Leah Blyth (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

What we've seen from this Labor government is a whole lot of broken promises. And I lament, because I listened to them over there with their talking points, buying what the Prime Minister is trying to sell and what their Treasurer is trying to sell. But this is the highest-taxing government that this country has ever seen, and I have never ever seen a country anywhere in the world tax itself or its citizens into prosperity.

What we've got to remember here is that government has no source of money, and this government has been spending irresponsibly. They have been taking the people's money and spending it on all sorts of folly that has produced nothing for the Australian people. They talk about housing funds that deliver no houses. Those are taxpayer dollars. That is not their money; the government has none. That is the money of hardworking, everyday mum-and-dad Australians, who have worked hard and given over their hard-earned tax dollars. And what this government does to reward them is increase taxes. You don't get to a trillion dollars in debt by accident. You get to a trillion dollars in debt by mismanaging an economy.

Australia is a resource-rich nation. We would be one of the wealthiest nations in the world if we had a government who could actually manage the resources that we have. Instead, we have a government over here that would rather look at net zero fantasies and send Australia into poverty. So we've seen that Australians will pay, over the next four years, an extra $50 billion of their hard-earned money to this government, to be spent on whatever it feels like, whether that's net zero or subsidising Chinese EV carmakers. They are doing all of that. At the same time, they talk about housing supply and how young people and other Australians are struggling to get into the housing market.

What about those poor Australians, those young people who are living with their parents because they can't afford the rental market? The dream of putting a deposit down on a home is long gone. They're staying at home with their parents, and they are saving hard. Those young people are now going to be hit with the CGT and negative gearing changes. So if you stay home with your parents and your parents help you out, you're now going to be hit for that investment property, even if you plan on moving into it but can't afford to. This is the reality of this government. They have pulled the ladder up behind them, and they want Australians to believe there is a great divide, so they'll put the boomers against the young generation in Australia.

It doesn't have to be like that. We are a resource-rich country, and government needs to get out of the way. We need to stop letting 1.4 million people into the country over three years while building a fraction in housing supply. We need to be investing in hospitals and infrastructure. If we want to have high net migration in this country we have to make sure all our infrastructure keeps pace with that. This government has been irresponsible, and then they stand there and say: 'It's not our fault. We're going to spend more of your hard-earned money on trying to fix the problem we have started.' And ladies and gentlemen, for me, as soon as someone from the government comes along and says, 'I'm here from the government and I'm here to help,' we should all be very afraid—and I am very afraid, not just for my children but for everyone out there in Australia, with this government's budget.