MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Leader of the Opposition) (15:12): If anything reinforces the failures of the last four years of the Albanese government, it's the last fortnight. Where to start? There was the Prime Minister insulting the Japanese Prime Minister.

Now, if that wasn't bad enough, what we saw was a prime minister so stubborn, so full of hubris that he couldn't do the right and decent thing. He refused to apologise for his crass and unstatesmanlike remarks and gestures not only to the Japanese Prime Minister but also to the many women he offended with his disrespectful and sexist comments. Days later, the Minister for Social Services came out and rightly condemned the lewd behaviour of the Sydney Swans, yet she and other female Labor MPs couldn't apply the same standard to the Prime Minister.

This is completely indefensible. This is the very definition of hypocrisy that we see from those opposite day in, day out. Then there's the energy minister—we've got a long list to go through here—wasting $20 million of taxpayers' money on his net zero talkfest in Fiji with no major leader attending.

Over this fortnight, we also learnt that his secretive Capacity Investment Scheme, the biggest green grifter slush fund of them all, is not only failing to get renewable projects up and running; it's channelling millions of dollars of taxpayer money into so-called social licence schemes and driving up the price of electricity—40 per cent so far. Lord knows how much further it's going to go.

But it gets worse, because we saw Labor's $2.5 billion bailout of Tomago. All of us want to see a successful aluminium smelting sector in this country, but this was an absolute admission that Labor is sending its net zero policies industry in this country offshore. They drive up the price of electricity by 40 per cent, and the only way they can keep industry in the country is by using hard-earned taxpayer money subsidies.

Labor's ideologically driven energy policies are de-industrialising Australia and underpinning a future made abroad. Then there is the royal commission into antisemitism. Key witnesses have not been called, and I'll give you a long list, Deputy Speaker.

Senior figures in the arts and cultural community were not called. University leaders—and we know what was going on in the universities. So many Jewish Australians know exactly what was going on in the universities, and we've heard that from the member for Berowra many times.

Organisers of antisemitic protests were not called. The Human Rights Commission representatives were not called. Senior public servants and Commonwealth ministers with responsibilities for these areas were not called.

This is a royal commission that needs more time. We have called for it, and those opposite and the Prime Minister have refused to give that extra time. Then there's defence.

So ill-equipped are our war fighters, our wonderful war fighters in this country, those who serve our country in uniform, that when there's a drone incursion on a key base, our defence personnel are told the best defence is to shut their blinds. Is that the way you deal with a drone incursion—shut the blinds? The underfunding of Defence in this country is an absolute and utter disgrace, but their answer is to shut the blinds.

Then there's the housing market, utterly smashed by changes from Labor to negative gearing and capital gains tax. We've heard the National Australia Bank and Ray White saying rents will rise by 30 per cent over two years. The Labor Party's own budget, the government's own budget, said rents were going to go up, and they stand there gaslighting every single day saying, 'No, it's all alright.' But the truth is coming out day by day.

The ABS data shows that new home loan commitments have dropped by five per cent in the June quarter alone, Westpac's mortgage applications have plunged 20 per cent since Labor's budget, and they stand up and say, 'It's all alright, because first homebuyers are okay,'—but they're not. We know loans for aspiring first homebuyers have dropped as well under this Labor government.

Meanwhile, there is the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. We've heard time and time and time again this week that he refuses to listen to our veterans. He won't get rid of Labor's cruel cap on allied health services.

Today, he completely refused to say where that cap had come from. He rejects meetings with our veterans in the same week as the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan and Vietnam Veterans' Day. Then, when he finally caves under pressure, he gives our veterans a cold and callous reception.

It's complete disrespect to our veterans. Those veterans have lost confidence in this minister, but this Prime Minister will not act. The truth is that he was offended today by the comments made by a veteran who said: 'Dealing with this minister, I'd prefer to deal with the Taliban.

That was much more simple.' He was offended by that. Well, I'll tell you what that veteran was offended by—the behaviour of the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. The veteran said, 'I signed up to fight enemies of Australia, not fight our own MPs,' but he has to fight our own MPs, because the Minister for Veterans' Affairs will not stand up for veterans.

Then there's the mean spirited widows tax. After 98 days, it's finally axed. It was a tax on widows, on divorcees, on those going through tough times.

It hasn't gone because Labor wanted it gone. It's gone because we forced Labor to axe it. We forced Labor to axe it, and the Prime Minister gave in under pressure.

This is a long list of incompetence over this fortnight, but $1 trillion of debt is right near the top of the list, because that's where Labor has got to. That's occurred under this incompetent treasurer's watch at a time when they have received a windfall of $400 billion. That's the windfall.

That's what they've got, and they still managed to get us to $1 trillion of debt under this doctor of spin. He should have stayed as a media adviser. He did a much better job on that!

That's what he does every single day, because he has no idea how to be the Treasurer of this great nation. What we see under this government is more government spending, more subsidies, more bureaucrats, more government interference and more government taxes every single day of the week. They've lost control of inflation.

They've lost control of interest rates. Fewer homes are being built. Power prices are skyrocketing.

Childcare costs are up. There is a better way, and it is to fix our economy and protect our way of life. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): No to props!

Mr TAYLOR: We know by axing Labor's toxic taxes, by cutting energy prices, by increasing the number of houses, by capping migration based on housing supply and by putting Australians first, we can get our country back to where it needs to be. While I'm talking about $1 trillion of debt, our future generations fund is about taking that $400 billion windfall and putting it aside for hard-working Australians, our children and our grandchildren to ensure they have the very future we all want to see on this side.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: We'll try and have fewer interjections.