Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to make a contribution to this debate. I think we have to start from the very beginning. When this Prime Minister went to the last election, he promised that he would be delivering leadership. He promised at the election that there would be an agile, innovative and adult government. We're still waiting for that to emerge. The Prime Minister wants credit for just saying that things are going to happen when, in fact, this is just rhetoric. It's fine to say that, but what the Australian people are looking for is leadership. They are looking for the leadership that was promised to them by this Prime Minister, but he has failed. He has failed miserably in being able to bring any solutions when it comes to the inequality in this country, when it comes to stimulating the economy, when it comes to creating full-time jobs. It's alright to come in here, as Senator Williams has, and quote the figures, but what we are seeing out in regional and rural Australia is very different to what is really being delivered by this government.

What we do know from this Prime Minister, though, is that he looks after his mates. He looks after the top end of town. But if you want to look for a future government that is actually going to deliver in terms of changes and real reforms around taxation, about making housing affordable for young Australians and young families trying to get their foothold into the housing market, that will be a Shorten Labor government. We have already been out there talking about negative gearing and the changes that need to happen in relation to capital gains tax. We have put this out for the community so they will know well in advance what our economic policies are going to deliver for their futures, and for those families trying to get into the housing market. This government is paralysed by the dysfunction that we see day by day in this place, and that the Australian people see. And it's not just me saying that. I won't do what Senator Abetz normally does and say 'Guess who says this?'—I will quote from a newspaper report of the Liberal-National Party caucus meeting this morning:

Malcolm Turnbull has fended off a backbench complaint about the government’s dire position in the opinion polls in the wake of this week’s Newspoll showing the Coalition is trailing Labor …

The important thing here is that this was a Queensland Liberal Party backbencher, and a very experienced former minister, I might add. He rose in the coalition joint party room on Tuesday morning to ask the Prime Minister why the government was doing so poorly with voters if the economic policies were supposedly working. It is not just an issue being raised by people on this side. People out in the community talk to me on a regular basis about how difficult it is, about not getting a fair go and about their concerns over housing affordability, whether it's in Tasmania or around the rest of the country. I was in WA last week and the same issues were raised. This is a former minister. Okay, he was sacked twice from the ministry but, nevertheless, he was a minister. If he is asking those sorts of questions in their caucus room, then surely this government—surely the Prime Minister, and surely the Treasurer—can come up with some sort of visionary outlook for the future direction that they need to take to make our taxation system fairer.

When we are talking about taxation, every time Mr Morrison complains about tax increases millions of low- and middle-income earners need to remember he wants to increase your income tax. That's the reality. Every time Mr Morrison complains about wage growth, Australians need to remember he backs a cut to your penalty rates. Every time Mr Morrison talks about Labor's economic or tax policy, he just invents new numbers. We know that. They made these outlandish claims about the Parliamentary Budget Office doing the calculations on our policies, and they were complete and utter lies. They are so desperate; they are so dysfunctional. They are a chaotic government without any leadership. The Prime Minister tells us he's a strong leader—well, in this place he won't show the leadership that he needs to in ensuring Senator Nash steps out of cabinet and goes to the backbench until her citizenship is established by the High Court. He is a weak leader. (Time expired)