Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026, Income Tax Rates Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026

Mr TEHAN (Wannon—Manager of Opposition Business) (11:30): We've said we will work with all members of this House to have these toxic taxes fully examined and to absolutely ensure that we're doing everything we can to make sure that the Australian people know what the broken promises will mean for them, and the best way in which we can do that, and the first step in doing that, is to make sure that they're fully examined.

I would say to the government: What have you got to hide? Why don't you want these toxic taxes fully examined? Why don't you want the entrails sorted through so that we know and understand who you're hitting?

Not only do we need to know all the detail; we need to make sure the government understands the detail, because, as we've seen in question time time and time again, the Prime Minister doesn't have a clue about his own budget. What we would like to know is this. The Prime Minister has said publicly, and I hope the Prime Minister was being honest with the Australian people, to use his own words, because he's said it is time to be honest, that these are just simple changes taking us back to the pre-Howard changes.

Does that mean you can average over five years or not? Does that mean you can offset a loss on one asset against the gain on another asset? We've put that to the Prime Minister and, guess what, the Prime Minister hasn't got a clue about his own budget.

Not only that, now we're starting to see more and more people speaking out against these budgets. We read in the Sydney Morning Herald today—and I think the chair of the Labor economics caucus committee might be in the House with us today—that even they don't like it. They've got questions of it.

The Prime Minister's innovation award winner for 2024 has come out and said he doesn't like this budget. Not only that, we've also heard from the Premier of Western Australia—Labor royalty. The Labor royalty has come out and said that they don't like this budget.

Not only that, Chris Minns from New South Wales has come out and said that he doesn't like it. So you've got the Labor economics caucus committee, you've got Chris Minns and you've got the Premier of Western Australia, Roger Cook, all saying this is a dog's breakfast. Basically, every Tom, Dick, Harry—oh, and Andrew, the member for Parramatta, of course; I'd nearly forgotten him.

He's come out and said that he's got concerns about it. I forgot that there's the member for Bennelong as well. He's popped up and said, 'I've got questions and queries about this.' The list goes on and on.

The Housing Industry Association have come out and said they don't like it. The Business Council of Australia are out saying they don't like it. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry are out saying they don't like it.

COSBOA are out saying they don't like it. As a matter of fact, I think there are only two people in this country who do like this budget: the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. I don't think there are too many other people lining up behind it.

Of course, there was all this spin at the start, and some people got sucked in with that spin. I would say to a lot of people: always look at the detail, because this government's very good at the spin. Once you get to the detail, you start to see, in particular, the unintended consequences which come from broken promises and from complete and utter spin.

This is why this budget needs to be examined, and it's why these bills need to be examined. We've said we will do anything we can to get this parliament to examine these bills and then to throw them out. I say to the Prime Minister you have a chance.

The Prime Minister has a chance. He can show some courage. He can say, 'Yes, I told the Australian people one thing before an election and I did completely the opposite after the election.' The Prime Minister could have the courage to front up and say that is what he did.

In doing that, he has not only embarrassed himself; he has embarrassed every single member of the Labor Party caucus. All of them have been embarrassed— Mr Rae: I'm not embarrassed. Mr TEHAN: because they know—well, I hope they know—that integrity in this place still counts for something.

The minister's interjecting that he doesn't seem to think that integrity does matter in this place. That's a matter for him. But, I've got to say, I think integrity is important, and I say to the Labor Party caucus it should be important to you.

So why don't you say to the Prime Minister: 'Prime Minister, you said one thing before an election. You've done completely the opposite after the election. It's time to at least front up and be honest about that.

Be honest for once. Just say: "Yes, I misled the Australian people, and because I did that, I want these Treasury bills fully examined. I want proper public scrutiny of them.

I want to make sure that everyone knows the details of these bills."' If the Australian public don't know and don't understand the details, they won't know how it's going to hit them. We know it's going to hit small business. It's going to hit farmers.

It's going to hit the tech sector. It's going to hit the mining exploration sector; we've had Roger Cook, the Western Australian Premier, come out saying this. It's going to hurt people when it comes to what they're doing on income tax; the Premier of New South Wales has said we've got to address bracket creep, which is what we will do.

The only thing we get when we ask the government questions about their budget is the Prime Minister saying: 'Oh, I'm not quite sure. I don't really know. You can't put you can't put those questions to me, because I'm not across the detail.' Well, we do need to know the detail.

That's why it's important that this gets referred to the economics committee. Maybe, in having it referred to the economics committee, it will give the government time to reflect. I think they do need to reflect on that side of the House.

You even have the Prime Minister's award winner for innovation in 2024 saying that this needs changing. You have the Premier of WA, the Premier of New South Wales, the Labor economics committee caucus, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and COSBOA. You've even now got the National Farmers' Federation beginning to realise that there are serious consequences for farmers, especially when it's about them handing on their farms to the next generation.

Remember, this was all meant to be about generational fairness. I tell you, this is going to kill family farming, and maybe that's what those opposite would like to see, like they would see the death of small and family businesses in this country. We've said we'll work with this parliament to examine these toxic taxes.

We've said we will work with this parliament to make sure that these toxic taxes do not go ahead. That's why we're happy to stand here and support this motion which will make sure that these bills go to the economics committee in the House, and we want to make sure there is proper interrogation also in the Senate. This is a toxic budget built on toxic broken promises, and it needs to be fully examined and thrown out of this parliament.