Jessica Collins (NSW, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

First of all, I'm going to defend the honour of the coalition. I take absolute umbrage at the Foreign minister playing politics in the Pacific. We did not abandon the Pacific. We set up the Pacific Step-up. We set up the AIFFP. We set it up. We couldn't go in there because of COVID. You know that. How dare you—through you, Deputy President—play politics on that?

Slade Brockman (WA, Deputy-President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Collins, I will remind you it's answers to coalition questions.

Jessica Collins (NSW, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm just about to move to that. Thank you, Deputy President. We asked the government today about the Prime Minister saying this about the tax changes and his budget:

What we are simply doing is returning the CGT system to what was there before 1999.

We asked:

… was there a 30 per cent minimum tax before 1999, and is there one now under your legislated higher taxes?

It would have been very easy, had the minister responsible said, 'Yes and yes,' but of course they didn't. We asked:

…was there income averaging before 1999, and is there no income averaging now under your legislated higher taxes?

Of course they couldn't answer any of that, because it's simply not the case. They are not simply doing what was there in the CGT system before 1999.

The Leader of the Government in the Senate this morning used a good word, I thought. There's a certain word that we can't use here in the chamber—a certain word starting with L—but we can use the word 'deceitful'. I heard it used many times this morning by the Leader of the Government in the Senate. This is exactly what our prime minister has been to the Australian people: deceitful. They are not doing what was there before 1999. This 30 per cent minimum tax to be imposed on the Australian people is a completely new feature introduced by Labor, and it will hit those on lower incomes because, unlike pre 1999, there will be no income averaging.

We also asked, 'How many taxpayers on lower incomes under $45,000 will be hit by these higher taxes?' All we hear back from the government is that they're not introducing higher taxes; these are tax cuts. I don't know if anybody has spent any time on social media recently, but the Australian people know the truth. They know this government is being deceitful—$77 billion of new taxes, to be frank. Even their budget documents showed that low-income earners will pay more tax. 'Jack's tax' is what they talked about. Jack earns below $45,000, but he will pay thousands of dollars of tax due to the 30 per cent minimum tax rate. So, when the Prime Minister says to you that they are returning to a pre-1999 CGT system and when the government tells you that they're introducing tax cuts, don't believe their deceit. They are not telling you the truth. They are taxing your risk-taking, they are taxing young people, they are taxing entrepreneurs and they're taxing your dreams. (Time expired)

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, we see the uniparties—the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation—all voting against tax decreases. That's what they do for people that are struggling. When tax decreases get put to this Senate, they vote against it on every occasion.

We saw with the questions again today that they started talking about what's happening with small business. Critically importantly, why don't they start supporting some of the measures that we've made here? They should be supporting the fact that we've made new tax measures to support businesses and tax reform packages totalling over $3.8 billion in relief. We've made the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent for small business. That makes a real difference. I represented small business in my previous life, and I'm representing small business now being in this place. Those sorts of changes make a real difference when you're running a small business. So why don't they get in behind us when we say, 'That measure is on the right track'?

The two-year loss carry-back for companies with turnover of up to $1 billion is supporting cash flows through disruption and incentivising sensible risk-taking. That's part of the $3.8 billion in relief. Loss refundability to help startups grow in their first two years, expanding tax incentives for venture capital to help unlock more investment in young and expanding businesses—these are all changes that make a real difference. These changes that we've announced through the CGT are all changes that make a real difference.

Those on the opposite side are all about the status quo. They're all about keeping things the way they are. We all know—the rest of the Australian community knows—that things have to change. These changes not only benefit, across the board, all earners of income but also spread the tax liability across the economy appropriately, whilst reinvesting in small business. The measures we've put in place make sure that small business can develop and expand. These changes make a real difference.

And of course we've seen, throughout the CGT argument and the tax questions, that those opposite look at issues like housing. Again, they want the status quo. They want things to remain the same, because they haven't got an idea in their head to turn it around and make a change that is better for Australians, to make sure our housing stock is available—they vote against every piece of legislation to increase our housing stock—and to make it more practical for people to buy a house into the future. They should be looking at everybody under the age of 40 and at every person who's struggling to buy a house and say to them, 'You deserve the status quo, because what we're doing is nothing.' That's what you're saying to them. That's what you're proposing to them. That's what you're putting to them. And that's what you're voting on when you come to this place.

The uni party—the Libs, the Nats and One Nation—all get together and vote as a bloc yet again. They've done it year after year. They did it for a decade when they were in opposition, and they've done it since we've been in government, because at every opportunity—whether to give cost-of-living relief, to change the tax burden to make sure it's evenly spread out, to make sure people have an opportunity to develop the opportunities into the future or in relation to some of the great announcements we've made about small business or to make sure there is housing stock for people purchasing in the future—they vote against it, because they just like the status quo.

Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, we've heard a lot of angles on the economy today. What I heard, though, were almost impassioned pleas from the Labor Party to believe them when it comes to the issue of the economy. That's not something you get a lot of, out in the mainstream, from the Australian people, in particular when we've heard all about this high-taxing agenda, the impact of the CGT changes. You can astroturf that all you like, but it all comes back down to the thing people are talking about in this country at the moment, and that's how expensive everything is for them. This is not going to help that.

The average Australian family is now well and truly aware that those opposite speak about the worker, they speak about the Aussie battler, but in fact are more obsessed with being taken in by the global elite. They love to traipse off to Europe and get loved up by the European Left, and the Australian people aren't being fooled by this anymore. They've seen this played out, and they know now that side of the chamber really have no interest in those who are the backbone of our workforce—the fathers, the providers, the blokes who get up before dawn to get out and build the country with their hands. These are the people who, for too long, have been sold out by globalists and bureaucrats here in Canberra, by those who purport to speak on their behalf while all their actions, as we've seen over the last month or so, do quite the opposite.

Look around you at the moment. What do we say to the Australian family when factories have been closing for years on end because of free trade deals and profits for multinational companies? Mining towns are under pressure from the climate scam and being hollowed out with cheap imports. The wealth of this country is being sent overseas by this globalist mindset and, one by one, the opportunities that built the Australian dream are being squeezed and shuttered, with not even a thought for the millions of working men left behind. These people don't speak for them. They speak for the global elite. And this higher-taxing agenda is proof positive of that.

These are, ultimately, the forgotten men and women of Australia, people who are middle aged, often in the outer suburbs or in regional towns, being overlooked by a system that prioritises net zero fantasies and woke ideologies, that lectures them and ignores the very real struggles that they face—the ever-increasing family breakdowns and economic despair. How do you fix that? Well, I'll give a little message to those opposite. It's not by increasing their tax burden or by taking away their opportunity for aspiration and investment—investment which is not, despite what those opposite say, about the big end of town. It's about people in control of their own destiny being able to choose their way without having to pump the tires of government coffers.

The elites will tell you this is called progress, but I call it betrayal. Globalism hasn't lifted everyone up. It's crushed the Aussie battler, the working man, who just wants a fair go, a stable job and a future for his kids. He's now met with indifference, with a high-taxing agenda, with virtue-signalling policies and a cultural elite that are increasingly mocking his values. I say enough is enough. Let's just call it what it is: this is a high-taxing government who is using your money and my money to build an army of themselves in the Public Service with big government in order to keep their jobs—jobs which they would never, ever be able to achieve in the private sector. I think we know that well and truly. It's time to look at what the problem is here: half the problem is the domestic government and half the problem is this building's fascination with globalism. That has ripped the guts out of this country. It has taken jobs from Australians. The only job of a government here is to protect its citizens from such nonsense. (Time expired)

Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, having listened to that contribution, it's no wonder that voters are running away from the coalition in droves. Today's question time was yet another example of the Liberal Party and the National Party either forgetting that they are the parties who took a plan to the last election for higher taxes or hoping that the Australian people will forget that they're the parties who took a position to the last election for higher taxes. But I don't think the Australian people will forget. I don't think the Australian people have forgotten what the opposition put to them at the last election. It was the Liberal Party and the National Party who said to working Australians 'we will tax you more if we win government', and voters gave them the answer to what they thought about that proposition; they rejected it wholly. And they continue to reject it.

Our tax changes are actually pretty simple. They're about delivering a fair go—a fair go for Australian workers, a fair go for young Australians, a fair go for people who dream of owning their first home, They aren't thinking about whether they can invest in their fifth or their sixth or their seventh. They just want to get their foot in the door of a home that they can call their own and to have the safety and the security that that brings. That's what our government is delivering in these tax changes. We want young Australians to share in that dream, to live that dream, of buying their own home. That is a commitment that our government has made since coming to government in 2022, and these tax changes—our reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax—are the next logical step in doing that. They're the next logical step from five per cent home deposits and from investing in the homes that we need through the Housing Australia Future Fund. This is the next step in helping Australians achieve that dream.

Labor decided that we were not going to stand by and allow this generational crisis that we are seeing in the housing market continue. We were not going to stand by and let homeownership continue to get further and further out of reach for young Australians. We have drawn a line in the sand and have said that is unacceptable. Those opposite want to scaremonger. They want to run a One-Nation-like fear campaign. But I think Australians will see through it. Certainly the young people that I talk to absolutely see through it.

They see through it because they understand that it is the richest in our country who benefit from capital gains tax and negative gearing arrangements. Eighty-three per cent of capital gains tax discounts go to the wealthiest Australians. Eighty-three per cent goes to the wealthiest 10 per cent in our country. More than half of capital gains tax benefits go to the top one per cent of wealth in this country, and, on negative gearing, it's 37 per cent that goes to the top one per cent.

Those are the people that the coalition and their friends in One Nation are standing up for in this debate. It is not working Australians. It is not young Australians. They are on the side of the wealthiest Australians, but Labor is committed to getting young people into their own home.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) | Link to this | Hansard source

Sometimes question time can be a bit enlightening—surprise, surprise! We heard today Senator Gallagher say, 'We on this side'—that is that side of the chamber—'are proud of the tax reforms that passed the parliament last week.' I was left wondering, 'What bit are they proud of?' Let me tell you some of the evidence that was given in that sham inquiry process by people who are actually experts in the finance area, the banking area and the taxation area. This is not like what we saw on the weekend where the Treasurer, in an interview, couldn't answer basic questions about his own legislation. And this week we've seen backflips—backflips on top of a promise. Australians have every reason to be disappointed, and Labor has nothing to be proud of.

The Property Council of Australia said:

The combined effect of these measures is to increase uncertainty …

Master Builders Australia said, 'At least they did the modelling.' But Master Builders' own modelling says that new housing supply is set to fall, that rents will go up, that there'll be a reduction in the GDP and that construction jobs will fall. Spoiler alert—they even said that most of the costs are actually in construction and that they don't even have enough apprentices or builders to do the work. Yet Labor sits on that side and tells us it's going to build all of these new houses, while, at the same time, quashing investment in them. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it was 'alarmed'. In fact, 'without proper consultation with affected stakeholders or a clear understanding of consequences' is how they saw this legislation going through this place. The Business Council of Australia said that the only sure way to reduce housing is to increase the supply of new dwellings and reduce the cost of constructing them. They didn't see that in this legislation.

These are people who are industry experts, and you keep calling this 'the greatest tax reform'. It's a sham. What is real reform is a tax-back guarantee—an automatic tax cut that gets bigger every year by stopping inflation from pushing workers into paying more tax when they are no better off. That's called bracket creep. We know you like bracket creep because it's the silent tax.

A migration and housing pledge is what the coalition will do. We've said that we will cap migration based on how many homes Australia builds. That makes a bit of sense. This is instead of people struggling and fighting for a roof over their heads. You only have to go for a walk in any parkland in South Australia or drive past any carpark, anywhere, and you can see people living in their cars, living in tents and looking for anywhere they possibly can for a bed.

We talked about a future generation fund over on this side of the chamber. We're going to bank resource windfalls to pay down debt and build national infrastructure. Do you know what else we'll do? We'll back the private sector because they are the people who create the jobs, not the Public Service. It's taxpayers who pay for Public Service jobs. It's the economy, a strong economy, that pays for private sector jobs. It's the economy, stupid! It's really clear. It's all about the economy. That's how you improve people's lives. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.