Jessica Collins (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

Wasn't it very interesting today, hearing from the Labor government about exactly what we're going to see tonight? And it wasn't us; it was them, with their talking points that were leaked today. Broken promises are what you're going to hear tonight in this budget. Higher taxes are what you're going to hear about tonight in this budget. They will tell you that they are there to help struggling families, but all they're going to do is cover up their lies.

Let's just talk through a few of these little talking points that they've prepared about the broken promises—the excuses, ladies and gentlemen. They said, 'We have focused on housing supply, but it has become increasingly clear that we need to use every lever we can to get Australians into homes, to meet our 1.2 million new homes target.' Well, we know they are 200,000 homes below their target, and we know they're going to introduce a housing tax tonight. So you tell me how they plan to increase supply, when they're just going to put more taxes on our houses.

We also heard today from the government that debt is lower under the Labor government, while we are at $1 trillion and are only heading up, by $50,000 every minute. They talk about intergenerational equity, but $50,000 every minute, and guess who pays that bill: Australians, and our children. They don't care about that. This is a desperate government that is addicted to spending. And when they run out of money they come after yours, and you will see that tonight, but they will cover it up. We asked today: how will this government use higher taxes to increase supply? They've lost control of the borders. They've lost control of immigration. They've lost control of the budget. Yet their answer, for all those hundreds of thousands of people moving to Australia, is to put a housing tax on.

Last year the Prime Minister stood before the Australian people and said, 'The only tax policy we are implementing is the one we took to the election.' Now we are hearing, as I said, in the talking points today that they've shared around with their colleagues that they will use every lever. And they will be slugging Australians with higher taxes. We heard from the Treasurer that this will do nothing for supply. But they have broken the contract with the Australian people. They said changes to negative gearing were off the table. They broke that contract. The Prime Minister said, 'I rule out any changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax.' He broke that contract with the Australian people.

How do you think the RBA—Governor Michele Bullock—is going to feel about the budget handed down tonight? Her job will be significantly harder. She has said that giving households more money makes it harder to dampen demand. That means that more money for households handed out through the budget is going to push up inflation. Now, we heard from government today that the— (Time expired)