Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2026-2027
Mr VIOLI (Casey) (18:23): The first question is one that all the Australian people want to know. Why did this treasurer and this government mislead and deceive the Australian people at the last election? Suddenly, 12 months later, they've realised that housing is an issue.
It's been an issue for a long time, and their position has changed. So the real question then is: has the Minister for Housing failed? Is it about time that the housing minister gets reshuffled out of another portfolio that they have failed in—the minister who failed in Home Affairs and has gone to housing and has failed?
That answer can be given by the RBA. There was a secret document released that the government didn't want out. The RBA didn't want it out.
It showed that this government has failed when it comes to housing in their first term. The Australian people know that and young people know that because, when they try to get a house, it's harder than ever. Those opposite will talk about how this budget is about housing, but if it's about housing why are they increasing taxes on stocks, on small businesses, on ETFs and on those young people that leave a corporate job and join a startup and take stock options?
How is collecting $77 billion of increased taxes helping young people get into housing? The answer is that it's not, because this budget is not about helping young people get into housing. It is about taking more from the Australian people so that the government can spend it as they see fit.
However, we know that this government continues to fail when it comes to spending money on behalf of the Australian people. We know this budget is so bad that this Treasurer is doing everything possible to avoid scrutiny. Today in the House there was an opportunity for the Treasurer and for the government to be proud of their work, proud of their budget and support this work going to the House economics committee for review.
We wanted to make sure that there were no unintended consequences; to make sure small businesses, young people and the Australian people were not impacted. But this government hid from scrutiny. Those opposite all went in and voted against referring this to a committee that they control.
I don't know why the Treasurer would not want the member for Chifley, of all people, scrutinising this legislation. The Treasurer and the member for Chifley are working closely together and have a great relationship, so I cannot imagine why the Treasurer would be scared of scrutiny, other than the fact that he can't defend his changes. That is why he is rushing this legislation through.
But that committee referral was important to scrutinise this. As media reports showed on the weekend, one backbencher from the government was quoted as saying, 'I don't understand this legislation.' We literally have a member of the government about to vote on legislation that they admitted, in their own words, they don't understand, so what hope does a business owner have of understanding it?
We saw the pathetic efforts in question time yesterday where the Minister for Housing, when asked about new builds, couldn't answer the question in a five-second answer. The Minister for Housing doesn't understand the detail of how this legislation will impact housing and the Australian people. This government want to hide from scrutiny.
They do not understand the basic facts. We saw a protection racket today when the Manager of Government Business had to protect the Minister for Sport from answering a question about how this budget will impact sporting clubs in my community and in every community across the country. The Minister for Sport does not understand the detail of how these changes will impact the Australian people, sporting clubs and community groups who are working so hard to support young people.
In many cases, sporting clubs are the lifeblood of a community. This government does not understand the changes that they have made. They are continuing to hide from scrutiny.
This Prime Minister and this Treasurer are playing political games, rushing this legislation through when it doesn't come into effect until 2027. They want to hide from scrutiny. We've heard again and again over the past three days, and we're going to hear it again tomorrow, government backbenchers regurgitating talking points without understanding the detail of what they are voting for.
They are not allowed to have their own thoughts on the government side. The reality is that if it stood up to scrutiny, they wouldn't have misled the Australian people at the last election. They would be proud of their changes.
They would be happy to have a House economics committee review it. They would be happy to have more than two days of scrutiny in the Senate. This is a bad budget that is going to hurt the Australian people, and it is going to cost this government because they have been dishonest with every Australian.
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