PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr REBELLO (McPherson) (17:17): I rise to speak on this motion moved by the member for Cook, and I do so out of extreme frustration and disappointment, because what this government is doing to Australia and to Australians is unconscionable. We have the opportunity to choose the type of country that we want to be, and what the government decided at the last election is that we want to be a country that doesn't provide incentives, a country that doesn't incentivise aspiration and a country where, if you work hard, you don't get rewarded.
That's not the country that I choose. It's an idea for this country that I and those on this side of the House totally reject. That's why this motion is so important at this critical time.
Labor has one instinct: tax. When in doubt, you tax it. If Australians work hard, tax them.
If they save, tax them. If they invest, tax them. If they build a business, tax them.
If they plan for retirement, tax them. Most recently, what we've seen from the government is their attitude to Australians who work hard: if they want to buy a home, rent out a home or pass something on to their kids, Labor also has a tax waiting for them. It's not reform, and it's definitely not fairness.
It's not intergenerational equity, despite the rhetoric of the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. It's a tax raid. We need to call it out for what it is.
Instead, though, what Labor should be asking—which they're not—is: 'How do we grow the economy? How do we reward effort? How do we create jobs?
How do we help Australians get ahead?' I can tell you that when I speak to young Australians, despite what this government may think, they are aspirational. They do believe in wanting something better, not just for themselves but for their kids and for future generations as well. But instead we've got a government that's asking, 'Who has something we can take?
Who can we hit next? Who can we punish for succeeding?' because the government has no idea how to manage the economy or how to succeed itself. That's the Labor model: redistribute first, grow never and tax always.
They don't want to grow the pie; they want to carve up a shrinking pie, hand pieces to their favourite groups and lecture everybody else about fairness. And who do they target? In this budget we've seen them target small businesses, families, investors, self-funded retirees, older Australians—Australians who worked, saved, sacrificed and planned.
Why? Because they think they can get away with it, because if you're not on Labor's voter spreadsheet you're on Labor's tax hit list. The Prime Minister said, time and time again, before the election—and every one of those members opposite stood by him and supported him while he said it—on more than 50 occasions that there would be no changes to negative gearing.
In other instances he said there would be no changes to the tax system. He said it again and again, 'for the 50th time', but then he did it anyway. That's not leadership.
It's a con job with a press conference. What do these toxic taxes actually mean? We're hearing a lot about it, and Australians are starting to question.
It means less investment, less housing, less small business confidence, less reward for effort and less aspiration. On this side of the House we all know that when you tax something you get less of it. The coalition's position is clear.
We've said time and time again that we'll repeal Labor's toxic taxes. We're not going to trim them, we're not going to re-carve them, we're not going to carve them up or rename them, we're not going to let the Treasurer pick winners and losers from Canberra. We've said it very clearly: we will axe these taxes.
We'll axe Labor's taxes on housing, on savings, on investment, on small businesses and on every Australian who's doing what they're trying to do, which is to get ahead. We will back the people who create jobs, build homes, take risks, invest, save and drive this country forward. And we actually are going to go forward, and further.
Under our tax-back guarantee, Australians will get automatic tax cuts every year, indexed to inflation. That is the generational tax reform that this country needs. It's exactly what young people are crying out for.
That is leadership, not what we've seen from this government. Bracket creep is a sneaky tax rise. It means that workers pay more tax even when they're no better off.
Labor relies on that silent theft, and we in the coalition will stop it. Labor is treating aspiration like a disease. We see aspiration as the engine of Australia, and that's ultimately the choice.
Australia does not need tax and tax and tax; it needs a government that gets out of the way.