PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Mr FRENCH (Moore) (11:22): Over these debates, we're going to hear a great deal about the coalition's plans—their plan for energy; their plan for tax; their plan for housing; their plan for the economy. But put them together and something becomes clear. The coalition does not really have four separate plans; it has the same political strategy, applied four different ways: find a problem, promise an easy answer, ignore the consequences and leave somebody else to pick up the bill.

We see it on energy. They want cheaper electricity but oppose the investment needed to build new generation. They want reliability but want ageing coal-fired power stations to keep running, without explaining who pays.

They want new industry, while creating the uncertainty that makes investment harder. They want all the benefits without making the decisions required to deliver them. We see the same thing on tax.

They want lower taxes. So do we—and that is why Labor delivered tax cuts for Australian workers. Those opposite voted against them.

Now they've discovered an enormous appetite for tax cuts of their own. The problem is that their proposal is unfunded. So who pays?

Do they borrow more? Do they increase another tax? Do they cut Medicare, cut pensions, cut schools?

There is no tax-cut fairy living in the basement of Parliament House. Eventually, the numbers have to add up. And then we get to housing.

There is no argument from me that housing is too expensive, there is no argument that younger Australians are finding it harder to buy their first home and there is no argument that we need more homes. The question is: what are you actually going to do about it? Housing policy requires more than announcing that houses should be cheaper.

You need supply, infrastructure, land, tradespeople, planning reform and practical ways of helping people into their first home. This government is working across those fronts. We're investing in housing supply and helping Australians overcome the deposit barrier because, inconveniently for those looking for a slogan, you cannot build a house with a press conference.

You actually have to build the thing, and all these policies eventually meet in one place: the Commonwealth budget. That is where the coalition's political fantasy runs into arithmetic. They want cheaper energy, lower taxes, more housing, stronger services, lower debt and smaller deficits, but apparently all of it can happen without a difficult decision.

The government does not work like that. Labor inherited nearly a trillion dollars worth of debt, large deficits, high inflation and falling real wages. Since then, we have substantially improved the budget position.

We have found savings. Debt is lower than previously forecast, and that fiscal repair matters because responsible budgets give governments room to help people. We can cut income taxes, make medicines cheaper, fund hospitals, strengthen Medicare, support higher wages and help more Australians into homes, and that is what responsible government looks like: make a choice, explain it, pay for it and accept the responsibility for the consequences.

The coalition has another model: promise the benefit, oppose the mechanism and hide the cost. On energy, keep old power stations running and hope someone else pays for it. On tax, promise large tax cuts and work out the funding later.

On housing, talk about affordability while opposing the measures designed to increase supply and help people build. On the budget, demand lower debt while proposing policies that make the fiscal position worse. Eventually, you have to choose.

You cannot demand lower taxes, more spending, lower debt and no savings; you cannot demand cheaper electricity while delaying the generation needed to replace the ageing power stations; you cannot demand more affordable housing without building more homes; and you cannot oppose cost-of-living relief and then present yourself as the champion of household budgets.

That is not a governing program; it is a collection of complaints stapled together and called a policy platform. Australians deserve better. Energy infrastructure wears out.

Budgets have limits. Housing has to be built. Taxes have to be paid by somebody.

Every decision has a consequence. There is a common thread running through the coalition's plans: they want the credit for every benefit and responsibility, but none of the cost. That might work in opposition.

It does not work in government. Australia has already paid once to find that out. We should not have to pay for that lesson twice.