Sean Bell (NSW, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) | Hansard source

I rise to oppose the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 and related bill. If anyone's looking for a reason for the rise of One Nation in the polls—a reason why everyday Australians went and donated almost $5 million to Pauline Hanson's Fire the Liar campaign—look no further than this bill and the chaotic process we have before us today.

What we're dealing with is legislation that has been rushed. The government admits they botched it, and we are still waiting to see what amendments are coming before the Senate as the government desperately tries to fix legislation they know is bad and broken.

I was listening to Senator Brown say that this isn't about death taxes. Well, if that's the case, why are you rushing to remove that part of the bill? Why have you flagged you'll be taking the death taxes out of the bill? It's because you know you got it wrong. What we are watching is damage control dressed up as a housing policy and damage control dressed up as backflips. Labor is now trying to explain why their capital gains tax changes go well beyond what they initially flagged with the public, well beyond housing. Labor's come back talking about exemptions and changes within weeks of supporting them in the lower house. Let's be clear. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer supported this bill that Labor is now admitting is broken and bad. It's a big broken tax grab. The fact that we are going to have to sit here and deal with a bunch of government amendments is an admission of guilt. It is an admission that the government did not understand the consequences of their own legislation as they rammed it through the lower house and as they presented it to the Senate. And it is an admission that One Nation was right to flag this from the start.

One Nation stands with mums and dads, tradies and small-business owners who, right now, are worried that the Labor Party is going to be reaching into their pockets, grabbing their hard-earned taxes and wasting their money. The outcry we have seen from the people is a public repudiation of the Labor government's bad budget. It is a public rejection of the politics of broken promises. You can sneer at One Nation voters, at Pauline Hanson and at the 70,000-plus Australians who chipped in $60 to One Nation's Fire the Liar campaign because they are sick and tired of broken promises from a desperate and chaotic Labor government. But it won't work, because Australians know that Labor is desperately rewriting and patching up a bill that is nothing more than a giant tax grab. They claimed that the bill was ready—the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have already voted for it—but we know it is not ready to pass; we know it is broken.

Older Australians were given the opportunity in the past to work hard, to save, to buy homes, to invest, to take risks and to build security for their families. Now young people are watching as Labor turns around and tells the next generation that they can't access the same benefits. They can't have access to asset growth or property growth or long-term investments. What we're seeing is a bill that will replace a known system with a much more complicated one. For many Australians, the result will be simple. It will be that they have to pay much more tax. As I said, this is Labor reaching into the pockets of Australians who have worked hard, saved and invested so they could stand on their own two feet. Now a person who's saved, invested and taken risks is facing more taxes because Labor has decided that private wealth creation is a problem that they need to manage in Canberra with a bill that punishes aspiration and will make Australia poorer.

This bill hits the very pathway many young Australians are now using, because homeownership has been driven out of reach because of Labor's mass migration obsession. It targets elements that young people have used: shares, EFTs, startups, equity and long-term investing. The number of young Australians who are exposed to the consequences of these changes is growing sharply and it is much larger than Labor would like you to think. So what is the answer from this government? This is another reason why the 'Fire the liar' campaign was so successful, because you see that the Labor government says, 'This is actually a tax cut.' Well, it is not a tax cut. They're talking about an offset which will be chewed up by inflation while they do nothing to address the problem of bracket creep.

I can flag that One Nation has no problem with supporting the tax-cut element of this legislation. But it's so clear to the Australian people what you are trying to do. It is so clear to everyone that, for anyone who opposes this terrible tax grab, you are going to stand up and attack them. You've envisioned this fantasy that somehow this is an attack on tax cuts, but that's just not going to work this time because the people of Australia are awake to your record of broken promises and deception.

Labor says it's giving every dollar back, which is exactly the problem. Labor is taking money out of private hands, sending it through Canberra, clipping the ticket, writing the rules and expecting Australians to be grateful when they hand some of it back. You're raising taxes, handing a little back, but the balance doesn't add up and you're telling Australians to be thankful. Frankly, it is insulting. One Nation believes Australians should keep more of what they earned in the first place. That's what we believe will help a teacher who can't afford a home near the school where she teaches. That is what will help a nurse who is doing extra shifts and getting smashed by the rents that are rising, the grocery prices that are soaring and the power bills that are growing under Labor. That's what will help police officers who are working nights and weekends while wondering how his children will ever be able to afford to buy a home.

One Nation is for working Australians. We're for the tradies, truckies cleaners, carers, retail workers, nurses, teachers, police officers and small-business employees doing everything right yet falling further and further behind under this Labor government. And we are for the more and more Australians have been forced into a category of working poor. As Senator Hanson said at her National Press Club address, there are many, many thousands of Australians with a job who cannot support a household. They are trying to pay their rent, feed their kids, keep the lights on and they can't. As we see, too many of them are ending up at the Salvos, at food banks and at charities asking for help in a country that should be rewarding work and not punishing it. This Labor government has failed them under this government. The promise was that life would be cheaper, but that promise, like so many others, has evaporated.

This government promised that power bills would come down. Well, Australians are still waiting —$275 cheaper from when you promised it. It never came. Again, this is why the Fire the Liar campaign has cut through—because people are awake to the broken promises. You promised to stand up for workers, yet you're making it harder for workers to build capital, buy assets, invest for retirements. You're making it harder for them to stand on their own two feet. The battlers, small-business owners and entrepreneurial young Australians trying to build wealth outside of the family home will be worse off. That is what accountants, lawyers, experts have warned of about this bill. It will make the country worse off. This is the government who promised that life would be cheaper and easier, and all they have delivered is higher interest rates and pain as Australian families are drowning in repayments and bills they cannot afford.

This Labor government claimed to care about housing while running population growth far ahead of housing supply. They consistently make projections of immigration and yet blow straight past them time and time again. You are now asking this parliament to believe that this bill that we're about to pass—it beggars belief that here we are again. It's so clear what will occur. We are facing another guillotine. There's no doubt you'll shut down debate. You'll rush this through again. Whatever amendments you're making will come at the last minute. It is truly disgraceful, and Australians are not as gullible as you seem to think they are. You truly have stuffed this up. This is one of the worst budgets of all time.

One Nation believes Australians should be able to build something. We believe that things can be better. The process that we are watching here—the failed process alone—should shame this government. Truly, some of the—if we're talking about who's going to benefit from this bill, it's going to be accountants. It's going to be managers of finance. The people who are really licking their lips at this are the people who are going to be paid to help Australians try to understand what's going on. The absurd scenarios that we are looking at as a result of this budget beggar belief. To look at and read that you've now got people who are desperately rushing out to try and get Pokémon cards costed because this Labor government did not think through the consequences of this budget is such an absurdity.

The chaos and uncertainty you have caused with this cannot be overstated, and we will not support it. We will not vote for this bill, which is going to be riddled with rushed amendments and hidden behind deceptive language. One Nation instead supports Australians keeping more of what they earn. We believe in protecting genuine small-business owners, founders, investors from being caught up in these rules. We believe that real housing policy deals with supply approvals and comes off the back of sustainable migration—an end to Labor's mass migration. We should not be punishing aspiration and attacking the pathways everyday Australians can use to build independence and wealth.

One Nation will oppose this legislation because Australians deserve better than a big tax grab and a failed budget from a government that cannot manage this economy, cannot keep its promises. Every time they feel they're caught short, they're reaching into the taxpayers' pockets and taking their money because they have run out of ideas of their own. Driving up inflation, driving up the pain that families are feeling—this truly is a disgrace. One Nation will not be supporting this legislation.