PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr MONCRIEFF (Hughes) (19:05): I was so glad to see that, at last, the opposition had put out an economic plan. We've been waiting a long time to see any sort of plan from them. It's been more than a year since they voted against the tax cuts before the election.
They voted against the tax cuts this year as well. Those decisions showed us a little bit about what they stood for and what they'd do if they were in power, but we've been waiting to hear from them about their vision for the future of this country. We could go back further, to the last time that they were in opposition.
I'm old enough to remember the Our plan: real solutions for all Australians pamphlet that the Abbott opposition put out. All it was was a little blue and gold flyer which they wrote 'our plan' across the top of. They famously couldn't say anything about it, if anyone remembers that clip of a certain Greenway candidate.
It was heartening to hear that they'd put something out that was a proper plan and was presumably a little bit more than just a blue and gold flyer. Imagine my surprise when we finally got a look at it. What is it?
Just another blue and gold flyer with nothing of substance contained within. Australians have seen this movie before. They know where a pamphlet with a series of thought bubbles and motherhood statements without follow-through and without a plan for delivery in government leads.
They know that these statements aren't ones that reflect the track records of their authors. Those opposites say they're all for lower taxes, but they won't vote for them. When push comes to shove, they would rather let working Australians pick up the tab for business lunches than give them a tax cut.
On 1 July, working Australians got yet another tax cut under our government, with the combined effect of our tax cuts saving the average worker up to $2,800. Those opposite wish it weren't so, but it is. As much as they pay lip service to lower taxes, they refuse to put their money where their mouth is.
When given the chance to support another tax cut this year, they voted against it, this time with One Nation on their side. If those opposite had their way, Australian workers would be paying more tax to satisfy the three right-wing parties' appetite for long lunches, government-owned nuclear plants and the reinstatement of property tax settings that locked a generation of Australians out of the housing market.
The coalition say that they're all for lower power prices but still baulk at the rollout of cheap, reliable renewables that shield Australians from global price shocks. Their ever-changing energy policy has been a mix of picking winners through government-owned nuclear power stations, letting the market decide and deciding that letting the market decide didn't produce the outcomes that suit their ideology, so Soviet-style long-term underwriting of ageing generation assets was the go.
When none of that works, they change the rules to hide the power price increases when the facts clash with their ideology, as the Leader of the Opposition did when he was energy minister. Under the coalition's energy plan, not only would Australians face higher energy bills; their taxes and insurance premiums would be higher too. Fortunately for those of us who still believe in markets, the clean energy transition is well underway and delivering real savings for the 4.3 million homes and small businesses benefiting from cheap solar, including the 4,447 households in my southern Sydney electorate of Hughes who have taken up our Cheaper Home Batteries Program.
They say that they're all for providing more housing, but what more housing? They hardly built any houses during the near decade that they had in office. We just had the member for Grey in here saying, 'Oh, ministers don't build houses.' Under this government, the minister has been building houses.
Our housing policies have been producing way more houses than they ever produced. Why are we surprised, when they didn't even have a minister devoted to doing it? Whose side are they on in the housing debate?
Certainly not the 75,000 young Australians who will benefit from our tax reforms to property. If the coalition are as serious about reversing these changes as they were about voting against them, they would rather these 75,000 Australians be priced out by government subsidised investors to offset their tax. They would rather that 75,000 auctions go to the bidder with the biggest portfolio and the biggest tax breaks on their side, funded by Australian workers instead of the mums, dads and young Australians dreaming of taking an ownership stake in their community.
The young Australians in my electorate still dream of setting down roots in the places they know and love, close to family and giving back to their community. On this side, we live in the real world and we're doing whatever we can to make the real world easier for working Australians to live and thrive in. Those opposite know they'll never have to implement their plan, because they can't secure a majority without One Nation, so they can write whatever fantasy they want on that pamphlet without any regard for consequence.