QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS
Senator BELL (New South Wales—One Nation Whip) (15:29): I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice I asked today relating to taxation. It's pretty clear from the minister's answer that every time Australians save, invest, build or take a risk, Labor sees another opportunity to tax them.
Labor has driven down productivity by discouraging the investment that creates jobs, lifts wages and grows the economy. Labor taxes investment, then blames business for not investing. Labor makes housing investment less attractive, then claims it wants more homes.
But the modelling we have seen shows that their budget means tens of thousands of fewer homes will be built. Labor fundamentally doesn't understand that a capital gain is not the same as income. Capital gains are built gradually, often over many years, but then Labor taxes it all at once when an asset is sold.
It has a devastating effect on investment and productivity. Labor also taxes inflation as though it were real wealth. When an asset merely keeps pace with inflation, its owner is no richer in real terms, yet Labor treats the increases as a windfall.
Labor is ignoring the factor of risk. Australians who invest in a business farm, a rental property or shares can lose their savings and capital. When investment succeeds, Labor is demanding a share—a big chunk.
When it fails, though, it's the investor alone who carries the loss; the Labor government is not carrying that loss with them. It is these investments that fund machinery, farms, factories, technology, businesses and new homes. It's these investments that are the true driver of productivity in the country.
It's investment that gives workers better tools and helps them produce more. This is how productivity works. By punishing investment, Labor leaves Australians with fewer opportunities and weaker wage growth, and the country as a whole poorer.
Australia does not have a problem with tax revenue; it does not have a shortage of tax revenue. Labor has a spending problem. One Nation understands that prosperity must be created before you can tax it.
It is time that Labor stops punishing Australians who save, invest, build businesses, create jobs and take risk; at the end of the day, that is what they've done. You could hear it in the minister's response to my question; when I asked her to name just one industry, she refused to name one—because she knows she cannot. (Time expired) Question agreed to.