MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Leader of the Opposition) (15:22): Each and every day during question time, we have to look across the chamber at a prime minister who has no respect for the truth. For this prime minister, a broken promise is never a broken promise; it's a change in position. For this prime minister, a fall from the stage isn't a fall from the stage; it's a step back.
For this prime minister, an insulting gesture about a foreign female leader is not an insulting gesture; it's a misinterpretation. For this prime minister, a dodgy grant to the Marrickville Golf Club isn't a dodgy grant; it's standing up for an organisation in his electorate. For this prime minister, a best mate and Labor adviser sacked for disgusting social media posts isn't a best mate; he's a distant Labor staffer.
When it comes to this distant Labor staffer, I am reminded of Sergeant Schultz in Hogan's Heroes, who always knew nothing! For this prime minister, it gets worse, because a botched policy like cutting health funding for older Australians and veterans isn't an opportunity to do the right thing, override his ministers and say they were wrong; it's an opportunity to double down on doing the wrong thing, because that's what he does every day.
Now, a prime minister's tone sets the tone for a government. The Prime Minister's tone sets the tone, sadly, for the nation, but what we see is a direct link between the tone he has set and the behaviour of those opposite. We see it every day with the Treasurer, with the Minister for Home Affairs—that loose association with the truth, that lack of respect for the truth.
We see it every day. Let's look at a few examples of the Albanese government's complete inability to admit failure. It can't admit that it has lost control of the economy.
Fifteen interest rate increases? A lot of bad luck—15 pieces of bad luck, one after the other! But we're looking at two more.
That's what the markets think. That's what the commentators think. I'm sure it will just be more bad luck.
You can see the Treasurer here today just setting himself up to say it's all someone else's fault. It's Xi Jinping. It's Vladimir Putin.
It's Donald Trump. It doesn't really matter who it is; it'll always be someone else. This treasurer and this prime minister also told us that they had beaten inflation.
That's what they told us before the election. They told us they'd beaten inflation. But we know what has happened since the election—inflation and high interest rates have beaten this government.
We're about to see that in spades. We know that this economy is not working for Australians. There has been no growth per person in this country since those opposite have been in power—zero, absolutely zero.
The only thing driving growth in the economy is population growth, and that is immigration. That's all it is. There's nothing else there.
There's no productivity. The BCA pointed this out: … Australia is now staring down the barrel of its worst decade of productivity … since … records began … Labor also can't admit that their budget was an absolute and utter disaster. Since May, we keep seeing new hidden taxes—the widows tax, the babies tax and the death tax.
What has been the Treasurer's response? Not to scrap his toxic taxes. It's to double down every single time.
We know that those opposite behind the Treasurer are now knifing him in the back in the media. We saw it today. The member for Parramatta no doubt was part of it.
People are quite worried now. Make no mistake about that. I tell you Australians are a lot more than worried right now.
Labor also can't admit that the toxic taxes they brought in at this budget, the changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax, have put the housing market into freefall. It's a trifecta of failure: rents going up, construction collapsing and confidence in freefall. New home sales have crashed by 20 per cent in just three months.
We see them up gaslighting every day, saying how wonderful it is, but Australia doesn't believe them. The gaslighting is not working. Rents have risen more than 24 per cent since Labor has come to office, and we know there's a lot more to come.
On current trends, Labor will fall 330,000 homes short of its 1.2 million-home target, its own target—not even close. But I'll tell you about another target it has—its target to bring down immigration. I'll tell you what—it got up to 550,000 on their watch.
They have not met a single target that they have set. We know it's been sitting around 300,000, way above what's sustainable and way above what our housing market can support. Labor also can't admit that its net zero policies have been an absolute utter failure.
They are an economic wrecking ball. The Whyalla wipe-out has happened a few years after it was celebrated by one of those opposite, of course. This is a very serious point because the hundreds of workers at Whyalla have learnt in the last couple of days that they have lost their jobs at the Whyalla steelworks.
The minister for energy told us that he was going to fix Whyalla with green hydrogen. That's what he said. He said the Kurri Kurri generator was going to have green hydrogen going into it as well.
In fact, he sacked the chief executive of Snowy Hydro because the chief executive told him it couldn't happen. But the reality is—and, finally, we saw it just the other night on the ABC; he said, 'I never believed the hype around green hydrogen.' Well, he sure did! Under Labor we have seen the net zero policies and those sneaky carbon taxes they've imposed on vehicles, on the electricity grid and on industry.
We've seen the closure or bailout of some of the most important industrial facilities in this country, like Whyalla, Tomago, Nyrstar, Boyne, Glencore, the Boyer paper mill, Bell Bay, Oceania Glass, Nickel West—one after the other. Those are failures from those opposite because they are always failing to respect the truth. Labor can't admit to failing to keep Australians safe.
Labor can't admit to the fact that it has failed to keep Australians safe. We know from an AFP whistleblower that there has been a shortfall on counterterrorism funding under those opposite. We know from the ASIO director-general that terror warnings were ignored in the lead-up to that tragedy, that mass murder, that terrorist attack from Islamist extremists before Christmas last year.
We know that antisemitism is out of control because the government didn't come down hard enough after those vile scenes at the Sydney Opera House on 9 October 2023. Australians expect their Prime Minister and their government to be honest with them, to admit their mistakes and to acknowledge their failings. We've had to do our fair share of that.
We know that's a necessary part of leading. But, just as important, you have to have a plan. Our plan is to fix our economy and protect our way of life.
We know that, to do that, we have to axe Labor's toxic taxes, we have to scrap net zero, we have to replace mass migration with skilled migration and we have to put Australians first. That is how we will ensure that we restore our standard of living, that we see incomes rising faster than prices, that we see young Australians able to get into a home, that Australian citizens are given priority in programs like the home deposit scheme and in welfare programs, and that industry and Australians are able to get ahead.
That is our plan to fix our economy and protect our way of life here.