Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026

Dr CHALMERS (Rankin—Treasurer) (11:28): That entire five-minute rant from the opposition leader can be summarised in one sentence. The coalition is voting against tax cuts once again. Once again, not having learnt from the first time they made this mistake, they're all lining up and limbering up to make the same mistake that they made 15 months ago.

And that's the reason why the Opposition Leader was shaking. That's the reason he was shaking, because, the last time he got this wrong, he sacrificed a whole generation of backbenchers. And now they want to do it again.

This bill will implement the most ambitious tax reform package for a quarter of a century—a package that cuts income taxes for every Australian worker, again and again, and they're against it; a package that makes it easier for people to buy their first home, and they're against it; a package that better aligns the treatment of labour income and asset income, and they are against it.

These reforms are brought together in one bill because one part of the bill helps fund the other part of the bill. When I introduced this bill, we said it presented a choice: a choice between cutting income taxes for Australian workers or keeping them higher, a choice between standing with first home buyers or locking more Australians out of the market, a choice between taking our intergenerational responsibilities seriously or defending a broken system that locks too many young Australians out of the Australian dream of homeownership.

Today, in front of the whole country, they have chosen higher taxes on workers. They've chosen to lock more Australians out of the housing market. They've chosen a broken system.

This side of the House is standing with workers. We're standing with first home buyers. We're standing with the next generation, and that's why we will pass this bill unamended.

The SPEAKER: The question is that the amendments circulated by the honourable member for Hume be agreed to.