PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Mr SMALL (Forrest—Opposition Whip) (11:38): On this side of the House, we believe that Australia is worth fighting for. Unfortunately, under Labor, Australians have had to endure the worst collapse in their living standards in real terms in the developed world. It's simply shocking that we find ourselves in the position of coming into this chamber and being able to say, relying on fact, that Australians have endured the largest collapse in real living standards in the developed world.

But that is the legacy five budgets deep into the Albanese government. They are the highest taxing government in Australian history outside of war, yet Labor's instinct, as always, is to take yet more and spend yet more, fuelling Australia's inflation crisis and driving our standard of living lower. That's why it is so important that Australia actually has a plan, an alternative plan from the coalition, to fix our economy and to restore our way of life.

That is what Angus Taylor has put forward with this coalition team behind him, because our plan is for lower taxes, cheaper power, less migration, more homes and to put Australia first. We don't want to be part of Labor's assault on aspiration which we saw through the budget—the broken promises on capital gains taxes, trust taxes and negative gearing. Those toxic taxes Labor have introduced mean Australians will pay more.

Those higher taxes are now facing Australians trying to build a nest egg. Whether investing through shares or ETFs, or even taking a punt on a starter, having a go with a small or family business—our tradies, our farmers are the Australians bearing the brunt of these new toxic taxes. The facts speak for themselves: 200,000 small businesses forced to restructure under this pointless trust-tax grab from the Labor government, with personal income tax rising as a share of the economy this year, next year and, in fact, every year out to the end of the budget papers in 2062.

The alternative is clear: our tax back guarantee. Our tax back guarantee offers that Australians an automatic tax cut every year, because that's what they deserve. Just because Labor can't manage money, because inflation not only has stayed high but also continues to rise under this government, causing bracket creep where every pay rise you get is just taken by this Labor government, that's what we call the stealth raid on Australians and their hard-earned money.

That's why we need to bin Labor's inflation tax. We need a tax back guarantee. We should be backing our small businesses, who are going under at an absolutely eye-watering and record rate today.

Last year, 2025, was the worst year for small-business insolvency since records began, and it is little wonder. Our alternative, our plan to fix the economy, means giving the instant asset write-off a permanent boost to $50,000 to allow small businesses to create more, to employ, to grow. We won't impose new legal responsibilities on those who are trying to have a go.

We will cut red tape and regulation across the economy. In the last three years Labor has piled on 400 new laws and some 5,000 new regulations. The National Construction Code now runs to more than 2,000 pages—2000 pages telling our builders how to build homes.

Is it any wonder that there are fewer and fewer homes being built in Australia today? Our plan to fix the economy and protect our way of life means cheaper power and abundant energy, because we will scrap the net zero ideology. The reality is that Australians were promised a $275 cut to their power bills and have seen power prices increase by almost 50 per cent.

That is undermining our economic prosperity. That is seeing Australian living standards collapse in front of our eyes. That's why we need cheaper power from whichever source we can get it.

We need to dig more, drill more, grow more and catch more across the Australian economy, and it's only our plan that delivers that as an alternative. We know that the housing crisis has been caused by an imbalance between supply and demand, we need to get on top of migration, we need to deliver more homes through the private sector, and that is what our plan addresses.

Only the coalition has a plan to fix the economy and protect our way of life. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Buchholz ): The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.