Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I rise to strongly support the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026. This chamber comes one step closer to delivering a tax system that gives a fair go for working Australians, which is something that those opposite simply cannot stand. Nobody in this country right now is saying, 'Yes, we've got the housing settings in Australia right.' Nobody in this country right now is arguing that giving tax breaks to wealthy investors while young people and working families are locked out of their homeownership dreams is fair. Fortunately, there is one party that is willing to stand up and do something about it—and that is the Australian Labor Party. It's not easy, but it's the right thing to do. And if those opposite stuck to their own values, their party might not be in such disarray. This is the single most significant tax reform this country has seen in nearly a quarter of a century. It tips the scales back in favour of working people. And those opposite have the gall to come in here and oppose it. They come in here backing the vested interests of powerful people over the powerless. So let's talk about what this tax bill does, and let's talk about why they oppose it and why One Nation wants to kill it.

This bill cuts taxes for working Australians. We have already legislated a reduction in the lowest marginal tax rate, from 16c in the dollar down to 15c and then down to 14c. That is real money every year in the pocket of every working Australian. This bill delivers more today: a new tax offset for working Australians, a permanent annual tax offset for every eligible worker in Australia. Why would you vote against that? This is a $1,000 instant tax deduction—no receipts, no paperwork, no issue. Around 6.2 million Australians will benefit. Why would you vote against that? More than a quarter of the people who will benefit from that are under 30, and more than half of them are women. Add it all up. A worker on average earnings will be up to $2,816 a year better off from 2027-28 compared to where we started. This is a Labor government delivering for working people who earn their money through a wage, not a property dividend. This is not a one-off sugar hit; it is established permanently and structurally for future generations. I would like to remind the Liberals and One Nation that they're the people that you are supposed to be standing up for—working Australians. We are meant to be acting in the interests of Australia's future and the working people who are building this nation. They need someone on their side, and that's exactly what Labor is doing while those opposite are acting with shameless self-interest—the same self-interest that got Australia into this mess, driving rents up and putting homeownership out of reach, perhaps for good.

Now let's talk about housing, because this is where the story of intergenerational housing inequity really starts, and it's a story the Liberals don't like to tell. In 1999, the Howard Liberal government introduced the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount. It was a single policy decision that changed everything. That worked out very well for people who already owned assets. It worked out very well for people building their property portfolios. It worked out very well for people with access to capital. But, for younger Australians trying to buy their first home, it has been an economic disaster. We have watched investors compete against first home buyers weekend after weekend in our suburbs. We have watched homeownership move further and further out of reach. Now this government has the courage to act, not because it's politically easy but because it's right.

Since John Howard introduced the CGT discount, house prices have risen more than 400 per cent. In the same period, wages have risen less than half that. For 25 years, we've watched house prices run away from wages thanks to the Liberal Party. Homeownership amongst Australians aged 25 to 34 has fallen by seven percentage points. In some parts of Queensland, my home state, homeownership is as low as 20 per cent. For the first time since World War II, a majority of Australians in their early 30s do not own a home and may never own a home. Let that sink in. That is the Liberal Party's legacy, locking young people out of the housing market and throwing away the key. That is 25 years of broken, rigged systems that our side finally has the courage to fix. As Treasurer Jim Chalmers put it when he introduced this legislation, this is about making aspiration and opportunity the birthright of every Australian, not just some.

So what are we doing about it? We are replacing the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount with an inflation adjusted indexation so that only real gains are taxed, not paper gains—not inflation but real gains. We are limiting negative gearing on residential property to new builds from 2027-28. This will channel investment where it is needed—into new housing supply, not into bidding up the price of existing homes that a first home buyer is also trying to purchase at a weekend auction. Over 80 per cent of new investor lending currently goes to existing homes. We are changing that. These changes will help around 75,000 more Australians achieve their dream of homeownership. That's 75,000 families and 75,000 sets of keys to a front door of a home of their own.

For those who own an investment property purchased before budget night, nothing changes. So the scaremongering needs to end. We are not going after people who played by the rules that existed. We are changing the rules for tomorrow's future because Australians deserve the same fair go that previous generations in this nation had.

Let's talk about the people of this chamber who are voting against it. The Liberal Party and One Nation are lining up day after day to block these reforms, and Australians deserve to know why. If you understand who benefits from keeping the current system exactly where it is, you get an idea of where they're going on this issue. You only need to have a look at the register of interests—it's publicly available online—and you will find senators and members owning multiple investment properties and benefitting from these tax arrangements. They have personally accumulated wealth—

I'm not surprised you're arcing up about it, Senator Henderson, because you are absolutely part of the problem. People who have personally accumulated wealth through these very tax settings are the ones who are coming in here defending them while working Australians and young Australians cannot get into a house of their own.