Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The budget has cemented this Albanese Labor government's position as the highest-taxing government in our history. Last night, we saw Jim Chalmers whack Australians with an extra $50 billion in taxes over the next four years, taxes which include $15 billion in higher personal income taxes. We saw a housing tax, a small business tax and a family savings tax. On housing, the budget papers confirm it. Labor's housing taxes will reduce the supply of homes by 35,000 over the decade. They reveal that Labor's plan will push rental costs up.

On deficits and debt, they say that Labor cannot manage the economy, because we are facing a decade of deficits worth $150 billion and a net debt of $1.25 trillion. The yearly interest bill on that debt alone will hit more than $42 billion, or $80,000 every minute. The most alarming revelation, of course, is that more than $9 out of every $10 of improvement in this budget over the next five years is, in fact, due to changed economic conditions and not the blood, sweat and tears of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Labor Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. This is a budget of ruin.