ADJOURNMENT
Mrs McINTOSH (Lindsay) (19:39): The Albanese Labor government's negative gearing and capital gains tax changes demonstrate their inclination to tax ambition first and justify it later. Now Labor is once again reaching deeper into the pockets of millions of hardworking Australians. Australians deserve a tax system that rewards effort, encourages investment and supports people who want to build something for themselves and their families.
That is why the coalition will take the axe to Labor's opportunity-crushing taxes. These are taxes on housing. These are taxes on savings.
These are taxes on investments. These are taxes on small businesses. It's like Labor thinks Australians forget.
In 2019, Labor went to the Australian people with sweeping tax changes, slashing the capital gains tax discount and abolishing negative gearing. They expected applause. But Australians overwhelmingly rejected it, and they lost the election.
At the 2025 election, the Prime Minister said more than 50 times that his government, the Albanese Labor government, would not impose changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax. He said to Australians over and over again that his word is his bond. There would be no changes to CGT and no changes to negative gearing.
Fast forward to 2026, and the Prime Minister has done the unthinkable. We can no longer say the four-letter word in this chamber that describes people who do not tell the truth. You know what word I'm talking about.
The media has been reporting it for weeks now. Well, I'm sorry, Prime Minister, but Australians did not elect you to break promises and just change your mind. They will remember this, and they will be very angry.
Australians understand something the Albanese Labor government refuses to learn. If you punish aspiration, people stop aspiring. And when you punish the people who build things—wire our homes, pour our slabs, fix our pipes and train the next generation—you don't hurt the rich; you hollow out the backbone of communities like mine in Lindsay.
If the Reserve Bank lifts the cash rate next week, Roy Morgan reports that 1.57 million mortgage holders would be pushed into the danger zone of mortgage stress—an increase of 104,000. The share of mortgage holders at risk of mortgage stress would increase to 30.7 per cent in July. For context, the record high was 35.6 per cent during the GFC—the global financial crisis.
As of 14 September 2025, Casula in Western Sydney had the highest proportion of arrears. About one in 40 mortgage homeowners are falling behind on repayments. Other higher arrear areas include Cambridge Gardens, in my own electorate of Lindsay.
The 2021 census showed Regentville had the highest proportion of households paying more than 30 per cent of their income on rent. In the City of Penrith, over 30 per cent of renting households were paying $450 or more a week back in 2021. The average rent is now $600.
Behind those numbers is a very real person. I know this. This is my community.
These are young people wanting to get ahead in life and pensioners who skip heating in winter so they can keep roofs over their heads. And there's another side of the story. There are the people who own one modest investment property.
They're not moguls. They're not tycoons. They're just everyday Australians.
Not everyone understands crypto. Not everyone plays the stock market. Most don't have a financial adviser on speed dial.
These are the people who put their faith in something they do understand—bricks and mortar. A small unit in North Penrith. An old townhouse in St Marys.
A modest investment property in Werrington Downs. Something solid. Something they can touch.
They're not trying to get rich. They're just trying to take responsibility for their future. These are Australians who have saved, sacrificed and planned.
But, right now, they feel the one thing they built so they could live comfortably in their retirement is being taken away from them. This is why the coalition will introduce a tax-back guarantee—to end the inflation tax and to stop Australians being taxed more simply because prices have gone up. The principle is simple: when your wages rise just to keep up with inflation, you are not better off.
But under the current tax system, you are taxed as if you are. That's unfair and dishonest. Under a coalition government, that will end.
Under Labor, Australians work harder, pay more and fall behind. Under the coalition, Australians will be rewarded to keep more and to get ahead. If the Albanese government keeps treating aspiration like a taxable offence, eventually fewer Australians will bother trying to build anything at all.
I seek leave to table the Daily Mail article 'Why politicians are banned from calling Anthony Albanese a "liar" in parliament'. Leave not granted.