PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr WILLCOX (Dawson) (10:40): I rise today to oppose this motion, because Australians deserve the whole story, not the parts that the Albanese Labor government wants you to hear. Labor wants Australians to look at what it gives, but Australians need to look at what Labor takes through inflation, bracket creep and the rising cost of living. That is the sleight of hand of this motion.
A government cannot keep taking more from the pockets of hardworking families and then expect applause when it decides to give a small fraction back. Award wages rose 4.75 per cent, and the national minimum wage rose just over $1,000 per week. The coalition agrees that Australians should earn more and have more at the end of the week in their back pocket, but wage growth alone is not a cost-of-living strategy.
When Labor drives inflation and housing costs continue to climb, lifting wages without addressing the underlying economic pressures only shifts the burden onto struggling small businesses and risks feeding further price increases. Real relief comes from backing the cost of living at its core, not just chasing higher numbers on the payslip that are instantly wiped out at the supermarket checkout.
What about the superannuation changes? Prime Minister Albanese loves to talk about superannuation as a national asset to be leveraged for nation-building projects, but let's be clear: superannuation is not a government piggy bank to fund policy agendas. It belongs to the Australian workers who have earnt it.
But the real test of this motion is tax. The government boasts about delivering a cut of up to $268, but for the average worker that amounts to just $5 a week. That money barely lands in the bank and has been completely swallowed up by bracket creep, by soaring energy bills, by rising rent and expensive groceries.
The bigger story is what happens beyond this year. According to the independent Parliamentary Budget Office, personal income tax receipts are projected to surge from 12.6 per cent to 14.7 per cent of our entire economy over the next decade. And what is driving that?
It is bracket creep. It is the ultimate stealth tax when. When inflation forces wages up just so families can tread water even though they're not better off in real terms, that system drags them into higher brackets, and that means a bigger tax.
Australians are working harder, but this government is pocketing the difference. This is not tax reform. It's a pittance in a broken system that continues to siphon more from working Australians every week.
The coalition's tax-back guarantee addresses this fundamental problem at its source by indexing tax thresholds, directly linking to inflation. It will protect around 85 per cent of income earners from bracket creep, ensuring that a pay rise intended to keep a family on pace with the cost of living does not push them into the higher tax bracket. Paid parental leave is where the question of family choice becomes impossible to ignore.
The coalition supports paid parental leave. We support Australian families. But crucial to our vision is that we must trust families to make their own choices.
This government announced that families get 26 weeks of leave, but look at the fine print. In a partnered family, 20 days are strictly set aside for the second parent. If that parent cannot or does not take them, the family cannot simply pass those days to the primary carer.
In practice, to access the full 130 days, both parents must be eligible and must each claim their specific share. It is six months in the headline but four weeks reserved in the fine print. Parents know what works best for their own households.
The government should trust parents' judgement rather than penalising them with rigid bureaucratic conditions. Australians need a government that helps them get ahead, not one that gives with one hand while reaching for their wallet with the other. They do not need a government that celebrates when it gives while deliberately ignoring what it takes.
They need lower taxes, have genuine choice and a government that stops claiming credit for returning a tiny fraction of what Australians have already earned.