ADJOURNMENT
Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia) (15:55): This afternoon, I rise to speak about the issue dominating kitchen tables across Western Australia and the nation—not gambling reform, but the cost of living. After four years of the Albanese Labor government, Australians are working harder than ever but falling further behind. Every trip to the supermarket costs more.
Electricity bills continue to rise. Insurance premiums have surged. Mortgage payments remain painfully high.
Rent continues to climb and small businesses are struggling under higher wages, higher energy costs, higher borrowing costs and an ever-growing mountain of regulation. This is not bad luck. It is the consequence of four years of economic mismanagement by the Albanese Labor government.
Labor has fuelled inflation through reckless spending and then quietly profited from it through bracket creep. Australians who receive a pay rise simply to keep pace with inflation are pushed into higher tax brackets and pay more tax despite being no better off. Labor calls it economic management.
It's a stealth tax on hard work and aspiration. Western Australians understand this all too well. Our state powers the national economy through our resources, agriculture and exports, yet families and businesses are still being squeezed while Labor makes it harder to invest, harder to employ and harder to own a home.
Nowhere is Labor's failure more obvious than in housing. The Albanese government encouraged thousands of young Australians into the housing market with just a five per cent deposit while simultaneously driving demand through record migration and failing to increase housing supply. As housing markets cool and economists warn of further price falls, thousands of first home buyers, particularly in Perth's outer suburbs, are being left exposed to negative equity, owing more on their mortgage than their home is worth.
These young Western Australians did exactly what governments encouraged them to do. They worked hard, saved their deposit and bought their first home. Labor has rewarded that ambition by leaving many burdened with record debt and virtually no financial buffer.
Labor's record migration has only made the matter worse and more severe. Population growth has far outstripped housing construction, placing even greater pressure on housing affordability, rents and essential infrastructure. The coalition will restore balance by ensuring migration is linked to the nation's capacity to build homes and provide the infrastructure communities desperately need.
We in the coalition also believe that Australians should come first. Our migration and welfare systems must prioritise Australian citizens, protect the integrity of our borders and ensure that those who embrace Australia's values and contribute to our nation are welcomed while maintaining a sustainable migration program that works in Australia's national interest.
At the same time, Labor continues its assault on aspiration. Its higher taxes on capital gains, trusts and investments punish the very people who create jobs and grow the economy. In Western Australia, that means family businesses, farmers, tradies and junior mining explorers—the companies discovering the next generation of resource projects that will underpin Australia's national prosperity.
The coalition, in contrast, offers a better path. Under Angus Taylor's leadership, a coalition government will end Labor's inflation tax through the tax-back guarantee, indexing income tax thresholds so that Australians are no longer punished simply because inflation has pushed up their wages. The coalition will repeal Labor's damaging taxes on capital gains, trusts and negative gearing, permanently restore the $50,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses, reduce unnecessary regulation and rebuild confidence for those who are prepared to invest, take risks and create jobs.
The coalition will also restore affordable and reliable energy by backing an energy mix that works for Australia, including gas, which remains critical to Western Australia. The coalition will reinstate the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive, recognising that today's exploration creates tomorrow's jobs, exports and prosperity. Finally, the coalition will restore fiscal discipline by reining in wasteful spending and ensuring resource windfalls are invested for future generations, not squandered on bigger government.
Australians are resilient, but resilience should never be an excuse for government failure. After four years of Labor, Australians are paying more, being taxed more and getting less in return. The coalition has a practical plan to reward hard work, back aspirations, support small business, restore affordable energy, protect homeownership, put Australians first and manage the nation's finances responsibly.
It's a plan to restore confidence, rebuild opportunity and get Australia and WA in a better place.