PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr CALDWELL (Fadden—Opposition Chief Whip) (11:00): It gives me great pleasure to rise today to speak in relation to this motion, just to give people a little bit more context to exactly what Labor are trying to swindle them with in relation to the terms of this motion. They talk about Australians earning more and keeping more of what they earn. You might have heard that before.
It was a tagline that they used before the last election. They've now added to it 'and retire with more'. But the problem is this.
This Labor government has never been strong on accounting. What they're doing is absolutely failing to account for the everyday expenses that Australians are suffering under this Labor government. It is no accident that they're using words like 'financial hardship'.
It's no accident that people are experiencing a housing crisis. It's no accident that people are experiencing a cost-of-living crisis. All of these things are on the other side of the equation from what has been cherry-picked for this motion this morning.
I think the member for Petrie would genuinely like to see people get more money in their pay packets. That is an admirable objective and something that we all support. But what we don't support is that the rate of costs that Australians are going through is exceeding any one of those measures of increases that they are seeing in their pay packet.
This is like doing a profit and loss and only counting the top part. What Labor want you to believe is that there are no expenses that are exceeding your income. I have a bit of a truth bomb for the Labor members here today.
The standard of living in Australia has fallen through the floor. It has dropped faster and more dramatically than in any other advanced economy. What we've seen under this Labor government over four years is 15 interest rate rises.
We've seen inflation that is completely out of control. It's still hovering around 3.8 per cent, notwithstanding the fact that the Reserve Bank would like to see it between two and three per cent. Every single Australian, when they go to the grocery store, is getting less and less in their basket of goods for the same amount of money.
Our country needs to change course or our standard of living will continue to fall through the floor. That is why the coalition has a plan to fix the economy and protect Australians' way of life. That is exactly what they deserve.
What they don't deserve are the shocking numbers we've seen under this Labor government over the last four years, where electricity has gone up by 39 per cent. Rent has gone up 24 per cent. Education and health expenses have gone up by more than 20 per cent.
This is a completely unsustainable financial pathway for many Australians. We recognise that things must be done differently. That's why we say that Australians deserve lower taxes.
That's why we say Australians deserve lower power prices. That's why we say we should tie migration to the number of houses we can actually deliver in the economy. It's why we must put Australians first in every decision of government.
Nothing less will suffice. One of the key platforms that we have in our plan is to lower taxes, to axe Labor's taxes—the changes to capital gains tax, the changes to negative gearing and the minimum 30 per cent tax on trusts. One thing that we are going to do is end Labor's sneaky bracket creep tax that keeps clawing away more and more of your pay rises each year by pushing you into higher tax brackets.
What we are going to do is index those tax brackets. From 2028-29 we will index the bottom two income tax thresholds to inflation to fully protect around 85 per cent of taxpayers from bracket creep. That would deliver around $250 in tax relief in the first year, growing to more than $1,000 by year 4.
This is a plan with a united coalition that will actually get this country back to the place that it deserves to be—the leader of the pack, not the bottom of the pack. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Buchholz ): I believe the member for Pearce would like to present a copy of a speech for incorporation into the Hansard in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 6 November 2025.