Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) 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.

Labor's higher taxes are intergenerational fraud. They pull the ladder up on younger Australians who are trying to get ahead. There are young Australians who cannot afford a home. They are doing the responsible thing. They are saving. They are investing in shares, crypto or other assets. They are trying to build their futures. They're staying with mum and dad or friends for longer. They're house sharing. They're doing all of the things that they need to do to save for a future. Yet last night we saw the way that the previous generation built their futures taken away from them. Older Australians had the benefit of the capital gains tax discount while they built wealth. Younger Australians are now being told they won't get that same chance, and that is not fair. That is definitely not intergenerational equity. It means Australia will have one of the highest capital gains taxes in the world—a tax on saving, a tax on investing, a tax on aspiration. That's not reform; it's an assault on aspiration. It is about shutting the door on younger Australians when they are already locked out too much.

If you see a map of the house prices in South Australia—South Australia was once considered affordable. The unaffordability started going up a couple of years ago, but the greatest hike that has occurred has been on Labor's watch. The steepest hike in the price of houses in South Australia, once considered affordable, is on Labor's watch. The evidence is overwhelming. The evidence is clear.

The government has been spending at its highest level in 40 years, outside of a pandemic. For every $2, they are actually spending $3. This bill is passing onto the next generation of Australians higher taxes. Labor, it's your spending spree that means Australians face higher inflation, higher interest rates, higher taxes and a lower standard of living. That's coincided with your four years in government. Failed economic policies have contributed to that.

Young Australians are staring at a decade of deficits, with the debt bomb forecast to hit $1.2 trillion. Labor's own budget admits their new housing taxes will result in fewer houses and higher rents for young Australians, as if it wasn't tough enough. They're paying more for electricity, more for insurance, more for groceries, more for just about everything under Labor's watch, and inflation continues to rise so there's no hope for them that anything will change any time soon. Labor misled the Australian people when it went the election barely 12 months ago. Your changes, your backflips, are not the first and won't be the last, but this is a huge betrayal of Australians, a huge betrayal of young Australians, who are just trying to get ahead, and they can't do so because of your economic mismanagement.