ADJOURNMENT

Mr REBELLO (McPherson) (19:40): This government has put a $5,000 figure on a promise that should never carry a price tag: our obligation to care for those who served Australia. Labor calls the measure a review threshold and says that clinically necessary treatment will continue beyond it. But veterans should not have to face another approval hurdle just to get the care that they need.

Last month, veterans travelled to Canberra to challenge it. The minister initially refused to meet them. Only after pressure did he sit down with them—and veterans say that he would not even shake their hand.

These veterans answered their country's call. They should not have to fight to get their minister to answer theirs. This government presides over billions of dollars that are lost through NDIS fraud, errors and misuse.

It has spent and earmarked billions upon billions for its net zero obsession, and it's blown more than $400 million on the failed Voice referendum. Yet when Labor wants savings, wounded veterans find themselves on the chopping block. What a disgraceful set of priorities.

Yesterday, Labor voted to postpone consideration of the Senate's amendments to scrap this cap. This government does not understand the promise that we make. When Australians put on our uniform they accept risks that most of us will never face.

They risk their lives, their safety and their long-term health to protect our country and our national interests. That sacrifice is not a budget saving. Our obligation does not expire when the uniform comes off.

It means standing beside them when the parade is over, when the cameras are gone and when the consequences of service follow them home. These Australians are not asking for a favour; they're asking us to honour our side of the bargain. No veteran should ever be made to feel that injuries sustained protecting Australia are an inconvenience to its government.

Minister, their sacrifice is not your saving. Our veterans did not put a cap on their sacrifice. This government has no right to put a cap on our promise.

Scrap the cap. Labor has delivered a trifecta of failure on housing—fewer homes, higher rents and shattered confidence—and Australian families are paying for every part of it. Treasury says Labor's housing taxes will push rents higher and leave 35,000 fewer homes over a decade than otherwise.

Labor is claiming that other measures will offset that damage. But renters cannot pay the rent with another Labor promise. Rents have risen 24.8 per cent since Labor came to office, while wages have grown by just 16.1 per cent.

That gap comes straight out of the family budget. Industry-commissioned modelling warns that these changes could wipe $1 billion from economic activity over four years, costing 4,700 construction jobs—fewer homes, fewer jobs and more pressure on families. Almost 13,000 construction businesses have become insolvent since Labor came to office.

At the very moment, Australia needs more homes, but while this is happening we're losing the businesses that build them. Meanwhile, homeowners are watching property values slide. For working Australians, that's years of saving and sacrifice that's going backwards.

What about the first home buyers that Labor claimed it would help? The Financial Review reports a fivefold jump in the number of buyers in negative equity under the five per cent deposit scheme in just one month. They finally got the keys, and, now, some owe more than their home is actually worth.

Labor promised them a leg-up. Instead, they're watching their deposit disappear while their mortgage remains. Nor are new buyers flooding in.

New home lending has fallen 5.4 per cent in the June quarter. Labor is stripping security from homeowners without delivering opportunity for buyers. Behind it all is just 173,000 homes completed annually.

That is against the 240,000 target that's needed to meet Labor's promise. This is what failure looks like: renters squeezed, buyers exposed and confidence crushed. There's a better way: you tie migration to housing completions, invest in the infrastructure that unlocks new homes, cut unnecessary construction red tape and axe Labor's housing taxes.

We on this side all know that you cannot tax your way out of a housing shortage; you have to build your way out. Labor calls it reform. Australian families call it going backwards.

This government owns the budget, it owns the consequences, and it cannot keep making Australians pay for its failures.