango Hill Market Place. I think it's important that people paint over this straight away.
I also want to thank Inspirations Paint at Kippa-Ring, Craig, the owner, and Amanda. Thank you for donating litres of paint to make this possible. They did this previously as well. There was a building at Kippa-Ring that had been sitting vacant for years. It was a commercial building that the owners wouldn't do anything about. The graffiti was completely covering the place, so I said, 'Look, do you mind if I get in and clean it up?' It was on a main road, on the corner of Elizabeth Avenue and Anzac Avenue at Kippa-Ring, and it was a really poor reflection on the community. I got in there with a team of volunteers and painted the whole thing black. It looked brilliant. Painting it black made it a lot easier to repaint over if kids were to tag it again. If it were tagged in white or green, it would be much easier to get out there and tag over it. If you do it immediately, people actually stop tagging it. It remained tag-free for about two years until it was recently renovated into a new commercial premises.
I say to people with private property: please paint back over your fences and back over your commercial buildings if they're tagged. It will stop. I say to the Queensland government: consider murals on the backs of places like the Bruce Highway. I noticed that a lot of the commercial buildings are being tagged there and that the Queensland government isn't doing a good enough job there. There are some TMR properties that aren't being cleaned. You can email Energex at custserv@energex.com.au. If you email the power pole that's being graffitied, they'll come and clean it. You can also call the council as well on 32050555 if you notice graffiti on bus stops and bins. More can be done to help people with art and murals in the community, but as far as private property goes, let's clean it up and make sure that we have pride in our community.
]]>But not everyone knows a lot about what actually happens with their super. Some of the things that the former coalition government did have really made Australians aware of the options that they have around super. The former coalition government delivered real reforms to superannuation that actually delivered for Australians. On this side of the House, we understand that superannuation is Australians' money. It's not the government's money, it's not the Prime Minister's or the Treasurer's money, it's not the unions' money, it's not the member for Kooyong's money; it's actually Australians' money. It's their money. And with $3½ trillion in super funds at the moment, the government has a tremendous responsibility to every Australian who has invested in superannuation.
I sometimes think that those opposite, the current Labor government, don't seem to understand that super is Australians' money. They might think that it's their money—that it's an opportunity to have those funds for them to use—and I'll come back to that a bit more later.
The basic principle of superannuation is pretty simple, and I think it's important that we outline it here. Quite simply, superannuation is about providing for people, for Australians, in their retirement. We've heard some conflict there from the Treasurer, where he's mentioned that superannuation should be used for nation-building projects—often associated with industry super funds that are linked to unions—or to invest in social housing through industry super funds. Well, I'll say it again: the basic principle is that superannuation doesn't belong to the government, or even the industry super fund or the retail fund that's managing it. It's up to Australians how they invest their money.
When I was 19, I had the fortunate opportunity where my dad said to me: 'Luke, put away $80 a month. Salary sacrifice $80 a month into super.' At the time, I think I was earning about $290 a week or something, working in retail, and I didn't really want to give up 80 bucks a month. That would have filled up my car well and truly back then. But, over time, that just built. I understood and learnt a little bit about salary sacrificing and watched that grow over time. The company that I invested in was bought out by someone else, and then I ended up with some shares. As a former assistant minister for youth, I also learnt that a lot of our younger Australians, particularly those aged between 15 and 24, don't always have the financial literacy that I was fortunate enough to have been taught. So, rather than the $400 million, or whatever it is, being spent by the government on advertising tax cuts—which they wouldn't be doing if the former coalition government hadn't legislated stage 3 tax cuts to start with—that money could be better spent on financial literacy programs like the First Home Super Saver Scheme, which explained salary sacrificing and how people can get into a home that way as well.
We've also seen that the government have broken promises in relation to super. We know that during a cost-of-living crisis it's even more important that we ensure our superannuation schemes remain focused on those people they're meant to bring security to—the Australian people. We had the Prime Minister promise before the last election that life would be easier under him, that the cost of living would be reduced under him, that there would be no changes to superannuation under him, and now we have seen that the government has broken a number of promises, time and time again, in less than two years. At the 2022 election, the Labor government claimed that they wanted to end the superannuation wars. That's what they said. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer promised no changes to superannuation prior to the election. Then, in February 2023, after he was elected, the Prime Minister promised no 'major' changes. So there was one thing before the election and one thing after.
We know that the government have introduced a new superannuation tax on unrealised capital gains. That will affect the youth of today, because, while it's on balances over $3 million and kicks in from 1 July 2025, it's not indexed. If it's not indexed, people that are 19 today, like one of my sons, will, in 40 years from now, be hit with a tax that's double the rate it is today in March 2024. It's currently taxed at 15 per cent, and they have legislated to take it up to 30 per cent. So they have broken the trust of the Australian people. The government have continually come into this place and justified it by saying, 'It's only wealthy people,' or, 'It's only people that turn over a certain amount.' They continually pit Australians against each other. They did the same thing with the stage 3 tax cuts, with a promise not to change them, and then they did that as well. There were many policies that weren't taken to the election or that they said they wouldn't change and have now changed, and it's not good enough.
The former coalition government understood that the primary purpose of super funds is to make investment decisions that are in the best interests of members, and this was critical to our Your Super, Your Future reform package. Once again, the government have indicated that they're looking to make changes there as well—that they want to make changes to benefit the people that donate to them. That's what the Labor Party often does around legislation when they come into this place. They legislate for union donors. We saw that through one of the first moves this government made, which was to repeal the arrangement that we set in place around Your Future, Your Super, namely:
… Clearly, expenditure on items that are not supported by identifiable financial benefits to members articulated in a clear business case, are unlikely to satisfy the requirements of the best financial interests duty.
This move alone has allowed unaccountable expenditure to run rife since the election of this government, in less than two years. In the last financial year, 2022-23, 10 super funds made over $15 million in payments to unions and over $21 million to the now-defunct Industry Super Australia. The premise of this legislation is important to ensuring that the objective of super remains within the best interests of Australians, and the government can't be trusted when it comes to this.
I mentioned before the First Home Super Saver Scheme, which the members here in the chamber at the moment all voted against. It was a pretty simple policy that actually did more to help young Australians and educate them on financial literacy than anything that this government has ever done, because it taught thousands of Australians about the importance of salary sacrificing where they're earning a wage. They might be on $80,000 a year. At the time they were getting about 10 per cent—another $8,000 a year—in super . What we legislated was that they could salary-sacrifice more funds into their super and then withdraw them for their first house. All these youths throughout Australia—and not just youths under 25 but some people in their 30s as well—had started to salary-sacrifice into their super.
Those who are now in government fought against it all the way and said they'd repeal it. I congratulate them on not doing that, because, once again, it's helped tens of thousands of people into their own homes and taught them about salary sacrifice. Rather than paying 30 per cent tax on their wage and ending up with a $10,000 contribution—a $7,000 deposit, because they lost $3,000 in tax—they put it into their super and are taxed on it at 15 per cent, so on that $10,000 their tax is $1,500, and they end up with $8,500 as a deposit, as opposed to $7,000. That Australian is $1,500 better off, with a higher deposit for their home. That's happening right now. It's legislated law of the land today. The coalition put that in place, along with a number of other policies to help Australians into their first home. So it won't surprise Australians if we take to the next election—which we will—the opportunity for Australians to use a little bit of the super that they currently have in place to help them into their first home. We're not making apologies for it, and this bill does nothing to stop it. We will take that to the next election. I can say to my coalition colleagues in this place that we should continue to take it to elections and explain it. If we think it's the right thing to do then we should continue to take it to elections.
It's the same with energy or anything else. The Treasurer often speaks about using superannuation and industry funds to invest in clean energy, but they won't invest in, or even talk about, nuclear power. In fact, he rubbished it today. We know that, if they're serious about climate change and want to meet net-zero emissions, it's probably the only baseload power they can do. So what we get is hypocrisy from this government, because on the one hand they say, 'Oh, you can't do this with your super,' but, when it comes to industry funds, that's okay. It's alright if their union donors who manage these industry funds do it.
It's absolutely wrong, and in the lead-up to the next election I and others around the place will be out there talking to young Australians about their super and encouraging them to salary-sacrifice. I believe in super. I want people to salary-sacrifice. I want them to contribute over and above what their employer contribution is. But, if they want to use part of their super to help get them into a home in the middle of a rental crisis, they should be allowed to. The reality is that our policy, which we'll take to the next election, will enable them to do that. If they sell their home in 10 years and upgrade, that original deposit will go back into their superannuation, plus a share of the capital gain. You can use super and industry funds to invest in social housing or in community housing, but the Labor Party say that you can't use your own money to invest into your own house.
The coalition will continue to talk to people, and not just in my own seat of Petrie. I have had widespread support when I've spoken to people in my own electorate. In fact, I was at a polling booth for the Brisbane City Council elections on Saturday—two days ago—and I was talking to a man in his late 30s. He'd been through a relationship breakdown. He was renting. He'd never owned a house before. He's obviously doing the right thing and paying his ex-partner maintenance for their children and so forth, which is good. When I spoke about superannuation and the opportunity to use a little bit of his super to get a deposit on his first house, he was excited about it because he had quite a bit in super and he just can't save the deposit with everything else that he's doing with his growing family and in the middle of the cost-of-living crisis that we've seen under this Albanese Labor government, with 12 interest rate rises. It's pushed up mortgage payments rents; it's pushed up electricity bills; it's pushed up the cost of food and everything else.
So, when we get out there and explain it and talk to people, that's good. I don't know who the member for Kooyong has been talking to when she comes into this place and says she's talking to people. Maybe she is referring to people who are wealthy and who own their own homes and are voting for her. But, I'll tell you what, there are a lot of young people in this country that are excited about our policy. And, in the lead-up to the 2025 election, the coalition will continue to talk to those people—people who need that help, people who want to invest their own money into their own home.
So, as the federal member for Petrie, I can say to the government, to everyone in this House and to those in my electorate: I believe in super. It's a good thing. It's a really good thing. We want to continue to talk, and every member in this House should talk about financial literacy and salary sacrifice, and they should promote the programs that the coalition started and that the Albanese Labor government are continuing—and I'll put it right on the front of my website, LukeHowarth.com.au—the First Home Super Saver Scheme, the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, the Family Home Guarantee, offering two per cent deposit for single parents to get into their own home. That's important. We all have a responsibility to our constituents to want to see them get ahead. We don't have a responsibility just to our donors and what they want or always what our party wants. But we do have a responsibility towards what is in the best interests of our constituents—to help them get ahead.
If the coalition believes in different policies—and I say this to my colleagues—we should continue to fight for that. John Howard did that—going back to the GST. It was defeated in 1993 and then they revisited it in 1996 and they took it to an election. Unlike this government, they took the GST to an election, won that election and implemented it. And it has actually been a bonanza for the states and it has actually been fairly good policy.
]]>Jade had her whole life ahead of her, but on 31 January 2023 she was diagnosed with an inoperable and terminal brain tumour. Jade fought very hard until the end. Patrick, her father, said:
The pain and trauma that has affected my family, as with all families in the same situation, is ongoing and we will never forget our kids. At the same time, our kids never got the opportunity to grow up, finish school, get married, have kids, and make their own difference in this world. DIPG is cruel and unforgiving.
Watching your child go through an incurable and cruel disease is something that no parent should ever have to do in this world. Patrick, Linda and their entire family all fought hard with Jade, with everything available to them, yet the outcome couldn't be changed, and on 18 August Jade passed away. To Jade's family and friends: I know Jade had a positive impact on your lives and will be forever missed. Rest in peace, Jade.
]]>We heard the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the Prime Minister opposite, when they were spruiking the Voice, talking about overcrowding. Guess what? Overcrowding went down under the coalition. We reduced it by 3,193 people. There were 3,193 fewer people in severely overcrowded dwellings, which mainly impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and Pacific Islander people that are living in Australia. That's our record. They are the facts. You can't dispute them.
Do you know what went up? Supported accommodation. There were 3,056 more people in supported accommodation. Do you know when that happens? It's when the government builds more houses to help women and children escaping DV. They are counted as homeless because they don't have a lease, but they are living in brand-new houses. It's still homelessness, and we will continue to work on that. Is the minister doing anything about it? Is she talking about these figures? I can tell you now that there wasn't a government in Australia talking about these homelessness figures until the Morrison government started doing it. Most members in this House wouldn't even know that there are five different categories of homelessness.
There were more people in boarding houses as well, but the Morrison government wrote, with the Queensland Labor government, to all boarding houses on how to reduce homelessness. It reduced in Queensland. Do you know the worst state for homelessness? Victoria. It went up by some 6,000 people in that space of time. Pathetic. Do you know what the best state was? New South Wales. We had a Liberal government at the time.
So the reality is that when it comes to homelessness I am prepared to back the coalition in every day of the week because the record shows that we had a significant impact in government in reducing it. When the next census comes out in 2026, if the Albanese government is still in power, I expect to see a big increase in homelessness. I don't want to, but the minister has had two years to act, to get cracking and to start talking about these things rather than schemes like this that cost $5.5 billion that we don't particularly need.
The coalition will take our super homebuyer scheme to the next election. We will be taking that scheme into Bennelong. We are happy to debate the member opposite, who got in on the back of the lie that that they wouldn't change the stage 3 tax cuts.
]]>The coalition will oppose the Help to Buy Bill 2023. The reason why is that we think $5.5 billion could be better spent elsewhere. As the member for Barker just said, very correctly, this is bad policy. This is policy on the run. When you talk about the minister, I really think that she has no idea what she's doing in this portfolio. When you speak about the HAFF, she doesn't even know how it was going to be invested. In giving more social housing to the states, how is she going to reduce the maintenance bill through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement? For Queensland, where I come from, every dollar that we give is spent on maintenance, every year. There isn't one new social house; they spend all the money we give them on maintenance. What is the minister going to do about that? No idea. Labor's record has seen homelessness increase considerably. In the midst of a housing crisis, this underwhelming Help to Buy scheme is too little too late. The Australian dream is to own your own home, not one with the government. They don't want to own it with the government.
The problems with the scheme have been pointed out during this debate. First of all, it needs all the state governments to approve it. But the states already have help-to-buy schemes. They already have schemes that are very similar to this one. Guess what? Not all of the places are full; a lot of those places are still empty. The member for Wannon said earlier—and I agree—that the federal government is going to give a whole lot of money to the states in order to get them to sign up for this scheme, and what are they going to do with that cash? We don't know. They'll probably use it to replace or invest into their existing schemes, which currently are not full. Only a Labor government would come in and go, 'Well, if we've got these schemes all around the country in different states and they're currently not full, we're going to bring in another scheme on top of that.'
What happens if wages go up? The Leader of the House, the minister for industrial relations, comes into this place every day in question time, spruiking how wages are going up. Mind you, they're not keeping up with inflation. But he comes in every day, saying, 'Wages are going up. We're doing this; we're doing that,' but what happens if you go above $90,000 and you're in a help-to-buy scheme? Does that mean the house then has to be sold? Could it be sold at a loss? These are questions that neither the minister nor anyone else in the government has addressed during this debate.
What about insurance costs? Who is paying for the insurance? We've seen insurance under the Albanese Labor government go through the roof. It is not just rents and mortgages; insurance has gone up considerably. So, if the government owns 30 or 40 per cent of the house, are they going to pay 30 or 40 per cent of the insurance bill? What about the rates bill or the local council? Are they going to pay 30 to 40 per cent of the rates bill? There are no answers. What about repairs and maintenance? Something might need upgrading. Are they going to pay 30 to 40 per cent of that bill, or is that all on the person that has 60 to 70 per cent of the ownership? Will the Australian Taxation Office be auditing income to ensure they don't earn a cent over the threshold? If you enter into one of these shared-equity arrangements, what are your reporting obligations? These are all questions unanswered by this Labor government. What lenders are participating in the scheme? How many of the 40,000 places will be available to each state and territory? What are the property price caps? None of this has been communicated.
Let's face it: Labor's record when it comes to housing and homelessness is pretty atrocious. I'm not talking just about the Albanese Labor government; I'm also talking about state Labor governments. In Queensland the Palaszczuk and Miles Labor governments have a particularly shocking record. Homelessness has increased. It's gone through the roof in the last two years. There wouldn't be a member in this House of Representatives who hasn't seen more rough sleepers starting to emerge around the country. The member for Lindsay agrees. The member for Herbert agrees. We're seeing it all over the place. I'm sure we'd also see it in Victoria. It is partly because of the 12 interest rate rises that we've seen under the Albanese Labor government. When the coalition was in, there was one interest rate rise. Then we had 12 consecutive interest rate rises.
At the same time, we have Labor governments—not just the Albanese Labor government here but around the country—talking down negative gearing. We know that the Prime Minister and the Albanese Labor government do not like negative gearing. We hear it from their coalition partners, the Greens. The Albanese Labor government can't get one piece of legislation through this parliament without the support of the Greens in the other place, so the Greens have been continually barking on, for the last year and a half, encouraging them to break the stage 3 tax cuts after the Prime Minister and the Treasurer said they wouldn't. They said 100 times they wouldn't. Eventually, they caved in to the Greens and broke it. What they don't tell you is that people earning over $135,000—a lot of public servants in Canberra and others, a lot of small-business people who work hard—will see their taxes go up by seven to 15 per cent under this government, and they're given a lousy three per cent at the bottom and. Who in Australia has ever heard someone saying, at 19 cents in the dollar, they're paying too much tax? But this government's big idea was to reduce that to 16 cents. That's the Prime Minister 's big plan for stage 3 tax cuts. The truth is no-one in this country would be getting a tax cut if it weren't for the coalition government, and this is all very relevant because the cost of living is going through the roof and we're seeing more homeless people. Meanwhile, Labor are out there spending half a billion dollars on Voice campaigns.
We know that in 2019 the Labor government took to the election that they were going to get rid of negative gearing. They were going to change it. Now their coalition partners in the Senate—the Greens—are asking them to do exactly the same thing. Guess what? Ninety per cent of the housing in this country is owned by the private sector. If you can't negatively gear it when interest rates are going through the roof, what does that mean for rents? It means that there will be more rent increases because if you can't take a loss against your income when interest rates are going through the roof, rents will go up. It will also mean—as this government talks down negative gearing and increasing taxes on people earning over $135,000—the very mums and dads and the very people who are more likely to build an additional investment home, and that's exactly what we need at the moment.
We've got 1.5 million migrants coming in under this government over the next few years. Three times higher than what it was under the former coalition government when we were bringing in 160,000 a year. They're bringing in all these people with nowhere to live. We've got homelessness going through the roof, and at the same time they're talking down negative gearing and putting up taxes on median income earners who earn over $135,000. How are they incentivising people to build an investment property to help out in the middle of this housing crisis? It's not good.
The reality is that the minister has no idea. The coalition's record has been particularly good. In the last three years of the coalition government, we had 300,000 Australians purchasing homes. That's a hundred thousand per year. This scheme helps 10,000 people a year—10 per cent of what the former government was doing. NHFIC was a landmark coalition achievement that delivered $2.9 billion in low-cost loans to community housing. We know that the state Labor government in Queensland hates community housing. Palecek and Miles have done nothing for 10 years up there. Now, finally, they're starting to look into it. Why did they hate it? Because Campbell Newman, the former premier up there, liked it. 'Oh, we can't do anything that the coalition did up here.' The coalition federal government helped 21,000 people into social and affordable housing in our term. That would be more people, by the way.
Labor has changed the name of NHFIC to Housing Australia to somehow take ownership of it. Guess what? It's a coalition policy that they've adopted. Good on them for doing so, but at the end of the day that's what's been working. Under the coalition, first home buyers reached their highest levels in 15 years. More than 60,000 people in Australia—first home buyers and single parent families, predominantly women—were supported into home ownership through the Morrison government and through the coalition government through various home guarantee schemes. They are still running today, and that's good. We want to expand them further when we come back to government.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme, which some of the members that have been here a few terms voted against, assisted 27,600 first home buyers in accelerating their deposit through superannuation—another good scheme of the coalition. Over 137,000 HomeBuilder applications were processed. That absolutely turbocharged supply. That's what we need when you're bringing in 1.5 million migrants in the next few years and when you're talking down negative gearing and pushing up interest rates like this government has done.
We've seen homelessness go through the roof. When we talk about homelessness, this is this record of the coalition. We get the figures for homelessness through the census every five years. The last census was done in 2021, before that it was 2016. In that time, the population increased significantly. Guess what? While the coalition were in government there were 564 less rough sleepers in Australia in the 2021 census than there was in 2016.
]]>Time and time again, this government and Prime Minister have proven they can't be trusted. The Prime Minister promised that life would be better under him, but instead people aren't seeing that. Day by day, they're struggling to get ahead. They're being crushed under the weight of higher interest rates, higher rents, higher food prices and higher mortgages—and who can forget higher electricity prices? On 1 May 2022, the Prime Minister said:
Labor has real, lasting plans for
But it's gone up—
But the interest rates have gone up 12 times, and rent is through the roof—
They might have come down a little bit—
There is now a $70 gap when you go to the doctor. It is $60 in some places. Bulk-billing is gone under the Albanese Labor government. The Prime Minister also promised 100 times that he would keep the legislated tax cuts. We know that he couldn't be trusted. His word was not his bond.
The government has made bad decision after bad decision. They could have done a whole lot of other things besides breaking their promise on stage 3 tax cuts. They could have reintroduced LMITO rather than having that wound up, which gave $1,500 to millions of people around the country, including thousands in my own electorate. They could have reinstated the fuel discount that we put in place, of 22c a litre, that they let lapse. They could have not wasted half a billion dollars on a destructive and divisive Voice campaign, which they're now going to spend an additional $40 million advertising.
Australians are hurting, but don't just take my word for it; take the word of local people in my electorate. Robyn White from Redcliffe said:
Is it ever going to get any better? Families are really struggling. I thought our new Prime Minister would understand after his mum was a single mum and used to struggle. But families cannot cope. When is this government going to do something and help?
Helen Paddon from Deception Bay said:
I don't know how we're going to cover the cost of three kids going back to school this year. Weve never been in a situation where we can't. This year is going to be our hardest.
Rachel Bishop from Bracken Ridge said:
Groceries and fuel are increasing more than we can handle.
And I could spend the rest of this parliamentary sitting day's time repeating quotes from local people. They're really struggling under the Albanese Labor government.
This week an incompetent Albanese Labor government is also impacting our Defence Force. The Albanese government don't want the people of Australia to know that, in a time of unprecedented uncertainty, with conflicts in the Middle East and Europe and tensions in our own geopolitical area, this government is cutting defence personnel and dollars through indecision. Let me put it plainly: there is no new money for investment into defence this year or the year after or in the forward estimates. It's now expected that this financial year they will potentially only spend 1.6 per cent of GDP, which is woeful compared to the 2.04 per cent of GDP allocated for defence. Defence companies are leaving the industry in droves, unable to keep their heads above water. They're not investing in sovereign capability, despite the minister for manufacturing and the Prime Minister saying they would before the election. There were over a million jobs in manufacturing during COVID in this country, and the minister himself said in question time just at the end of last year that there are now under 900,000. That's a 10 per cent loss under the Albanese Labor government.
We've also had personnel numbers drop. Did you know that right now we only have 58,427 full-time ADF members? Fewer than 60,000. The Chinese have two million, and the US have one million. I think Israel have 240,000 reservists. The target is 62,735; they're 4,308 below that. There's no pastoral care. We've got young women and men wanting to join the ADF around the country, and no-one says, 'Thanks for your application.' Under the Albanese Labor government, we have no plan, no vision, no integrity, no leadership and no clue about what Australia needs at this point in time, and Australians are waking up to this government. They know they deserve better.
]]>The truth is that the current youth crime epidemic in Queensland is a result of the Palaszczuk-Miles Labor government watering down the Queensland Youth Justice Act eight years ago. Every single day, innocent people are having their homes broken into, cars hijacked, businesses destroyed and, tragically, in too many cases, losing their lives, and yet Labor has no plans.
The people of Petrie and Queensland deserve better. Only David Crisafulli and an LNP government will take action on youth crime by rewriting the Queensland Youth Justice Act. They need to act. They need to act now.
]]>Now it is absolutely tragic to hear how children in my own electorate are paying the price, as local state schools contact me for help, telling me that they have to consider whether their students can participate in school sport this year, in 2024, as the cost of bus hire has gone up some 25 per cent. This is the reality that the Prime Minister and his government are clueless about. How did we get here, where students at public schools can't even get on a bus to go and play netball, basketball, rugby league or any sport, for that matter? I will tell you how we got here. We got here when this Prime Minister and Labor government lied their way to the Lodge and decided to put Australian families first.
]]>Are we happy about these changes? Of course we're not. But it's not the coalition that is bringing this bill forward. We've done what we thought was right. It's the Albanese Labor government that has broken their commitment, and every single one of them will have this on their record forever, and there's no escaping that.
]]>Keep talking, member for Robertson. We will be in your electorate, champ, and yours, member for Higgins—I was down there the other week. The reality is that this Prime Minister can't lie straight in bed. He and the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said in a media release on 26 July 2021, 'An Albanese Labor government will deliver the same legislated tax relief to more than nine million Australians as the Morrison government.' That's what they said. The Treasurer, Mr Chalmers, put that out with the Prime Minister:
An Albanese Labor Government will deliver the same legislated tax relief to more than 9 million Australians as the Morrison Government.
The member for Robertson, the member for Higgins and others were elected based on that commitment on 26 July 2021. Then they come in here and try to justify this lie to their electorates. I mean, give me a break!
Seven News also reported on the election day, 21 May 2022, that 'Stage 3 tax cuts are legislated under the previous government and they're locked in, according to the Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese.' That's what Seven News reported. Post-election, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, in June 2022, said:
… they are legislated, and one of the things that people have a right to believe, is that when a politician makes a commitment before an election, they keep it, and I intend to do just that.
That's what the Prime Minister said. That's what the Australian people need to know. The people of Petrie, the people sitting up there in the gallery: this is your Prime Minister. This is what he said before the election. This is what he said plenty of times after the election. Now he comes in here and breaks that promise.
Mark my words, this bill is a seven per cent increase for some people on their tax—$70 on every thousand—and 15 per cent for some people, increases based on legislation, and they're giving a measly three per cent for people under 45 grand. Anyway, we'll come back to that.
Let's keep going. On 11 November 2022 on Seven News, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said, 'My word is my bond,' and, 'We said during the election campaign that we would maintain the position that had already been legislated. I've always been a man of my word, and I believe that, when you go to an election and you make commitments, you should stick to them.' That's what the people of Robertson and the people of Petrie heard from the Prime Minister—that he would stick to these election commitments.
Again, a journalist said to him, after he was elected—not that long ago—'Stage 3 is absolutely locked in.' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: 'Yes.' Journalist: 'There are no circumstances under which you would seek to roll back stage 3?' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: 'No, no circumstances.' He didn't say, 'Maybe some circumstances.'
The Prime Minister should not have to break an election commitment to deal with a cost-of-living crisis that he and his government have created. That fact is that what they're delivering here is diddly squat. That's what it is. It's $804, when most people in my electorate have seen their expenses go up by $8,000. We'll come back to that.
My speech today for the people of Petrie is a little bit about 1) integrity—I've outlined that the Prime Minister has none, which is very clear from his quotes and his commitment before the election; 2) Stage 3—the reality of who gets what; 3) Cost of living under this Labor government is woeful; and 4) what lies will this government tell next? What will they come after next, and what will that mean to you?
The reality is that in my electorate of Petrie 12,272 people will get nothing; they have no income. They might be retired; they might be students; if they're over 18—12,272 people will get nothing. There are 46,000 people that earn between $18,200 and $45,000. There are 55,000 people that earn between $45,000 and $135,000. They will get a further $804 tax cut from what the coalition had already legislated.
When I say 'legislated', right now, on this day, in Australia, the law of the land is that from 1 July, for those who earn between $45,000 and $200,000, the income tax rate will be 30 per cent. Most people think that's alright, because they think, 'If I'm earning a dollar, I'm happy to pay 30c and keep 70c.' That was the purpose of getting rid of the 37 per cent tax rate. But these people are bringing that back, another seven per cent for many people in my electorate—thousands of people. In fact, 2.1 million people in Australia will see tax hikes from the Albanese Labor government.
They're increasing their tax. If they earn $135,000 to $190,000, they're increasing their tax by seven per cent. The rate on income tax will go from 30 per cent, which is law today, to 37 per cent. Seven per cent is $70 on every thousand in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, in the middle of a homelessness issue. Homelessness, since this government has been elected, has probably doubled—we won't find out until the 2026 census.
The 45 per cent rate will now increase to cover those on $190,000 to $200,000. They went to the election promising a 30 per cent rate. Instead, on that $10,000, they're going to take $1,500 back off them. That's the reality. When I talk to people in my electorate that earn under $45,000, I explain to them that their tax rate is 19 cents on the dollar. Their first $18,200 is tax free. Then it's 19 cents on the dollar from $18,200 to $45,000. Most people say: 'That's fair. I'm happy to pay my 19 cents and keep 81 cents.' But what this government is doing, to be tricky, to be smart, to try to give everyone a big $804 tax cut, is saying 'We're going to reduce your tax to 16 cents.' Alright, you're going to reduce it to 16 cents, but that wasn't the tax rate that was the big issue. Most people are happy to pay 19 cents. What the government won't tell those in Petrie and those in the gallery and others is that they'd already taken $1,500 off most people that earn under $120,000, after they came to government. In May 2022, when the election was on, the low-income and middle-income tax offset delivered $1,500 to most people earning under $120,000 in their tax return. So, you rock on up to your accountant and get $1,500 back. Guess what happened last year with this mob? That's gone now. That's all gone. So, people were having to pay, in some cases, additional dollars, having to pay the ATO more money, and in other cases they had a measly little tax return when they were expecting $1,500 more.
The Albanese Labor government want to tell you: 'We're reducing the 19 cents to 16 cents. You'll get $804, but we've already taken $1,500 off you. So you are $700 worse off there. Then the cost of living has gone through the roof, which everybody knows about. Groceries are up by nine per cent. Housing costs are up by 12 per cent and people are homeless under this mob. Electricity bills are up by 20 per cent, when another Albanese Labor government promise was that they would reduce your electricity bills by $275—instead they've gone up 20 per cent with all their renewable energy rollout. Those that own a home or have to insure a car know that insurance is up by 22 per cent. How much longer do you want to put up with this bloke? You need to toss out the Albanese Labor government come the next election. You want to cook a barbecue or heat your shower with gas? It's 27 per cent up. That's not a little bit—it's a lot more than $804, because that's all you're getting.
Every single person in Australia needs to know that any that tax cut they receive on 1 July this year is because of the former coalition government. Do you think this mob would give you any tax cuts if it wasn't for the coalition government and what we had legislated? All they're doing is using con, spin and trickery. You can't believe a word that the Treasurer says, what the Prime Minister says or what the Minister for Finance. I forgot about the Minister for Finance in the Senate, Senator Katy Gallagher. On 6 January—less than a month ago—the journalist says, 'Minister, can you guarantee that all workers, even those on the highest income will get their full stage 3 tax cut from 1 July?' Minister Gallagher, leader in the Senate along with Minister Wong, said, 'Well, our position on the tax cuts hasn't changed.' They were doing this work back in November. This woman is in cabinet. She's either lying or she doesn't know what is going on. 'They're legislated,' says Minister Gallagher. 'They're due to come into effect from 1 July this year. The parliament passed them in the last term.' Stephen Jones, the Assistant Treasurer opposite, on 29 November said, 'We are always looking at ways to find savings in the budget and we're looking at that, but there has been no consideration on stage 3 tax cuts.' You could go through every single one of them, and you can't believe a word they're saying. You cannot believe them.
To the backbenchers opposite, in their first term and all excited to be here: Guess what? You got elected on the back of a lie. Don't bother telling your electorates everyone's bet better off, because, if you were honest, you'd say: 'We're giving you 804 bucks. Your cost of living has gone up by $8,000. We've removed LMITO. And for any other tax cut you've got, you can thank Scott Morrison'—or the member for Cook, I should say—because that's the reality. These tax cuts were delivered by the coalition. They were meant to kill bracket creep.
All the public servants here that are on $200,000 a year—guess what? All their housing costs have gone up, too. We're not going to forget them. You were meant to get a tax cut, and this mob has taken it back off you. They're increasing your tax by seven per cent if you earn over $135,000 and by 15 per cent if you earn over $190,000. And you want this guy in! Get rid of him! Honestly, they're no good and they want to keep people down. That's the reality of this government. They want to keep people down. They do not want to have people aspire to do more with their lives. That is the absolute reality.
Bracket creep was very important to get rid of. The former coalition government was completely removing the 37 per cent rate. A member opposite—I think it was the member for Bennelong—got up yesterday and said: 'People earning $200,000 and people earning $45,000 are all paying the same rates of tax. That's not fair. We're bringing back the 37 per cent rate.' That guy got elected on a lie as well. What he didn't tell you is that someone earning $199,000 on the current law of the land that kicks in on 1 July pays $30,000 more tax than someone earning $99,000. He forgot that inconvenient point!
It is sad that we have to be here to debate this, because this is a blatant lie from the Albanese Labor government. In my 10 years in parliament, I've told the truth. I've been straight with people. When people look me in the eye when I'm out and about in the Petrie electorate, around Redcliffe or North Lakes or Griffin or Deception Bay or down in Brisbane City Council, I tell them the truth. They ask me; they get a straight answer. This mob looked down the barrel and just completely lied. To every single one of these backbenchers who gets up and does a speech: you can keep telling yourself that, but the reality is that you've been elected under a lie. We won't forget it. We will continue to make sure that we hold this mob to account.
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