Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to respond to the coalition's MPI about last night's budget that delivered more tax cuts for Australian workers, delivered a fair go for Australians who want to get into a home of their own and strengthened the future of Medicare. In the motion, Senator Henderson talks about broken promises. That's pretty brave from the Liberal Party, so let's go there. This is the same Liberal Party of Tony Abbott, who went to an election and promised no cuts to health, no cuts to education and no changes to the ABC, and then did exactly that. It's the same Liberal Party of Malcolm Turnbull, who promised stable leadership on climate change and delivered nothing but chaos that took this nation backwards. It's the same Liberal Party of Scott Morrison, a prime minister who secretly swore himself into five ministries—a government so full of trust and honesty that the Prime Minister didn't even trust his own ministers to do their jobs.

Senator Henderson wants to talk about higher taxes for everyday Australians—again, crazy brave of her, given her party went to the last election promising higher taxes for working Australians. That was your policy at the last election. If you want to talk about higher tax policies, we have the receipts for what you took to the last election.

Last night's budget was about delivering a tax system that is fairer for working Australians. It is about ensuring that everyday Australians can get ahead for their work and for their effort. It is about helping more Australians get ahead and get a foot in the housing market. This budget isn't about making the easy decision to do nothing. Labor is making decisions to build an economy that delivers greater productivity, an economy that rewards workers and an economy that encourages investment in new housing supply, to deliver more homes for more Australians.

Another claim from Senator Henderson is about living standards. This is coming from the same Liberal Party that went to the election proposing higher taxes for working Australians, the same Liberal Party that had wages stagnating for a decade, the same party that saw productivity stall in this nation and the same party that saw living standards materially go backwards. Bulk-billing rates were practically in freefall under the Liberal Party. They made it more expensive to see a doctor and more difficult to find a bulk-billing doctor in this country.

But most extraordinary is Senator Henderson's claim about fewer homes for Australians. The very heart of this budget is about helping more Australians get into a home of their own—the same Australians who are struggling with rents and the rising cost of living while trying to save a deposit to get into a home. They are the very ordinary Australians we are fighting for in this budget. It is only Labor that is brave enough to take the decision to unlock housing supply and address the structural fairness issues in the housing market.

We have delivered almost a thousand social and affordable homes in my home state of Queensland. We've delivered 62 infrastructure projects to support new housing in Queensland. We've delivered more than 330 safe places across 18 crisis and transitional housing projects in Queensland. We've delivered Commonwealth rent assistance to more than 348,000 Queenslanders. And more than 34,000 Queenslanders have bought their first home thanks to Labor's first home deposit of five per cent. That's 34,000 Queenslanders that Senator Henderson and the Liberal Party would prefer were not in a home of their own. The Liberal Party would prefer that those 34,000 Queenslanders were locked out of the housing market. They would dismantle Labor's five per cent deposit scheme, given half a chance, and would force young Australians to pay mortgage lenders insurance of $20,000, $30,000 and up to $40,000. They would rather see those young Australians saddled with a 20 per cent deposit that meant they would never get a foot in the housing market.

I challenge Senator Henderson and some of her Liberal colleagues from Queensland to go out and doorknock those 34,000 Queenslanders that got into a home thanks to this Labor government's five per cent deposit scheme. You tell them that you don't believe that they deserve to be in that home, that they don't deserve a five per cent deposit—that you do not support the very scheme that they accessed to get into a home. I encourage you to go out in Queensland and tell those 34,000 Queenslanders that you do not support their housing deposit.