MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Ms PENFOLD (Lyne) (16:01): The Albanese government taxes aspiration. This side backs aspiration. The Albanese government told Australians one thing before the election and is doing something completely different afterwards.
The Prime Minister promised there would be no changes to negative gearing, and he promised there would be no changes to capital gains tax. Australians were assured that these policies were safe—'for the 50th time'. Now those promises have been abandoned.
This is a Labor budget of broken promises and toxic taxes. All the spit and polish in the world cannot make it shine. The Treasurer says Labor's tax reform is good for the economy.
The problem is that the people who actually create wealth in this country say otherwise. When you tax investment you get less investment, and when you tax risk-taking you get less risk-taking. That is not politics; that is economics.
Yet this government wants Australians to believe we can become more prosperous by taxing investment, enterprise and aspiration more heavily. Well, the people who will feel the impact most are not multinational corporations. They are family farms, they are small businesses, they are family enterprises that have spent decades building something for the next generation.
Across regional Australia, trusts are not an exotic tax arrangement. They are the legal structures used by farming families, tradies, retailers, transport operators and professional businesses to manage risk, plan succession and keep businesses in family hands. Farmers understand something that this government does not: a farm is not a tax structure; it's a family enterprise built over generations.
Trusts provide flexibility to manage risk and transition a business from parents to children. Yet Labor sees those structures and sees only a source of revenue. The National Farmers' Federation and many farming groups have warned about the impact these changes could have on family farm succession and investment decisions.
Small business groups have similarly warned about the uncertainty these measures create at a time when business confidence is already fragile. What is perhaps most extraordinary is that this week the government has struggled to answer basic questions about its own trust changes. Ministers have been unable to clearly explain how the policy will operate in practice or how it will affect testamentary trusts, donor trusts and family enterprises.
Labor wants you to pay but can't explain the way. If the government cannot explain the detail of a tax policy, how can Australians have confidence that the policy has been properly thought through? This looks increasingly like a government making tax policy on the run, a government announcing taxes first and working out the consequences later.
History tells us that, when governments do that, small businesses and farmers usually end up paying the price. The most extraordinary thing about these taxes is that they are not being introduced because the government lacks revenue. Australians are already paying more tax than ever before.
Bracket creep is delivering billions. Inflation is delivering billions. According to the budget papers, Australians will pay around $77 billion more in tax.
Yet debt continues to rise, spending continues to rise and deficits remain. Historically, governments use revenue windfalls to repair the budget. This government has treated them as an invitation to spend more.
These taxes are not being driven by economic necessity; they are being driven by a government that has become addicted to spending and now needs higher taxes to sustain it. While the Treasurer talks about fairness, ordinary Australians are asking fair questions. Leigh from Tinonee asks: 'What have I done to justify being penalised by this treasurer and this government?
All I have done is save and work.' This budget was sold as a budget about fairness. It is increasingly being revealed as a budget of broken promises. A government that promised not to change negative gearing or capital gains tax is changing both.
A government that claims to support small business is making it harder for small businesses to invest. A government that claims to support farming families is creating uncertainty around the structures many farming families rely upon to pass their businesses to the next generation. The coalition takes a different view.
We believe small business should be rewarded for taking risks. We believe families should be able to build wealth and pass opportunities to the next generation, because a stronger Australia is not built on taxing aspiration; it's built on backing aspiration and cutting Labor's toxic taxes.