MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Leader of the Opposition) (15:21): Labor's toxic taxes will destroy aspiration in this country, and if the Prime Minister wants to force these toxic taxes onto Australians, he should have the guts to take it to an election. But he won't. He won't because he can't tell the truth.

This is a prime minister who leads a government that misleads and deceives every single day, a government that dupes and distorts, a government that says one thing, does another and has a very, very loose association with the truth every single day. This Prime Minister's word is never his bond. It is never his bond, and Australians absolutely know it now.

He promised that Australians would be better off under his leadership. Well, they're not. He promised that their power bills would go down by $275.

It's not even close. They haven't. They're up 40 per cent since this hapless energy minister was in place.

He promised Australians that they would have cheaper mortgages—not even close. A typical mortgage holder is $35,000 worse off since Labor has come to power. He promised that there would be no changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, in his own words, for the 50th time.

Well, surprise, surprise. He's changing them. He's because he changes his mind.

He's changing his mind again, and he is whacking new and higher taxes on hard working Australians. No Australian can trust another word that comes out of this bloke's mouth. Now, did he take his tax increases to the last election?

Well, of course not. As I said, he hasn't got the courage. He leads a government that is tricky and is sneaky, and Australians are seeing him for the prime minister he truly is.

He's a man who occupies the highest office in the land, but he lacks the character to lead this great country. He absolutely lacks the character to lead this great country. He stands condemned, and his condescending government, the condescending government he leads, stands condemned as well.

He's bungled budget confirms that his government is the highest taxing government in Australian history—the highest taxing government—because they are addicted to spending. We know only too well that when Labor runs out of money it comes after yours. Let us consider Labor's changes to negative gearing.

This is purely and simply a tax on housing, on homes. That's what it is. It's a tax on homes.

When you put a tax on something, you get less of it. There was one tiny shard of honesty in this government's budget. I think it was snuck through by the bureaucrats worried that there needed to be a little bit of honesty in it.

It was on page 158. It snuck through, and I'm sure the 400 staffers they have missed it. They missed this one.

Do you know what it said? It said that when you take negative gearing away on housing, you get fewer houses. It snuck through.

This isn't a level up for young Australians wanting to get into a home; it's a lock out on homeownership in this country. That's what it is, and that's what this government stands for. Now we'll go to the next one.

We've just done negative gearing. We'll go to capital gains tax. Scrapping the 50 per cent discount is a tax on savings, pure and simple.

It's a tax on savings on every asset class—crypto, ETFs, shares, bonds and you name it. It is a tax on Australians trying to build a nest egg. We know that, in an economy that is not working for young Australians, and it's not, so many of them are building up a nest egg so they can buy a home.

That's what they're doing. But this government has decided to whack them with a new tax. They want to go after the savings of Australians, and it's not just those who are saving; it's also small businesses.

I heard the Minister for Social Services interjecting during question time on a question about capital gains tax. Do you know what she said when we asked the question? 'Oh, you should just go and see the accountant.' That's what she said. We want to hear what the situation is from the government that's putting these toxic taxes in place.

Tell us how it's actually going to work. The truth is that they didn't want to fess up to the fact that this prime minister has said in this House that we're going back to the pre-1999 settings. But we're not.

He deceived the Australian people in this chamber. That's what he did, and it is a shame on the Prime Minister that he should choose to do that. We are not going back to the pre-1999 settings.

They are planning to hit small businesses, farmers and hardworking Australians harder than ever before because they have run out of money. Labor has started a war on aspiration, and its toxic taxes will obliterate opportunity in this country. There is a long list of people who think these taxes are wrong for Australia: the Premier of Western Australia, the Premier of New South Wales, Andrew from Parramatta— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Leader of the Opposition, you know about the use of correct titles.

Mr TAYLOR: The member for Parramatta. There's another chap from Bennelong, the member for Bennelong, who has very similar views. We know there are many more—well not that many more who understand small business, but they're hearing it from small-business owners in their electorates.

They're hearing it alright, because they are being smashed by a Labor government that simply doesn't understand aspiration and the hard work of small-business people in this country. When you're running a small business, the daytime runs into the night-time, the weekdays run into the weekends and work time runs into holiday time. In fact, so much of the time, you give up your holidays because you've got to invest a bit more in the business to try and get ahead.

Mr Birrell: Mortgage your house. Mr TAYLOR: You mortgage the house—absolutely right. It is all on you.

If the business fails, this government's not going to be helping out, but if it succeeds, they want half of it. That's how they think. This government knows or at least enough of them know that this is an aspiration killer, so they're talking about carve-outs.

The truth is that Labor's carve-out is a cop-out, because so many of these people have never worked in a small business. They can't even understand how you would carve it out. They're trying to carve something out for the tech bros.

The truth is we have a problem in this country with these taxes, all the way from tech bros through to hairdressers, plumbers, fitness instructors—you name it. Every small business in this country is being smashed by a government that simply doesn't believe in what they do. We do support the $250 income tax cut, but let me tell you this: if it was put in place today, it would be gone by Christmas, because Labor's raging inflation would take it away.

Every month, every year, inflation is raging away. It raises Australians' income tax rates. That's what it does.

It's called bracket creep. More and more of your money goes up into higher tax brackets. Labor takes that money and then says: 'Hey, I'll give you a little bit back.

It'll get you through to Christmas.' There is a better way through, which is our 'tax back guarantee'. That will ensure that governments live within their means, just like every Australian has to do, in their businesses and in their households. We need these toxic taxes axed.