ADJOURNMENT

Senator LIDDLE (South Australia—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (19:34): Just under three years ago, the majority of Australians in the majority of states rejected the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. The verdict was blunt, unambiguous and secured in a democratic process: 61 per cent of Australians said no; 64 per cent of people in my home state of South Australia said no.

Journalist Janet Albrechtsen, of the Australian, has correctly reported a submission by the ACTU, the peak body for unions. Let me share what it says—and I share it because every single Labor person in this parliament represents a union. They said, 'A Voice is a fundamental structural antiracism mechanism.' I call it rubbish.

Where is the evidence that supports that? That's just a statement. There's no evidence to back that up.

In South Australia, where Labor has a legislated voice, eligible voters didn't even vote in 2026, with 3,308, of more than 30,000 who could have voted, not even bothering to cast a vote. Well, the ACTU submission also says, 'Let's talk about Australia Day.' But where economic and social exclusion is at its worst, those people just want practical action and for this government to hold accountable those with responsibility for taxpayers money to change their lives for the better.

This time last week, I was visiting a remote community—one I have visited many times over many years. I didn't get asked about Australia Day when I was there. There was no talk about a voice to parliament.

What they did say was, 'We're burying more of our people and we're burying them more often.' They are sick to death of funerals. Closing the Gap targets are going backwards. Those four that are going backwards have been going backwards under Labor's watch.

That's why I say, 'Ignore your union masters,' because out there, in those communities, they're not talking about Australia Day, they are not talking about Voice to Parliament, they are talking about improving their lives. That's what they want you to be focused on. And they want you to be only focused on that because that matters to them every single day.

I want to talk also about young South Australians who took up the expanded five per cent deposit scheme. Today, Labor could not even tell us how many of those people, who took up that scheme that you sold them, have a house worth less than the value of the loan that financed it. Even Cotality research director, Tim Lawless, described Labor's approach in expanding the five per cent deposit scheme to encourage more homebuyers into the market before introducing tax changes designed to dampen prices as 'in some ways counterintuitive'.

In his words, 'Well, maybe that wasn't thought through.' Something else not well thought through. In South Australia, we've seen the value of property fall almost instantly in response to that so-called tax reform. In Adelaide, in June, house and unit prices fell 0.2 per cent and auction clearance rates plummeted to 55 per cent in the week ending 27 June, down from 77 per cent a year earlier.

Labor, you were warned. You chose to ignore the warnings, you chose to ignore the evidence and you didn't seek out the information you needed to make better decisions about your so-called tax reform. Australians will suffer as a consequence.

What you did was prove that you don't represent ordinary Australians, hardworking Australians or aspiring Australians. What you proved instead is that you choose to listen to your paymasters—the unions.