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

Indeed.

As I said earlier, we have entered the Albanese Labor government's quasi-socialist era with the support of the Greens. That's what it is: 'If you've got something good, we want some of it; if it's a problem, we don't want to know about it. Your losses are your problem. Of any profit you make, we want a bunch—but only if you're an individual, only if you're a mum-and-dad investor, only if you're a young person. If you're an industry super fund, we'll continue to subsidise you. If you are an international global institution who wants to come here and create build-to-rent properties, we'll give you subsidies as well because you're a good guy, you international global institution. We want to give you tax concessions; we just don't want to give young Australians tax concessions. We don't want to give mum-and-dad investors tax concessions, because they're the bad guys.' That's what I've come to understand from what has transpired here today.

Let's be clear. We oppose Labor's capital gains tax changes, and we oppose Labor's changes to negative gearing. We oppose them because they are fundamentally wrong and because they do not solve the problems at hand. The thing that this government seems to want to hide from as well is the fact that they lied to the Australian people. They went to an election and said that they would not do this. The Prime Minister, Prime Minister Albanese, told Australians before the last election, 'There will be no changes,' and what has he done? He has done exactly what he said he wouldn't do. And we ask why people are losing trust in institutions. We ask why people are losing trust in democracy. It is because they don't get truth from government. Instead of getting answers as to what is really going on, they get smugness and arrogance, as though we aren't entitled to the real answers as to why things have occurred. Australians aren't stupid; they can see what is going on.

We have clear evidence from the RBA that this government has overspent. But do you know what? We don't even need the RBA to tell us that. We can see it. We have had 15 interest rate rises under this government, and we have had three interest rate reductions. They like to talk about the rate cuts that they've seen, but they never want to talk about the 15 interest rate rises. That's around $30,000 a year to the average Australian mortgage holder. Have a think about what you can buy with $30,000. Have a think also about what cuts Australians have had to make in their own lives in order to come up with that $30,000. What aren't they buying for their children? What aren't they buying or saving for their own future? They're really important questions.

Senator Collins made a comment earlier in her speech about difficult decisions people are making in supermarkets. I've had my own pharmacist tell me that she has people coming in asking, 'Does it work if, so I can stretch my packet out, I take half of my tablet in the morning and half in the evening?' These are real conversations that real Australians are having, and those opposite pretend there's nothing to see here, that people are not in trouble and that people are not struggling.

Instead of solving those problems, we are just taxing people more—not 'we', you. You are taxing people more. That's not transparency. That's not honesty. This has been a deception of the highest order. I don't understand how this government can sit there and pretend that this is about intergenerational equity when we know that it's not and when we know that the only ones getting concessions are at the big end of town: the industry super funds and the global institutional investors.

Let's have a think about renters for a moment. I've talked about young Australians who are trying to buy a home. Have a think about the fact that they've got to rent before they buy their first home. There are Australians who are struggling and are going to be renting for a lot longer because they can't get ahead because of the cost-of-living crisis that this government has created. This government's own budget papers admit that these tax changes will increase rents. They are taking from young Australians at every single stage of their journey—not just at the point of purchase but at every single point where they're trying to make their way through life, at every point where they're trying to create a better future for themselves.

Research from independent economists suggests that rents could rise by up to $160 a week in Sydney and around $130 a week in Melbourne. Have a think about that $130 to $160 a week. That's a lot of money. That's another bunch of groceries that someone's not going to buy. That may be some medical treatment that somebody's not going to get for themselves. In most cases, it will be women who defer their own medical treatment to ensure that their children get appropriate medical treatment.