GRIEVANCE DEBATE
Mr WILLCOX (Dawson) (13:15): I'm very pleased to speak at the grievance debate today because, let me tell you, there's a lot to grieve about. Australians are hurting. People are doing it tough, and the people in my electorate of Dawson are seeing their standard of living declining.
We're also seeing that the Albanese Labor government are totally devoid of responsibility. They have no plan to get this country back on track. Everybody knows, after four years of Labor, they are all worse off.
And what has the answer been? It has been to bring in a new budget that's high in toxic taxes, high in spending. There's actually $77 billion more of taxes in this budget.
It's the highest-taxing budget in history. Let that marinate for a short period of time. It's typical of Labor—when they run out of their money, they come after yours.
Let's have a look at the budget in detail. It's also full of broken promises. Remember the Prime Minister said before the election—50 times, I might add, not just a slip of the tongue—that no, there ae going to be no changes to capital gains tax, no changes to negative gearing, no changes to trusts and yet, here we are, in this budget, changes to capital gains, changes to negative gearing and changes to trusts.
It is a direct assault on young people. People of my vintage have had all those tools for wealth creation but they have now been taken away by this cruel Albanese Labor government. Young people in my electorate come up to me and say, 'Andrew, we want to get a house but we can't afford a deposit at the present point in time, so we're going to invest in some shares or some cryptocurrency or some Bitcoin or something like that so we can actually get a higher return and can then afford a deposit.' But now, due to the capital gains, they're going to lose half of that opportunity, so it's going to make it harder for them to get that deposit.
Negative gearing is another double whammy. For somebody investing in a house, a rental property, who then can't negative gear it will have to put those extra costs onto the rent, so the rent will go up. So for young people who have just been slipped the capital gains, now negative gearing is going to hurt them, making it harder and harder for young people to get ahead.
All the while, under the Albanese Labor government, inflation's going through the roof. We're seeing the price of food go up, insurance go up, gas go up, electricity go up, mortgages go up. Now, they haven't gone up just a small amount.
Grocery prices have gone up over 15 per cent; insurance prices, 37 per cent; gas prices, 38 per cent; electricity prices, 40 per cent; and mortgages, well, they just keep going up and up and up, so it's harder and harder for young people to get ahead. And these are the aspirational classes. These are the people that will look after us, will pay their taxes into the future.
They will look after us. Another segment that has been totally destroyed in this budget is the veterans, with the $5,000 cap on allied health. I don't know how those opposite sleep at night knowing they've done that.
These fine men and women have put their bodies on the line, put their lives on the line, for this country. When they went overseas or when they put the uniform on they signed a blank cheque. They were prepared to pay for their life and pay for it in blood.
Yet now, when they come back, their allied health has been capped at $5,000. I think that's atrocious. I've had veterans in my community come up to me and say, 'Andrew, $5,000 will only last me three months; what am I supposed to do for the rest?' I think that's a very good question.
What concerns me the most is that these fine men and women who put their bodies and lives on the line for our country might then have to sacrifice their physiotherapy for their mental health. They might have to sacrifice having the physio, to be able to get around, so that they can go to their psychiatrist. I think these fine men and women should be looked after.
What about the housing—the five per cent deposit? I'll tell you a little bit about that. It's actually forced housing prices up, so people are going to pay more for their house.
It also means they haven't got as much in their deposit, so, when times change or there's a decline, they could end up with negative equity in their property. This housing policy is an absolute disaster. What about the widow tax, hidden in the budget papers?
If, unfortunately, someone gets separated or divorced, or someone dies, they will lose their provisions of capital gains and negative gearing. That's been grandfathered. That was hidden in the papers.
And private health care for over-65s: this Albanese Labor government has slashed the rebate for the over-65s. So not only is the Labor government attacking the young people; they're also attacking our pensioners and our older people. It's clear that they want to tax from the cradle to the grave.
There's nothing surer. I've never seen something that those opposite don't want to tax. But we on this side of the House all know that the more you tax things the less of them you get.
And the fuel excise has just been cut, so now it's 16c. That is harder for rural and regional people. People in my electorate don't have all the trams or the buses.
They can't jump on public transport; they have to drive. So, again, disproportionately, rural people are worse off with these increases in fuel prices. And we're the engine room.
Our cane farmers are already doing it tough with input costs—for fertiliser, for fuel, which have gone through the roof. These farmers need to be looked after with the fuel excise, because big tractors, cane harvesters and other cane machinery do not run on fresh air and sunshine. The other thing that needs to be looked at with the excise is our volunteers—people who look after Meals on Wheels, who volunteer their time as well as their fuel.
Something needs to be done for them as well. The other big issue I have is the EPBC Act. I have farmers in my area who have what we call white X land.
They'd been entitled to clear that land, but the new rules say they can't clear it; it's got to be locked up. For those opposite, I just need you to understand: locking up good agricultural land—or locking up any form of land—simply does not work. All it does is build up pests and diseases, because the pests don't get the memo.
When the weeds seed, all the seeds blow next door, and you end up with them back on your farm. The pigs don't just stay in that property. They don't understand that we've got a yellow line around it, so they'll decide to go next door and wreck everything else.
The policy simply doesn't work. I'm also concerned about manufacturing in this country and the safeguard mechanism. The safeguard mechanism is basically a carbon tax 2.0, and it is killing all our industries.
And what happens to sovereign capability when you kill all the industries in the country? We are then more reliant on our inputs than ever. If COVID has taught us anything, it's that we need to be able to do more things in this country for our own sovereign capability.
With the bit of time left, I want to talk about the Bruce Highway. The Bruce Highway is our main arterial. It's how we get our products to market, and it's how we get our supplies up from the city.
It is in an atrocious state. The Albanese Labor government promised money to go towards it, but we're yet to see it. There's a little bit of money for maintenance—which is a little bit cosmetic, like putting lipstick on a pig—but we want to see some real money, some real investment in the Bruce Highway to keep the people in my electorate safe.