MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr WILLCOX (Dawson) (15:51): This budget is big-spending, high-taxing and full of broken promises. This budget is an attack on our farmers. Are there any farmers among those opposite?
Have any of those opposite actually been to a farm? Oh, this is tough! Have any of those opposite driven past a farm?
Have any of those opposite driven past, or known anyone who's driven past a farm? Honourable members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): The member for Dawson, I did have this discussion earlier on. Enough of the interjections!
I am asking for comments to be directed through the chair. This is not a game show. Mr WILLCOX: I take your advice, thank you.
I've done that one before, but thanks for that. I'm a proud third generation farmer, and I will just explain to those opposite what farming is all about. I'll go back to my mother.
Mr Holzberger: Tomato farmer! Mr WILLCOX: A tomato farmer—that's right! Thank you, the member for Forde.
It's good to see you back out of the freezer. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Forde! Mr WILLCOX: My mother used to get up very early in the morning and make our lunches and breakfasts, and then she used to go over into the shed and pack fruit.
She would work all day and then, for afternoon tea break, come home and make sure we kids got some afternoon tea. Then she'd go back and pack fruit. Then, after work, she'd come home, cook everyone dinner and clean up.
Then, after we kids went to bed, she used to actually have to go into the office and do the bookwork. That is how hard it is on farms. That is how hard the farmers work.
My father was the same. He was out working the fields from daylight to dusk. While they were doing that and developing the business, they never had any extra money to put into super.
The farm was their super. But now, with these new changes that the government has just brought in, people like my parents won't have that same opportunity, because the capital gains will then tax them out of existence. This is simply not fair.
Those opposite just cannot get away with this. But I can understand, because of my questions earlier, that the reason this has happened— Mr Holzberger: You're just making it up—like what you said I said today! Mr WILLCOX: Again, the member for Forde's very, very helpful, isn't he!
Check the tape. Those opposite just don't get it because they've never ever had to do it. What is the reason for all these extra taxes?
It's Labor's addiction to spending—$77 billion more of taxation in this high-taxing, high-spending budget. What about small business, the backbone of the nation? Well, they've taken on a new unwanted shareholder, and he's got a 47 per cent stake claim in their business.
And let me tell you, the Prime Minister is not wanted in these small businesses. He's unreliable, he's dishonest, and he's certainly not required. Small business is so important to the whole of Australia.
It's the self-starters. It's where big business gets started. It's so, so important, and this side of the House will back our small businesses each and every day.
When the Prime Minister said, 50 times, I might add, that there would be no new taxes, what about the death tax that they're bringing in? The Albanese Labor government want to tax people from the cradle to the grave. It is just ridiculous.
And what did they do? They buried it in the budget papers. It's not called a death tax; it's an inheritance tax.
What about the promise of the new taxes? There are so many taxes now, and this is after being promised no new taxes. There are changes to the capital gains tax, negative gearing and trusts.
Like I said before, there's a death tax. But we have a plan on this side of the House. The coalition will axe all the toxic taxes that have just been passed because we understand that, when the government taxes something, you get less of it—less housing, less saving, less investment, less small business and less farming.
It's less aspiration and less of the Australia that we love. This is a choice before the House—a government that takes or an opposition that builds, a government that hides taxes or a coalition that creates opportunities. This government has spent all its political capital, and they are bankrupt of vision.
It's time that they pay the price. And, let me tell you, Australians will make the Albanese Labor government pay the price.