Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Women) | Hansard source

I've been thinking about all the speeches that I've heard tonight and throughout the day on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 and the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026. I think it was you, Senator Scarr—I wasn't here, but I've just had that vibe that it may have been you. The thing that's coming to my mind about all of this is that, when you frame it, we have a housing crisis. We don't have enough supply. We also have a rental crisis. We don't have enough houses for people to rent. Young people can't afford houses, so young people are using different mechanisms to save some money in order to fast-track their ability to have a nest egg big enough. They're investing in shares and ETFs. They're innovating in small business. So they're trying different things. They're having a go. They're having a crack. They're trying to make their lives better. They're aspiring. Senator Cadell spoke about aspiration. This is what people want: to create wealth and build a better life.

So what has this government done as the solution to this? They've decided to tax shares, they've decided to tax ETFs, they've decided to tax small businesses and they've taken away from young Australians, in the name of intergenerational equity, the same mechanisms for wealth creation that prior generations had: 'So that you can have a better chance, we're not going to let you use the mechanisms that we used in order to create wealth.' How do you actually expect anybody to believe that?

The thing that has struck me from the afternoon into the evening as I've been in the chamber, whether as temporary chair or in the shadow ministerial spot, is the Greens talking about the fact that this is a toxic group of taxes. You facilitated it. You let them do it. And, as Senator Cadell said, you actually got nothing for it. You just gave it to them. You've just let them have it, and you've let young Australians pay the price for it. You've taken away their opportunities to invest, and you've taxed them. The thing is you want some of their money when they make a profit, but you don't want to let them offset some of the losses if they don't make some money.