ADJOURNMENT

Mr CALDWELL (Fadden—Opposition Chief Whip) (16:49): Sadly, the Australian standard of living has collapsed under this Labor government. It has fallen further and harder than any other developed economy in the world. The indicators of this are things like 15 interest rate rises under this Labor government since their election in 2022.

The indicators are the inflationary pressures and the inflation that's still well outside the target band that the RBA wants to try and achieve. And it's indicated by every basket of groceries that has less and less in it for the hard-earned dollars of every Australian. Our country must change course.

We cannot continue under this Labor government. During the cold winter here in Canberra, I was moving around the electorate talking to locals and understanding these pressures. When I was in suburbs like Ormeau, Pimpama and Coomera, the message was exactly the same: we must fix this mess.

The coalition is putting forward a positive plan. We know what it takes to fix Labor's mess because we've done it before, and we will do it again. The time has come for a coalition government to yet again fix our country's direction.

We must fix the economy and protect the Australian way of life, and the only way we can do this is by getting to the heart of the issues that are confronting the Australian people and the Australian economy. We must lower the taxation burden that each and every Australian feels. We must wind back those toxic taxes that were delivered in the budget this year, those broken promises on CGT and negative gearing that we've seen have an immediate impact on the property market.

We are a nation that is rich in energy possibility. But, under this Labor government, we are poor in energy because we are so unprepared to utilise the natural resources that we have here and we are so unprepared to see an abundance of energy that would drive the cost down. That must change.

In the portfolio area that I work in—housing—we know what has happened over the last four years. Out-of-control migration has seen pressure on the number of houses available for all Australians. The Labor government has had a delusional target of 1.2 million homes over five years, with no substantive plan to deliver on that promise.

I am sure that, at the end of that time, we will see yet another broken promise from this Labor government. The housing minister, while she was in Home Affairs, was hopeless with home affairs, and now she is hopeless with homes. Sadly, those migration pressures and the under-delivery of the housing market have meant that there is far too much pressure on our population.

Only the coalition has a plan to tie the number of migrants able to come into our country to the amount of housing we can deliver, so that everyone has the genuine Australian experience of being able to own a piece of our great nation. Finally, we must put Australians first in every way. I'll give you one example in housing.

In 2023, this government deliberately passed an instrument that removed the words 'Australian citizens' from its five per cent home deposit scheme, opening the floodgates. We must protect the opportunities that are here in our great nation for Australian citizens first and foremost—and when we can afford to do so, we can open up. We must change the course of our nation.

At the moment, it is heading in the wrong direction. Only the coalition has a plan to fix the economy and protect our way of life.