Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) | Hansard source

by leave—Australia, guess what you've just witnessed? It's the dirtiest of dirty deals between the Albanese government and the Australian Greens to kill off aspiration in Australia. Gone are the days of the great Australian dream. It didn't matter who you were or where you came from. If you did the right thing, if you worked hard and if you saved your money—guess what?—you could actually get ahead in Australia. But the deal that has just gone through—shame on the government for dealing with the Australian Greens, because we all know the Australian Greens have never seen a tax they didn't like and then doubled it. And that is what we have just seen.

The government has just done a dirty deal to set up, in an expedited fashion, the passage of some of the most regressive tax reforms that this country has ever seen. To all those young people out there who've thought, 'I'd save hard, I'd open an account and I'd put my money away so that I could get a deposit on my home,' guess what? The deal has just been done for Mr Albanese to step in and take up to 47 per cent of it. So to every young person out there, I give you this commitment on behalf of a future coalition government: on day one of a future coalition government, we will bring in the legislation to get rid of these toxic taxes. Why? Because we believe in you. We believe that your hard work should mean that you can put money away to save a deposit to buy a home. If you're a business in this country, the Albanese government has the audacity to say to you, 'Stay small and these changes won't have much of an effect on you.' What an insult to every man and woman in this country, to every young person who's ever had a dream to open their own business, to be an entrepreneur and to say, 'I'm going to work hard. I'm going to build this business up. I'm going to employ people. I'm going to pay my taxes. And one day when I sell that business that I've built up through blood, sweat and tears, maybe I'll have a bit of money left over to see me into the next phase of my life.' Well, not under the dirty deal that's just gone through, because, Australia, what you have just witnessed is Mr Albanese saying, 'I am the Prime Minister that is officially going to end aspiration in this country.'

Colleagues, the bad news is we can't use the word 'lie' or 'liar' in the Australian Senate, so I would invite the Australian people to, if they've been told 50 times before the election, to the point where the Prime Minister snapped at journalists. How dare they ask him: 'If you are elected, will you change negative gearing?' 'No.' 'If you are elected, will you change capital gains tax treatment?' 'No.' And then guess what? He's changed his mind. And the bad news for Mr Albanese is this: every time you stand up now, the Australian people see a man who, whenever you open your mouth—you could say 'the sky is blue'—I'd say, 'colleagues, go out and check it because it does not matter what he says, it does not matter what comes out of his mouth—be careful Australia; he'll just change his position.' Australia, you'll be sitting there saying: 'But hey, hold on, 50 times before the election I was told by Mr Albanese that if I voted for him, he wouldn't touch negative gearing. I'd have the same advantage that he had in building up his property portfolio—$4.3 million home he's bought, plus all of the others—because he could utilise the negative gearing.' But Mr Albanese in good socialist fashion is going to deny other Australians the right to build up a property portfolio so they too can buy a $4.3 million home. That is gone.

As for capital gains tax, God help any Australian under the Albanese Labor government who actually wants to be aspirational , because Mr Albanese has made sure that, with the vote that has today gone through the Australian Senate, as of the end of this week, any hope of aspiration—you growing your business and being a success without the government stepping in and taking up to 47 per cent—is now gone. Shame on Labor, shame on the Greens. Day one of a Taylor of government, these taxes are being axed.