STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms PENFOLD (Lyne) (13:39): In his budget speech, the Treasurer said he was making the tax system 'fairer and stronger for workers, businesses, first home buyers and future generations'. He said that his government was embracing its intergenerational responsibilities. But the reality is very different.

These are not reforms that expand opportunity. They are taxes that punish aspiration. The Treasurer says he is helping young Australians into housing, yet many young people tell me these changes do exactly the opposite.

Take Jordan, a 27-year-old in my electorate. Before the budget, Jordan had mortgage preapproval and was working towards buying her first home. After the government announced its changes to negative gearing, her mortgage broker informed her that her borrowing capacity had fallen by $200,000.

In one budget, Labor has pushed the dream of homeownership further out of reach for a young Australian who did exactly what we tell people to do: work hard, save and plan for the future. Jordan told me she now struggles to see the point of working to save if she is effectively locked out of the same investment opportunities previous generations enjoyed. That is the problem with these toxic taxes.

They do not create opportunity; they take hope away. Treasurer, if your idea of intergenerational fairness is making it harder for young Australians to buy a home, then perhaps the problem is not the tax system. Perhaps it is your government's understanding of aspiration.