MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Mr NG (Menzies) (16:05): We welcome this MPI from the member for Goldstein and from those opposite to talk about tax, because we're the party of lower taxes. We took lower taxes to the last election. Those opposite opposed them and those opposite are going to oppose our tax cuts again this time.

We're cutting income taxes five times. In the last term, our stage 3 tax cuts provided tax cuts for all Australians and, importantly, they preserved our progressive tax system against those opposite, who sought to flatten the tax system so that those on lower incomes and those on higher incomes were taxed at the same rate. Our stage 3 tax cuts particularly benefited low- and middle-income earners, those who need relief from cost-of-living pressures the most.

We're also providing a tax cut at the end of this financial year in just a few weeks—again, a tax cut that was opposed by those opposite—and we'll provide a tax cut at the end of the next financial year. Thanks to this budget, we'll also have the $1,000 instant tax deduction. For those workers in our electorate, they won't have to collect piles of receipts in order to claim that deduction.

We know that there's too much life admin for everybody, particularly for busy working families who've got kids to look after, who have to pay the bills, and who've got to run their kids around to school sport in between their busy jobs. They don't have time to collect all this paperwork, and so this instant tax deduction is especially going to benefit those hardworking taxpayers and hardworking families in the low- and middle-income bracket.

It'll save people time. It'll also save public administration. It will provide real cost-of-living relief for people who need it most.

We'll have the $250 working Australians tax offset, a permanent targeted tax cut that will benefit 13 million workers, and systemic change that will address bracket creep and will mean that the total amount of our tax cuts for the average worker will benefit them $2,800 in a year. That is going to make a real difference for households that we know are having a hard time, that we know are struggling with cost-of-living pressures thanks to things like international inflation pressures, the war in the Middle East—which those opposite often like to deny is having effects at the bowser and having flow-on effects throughout the supply chain.

This will mean that those families will have real cost-of-living relief. Those households will have real cost-of-living relief. We want a system where work is not taxed at a higher rate than wealth, where a nurse or a teacher or someone working in retail or hospitality—the hardworking people in our electorates—are not paying a higher rate of tax than somebody who's receiving income that's achieved through passive means in things like shares and property investment.

This is part of the big reforming budget. We have structural issues within our economy. We have an ageing population, we have a shrinking workforce, and we want to make sure that those hardworking Australians can continue to get ahead.

An increasing proportion of that tax burden is falling on working Australians. That's not a trajectory that we want to allow to continue, just like we don't want to continue on the trajectory of decreasing home ownership rates. That's something that this budget addresses as well.

We want all Australians to be rewarded for their hard work and their aspiration, with the opportunity to buy a home of their own. We want them to be able to have a level playing field when they go to an auction with property investors. We're already seeing stories of first home buyers being able to go to auctions and now not being outbid by property investors.

First home owners can go and get a key for the first home that they're going to own and be able to put down roots. They're going to be able to work on their home, to put down roots in the community, to plan for the future and plan for their families and to send their kids to local schools without thinking that they might have to move to another suburb if their landlord decides, 'No, I'm going to sell up' or 'I'm going to put a family member in the house.' It's really important that all Australians have the ability to aspire to homeownership, because it's an essential part of the social contract: that governments can promise people hope for the future and a secure future.

Homeownership is an essential part of that. We've seen that there's growing wealth disparity in Australia. Again, the ability for people to own their own home is a really important part of addressing that.

When 50 per cent capital gains tax discount was introduced in 1999, it distorted the housing market, and this budget fixes that.