MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Mr HOGAN (Page—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business) (15:42): I think the scary thing about all that is that I actually believe in the good intentions of those opposite. When they say how well things are going and how well they're doing, they actually believe it. That, to me, is actually terrifying.

They actually think they have done a good job. They actually think the decisions they have made over the last—they're coming up to five years in government. They actually think the legislation they've passed, the taxes they've increased, the decisions they've made around energy, the decisions they've made around migration—the decisions they've made around all these things—are actually making things better or have made things better.

Does anyone on the other side seriously think that things are better for anyone, any family, any business today than they were 4½ years ago? Give me a call and tell me who they are because I want to work out how they think that or why they think that with what's going on with their own budgets, with their business or whatever. We all know, and I think those opposite actually do believe in their heart of hearts that things are a lot worse today than they were 4½ years ago.

I actually believe they know that. They don't say that. They don't ever admit it in here, but they know that's the truth.

Now, I'll give them one thing. Not everything that happens in an economy is the government's fault. I will give them that.

What you say around oil, what you say around other things around the world—some of those things a government can't control. I acknowledge that. But, gee, you've got to acknowledge that people, businesses and family budgets are worse than they were 4½ years ago.

I don't always have to yell like those opposite—for the other side. They know that. I know that.

But I'm just going to highlight a few decisions that this government has made—that you have made. You've all been part of it. You've all been part of these decisions, and you've actually made it worse.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Direct your comments through me. Mr HOGAN: Deputy Speaker, they've made it worse. All those opposite have made it worse.

You all were deceiving when you ran at the last election, because you didn't run at the last election saying you were going to increase taxes. What you've done with increasing taxes—and you know this; you talk to small businesses and to people around your communities—is that you've killed off the entrepreneurial spirit in this country. It used to be Deputy Speaker, as you know—not you personally but those opposite— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I know, but you need to direct your comments through the chair.

Mr HOGAN: I will remember that. What's happened, of course, is that the risk-reward ratio used to be that, if you had a go in Australia, you got the reward. But the changes to capital gains tax mean that that has killed off the entrepreneurial spirit in this country.

And those opposite—not the rest of the world, the Strait of Hormuz or anything like that—have been at fault for the decision; it's the government opposite. They that sit opposite have to own that. That's one thing.

Energy prices, Deputy Speaker, as you know, have gone up. They keep going up. And a lot of that is the result of the decisions and the policies of the government.

There's net zero. The classic one this week—Deputy Speaker, you would have heard this—is that the energy minister has now said he was never into the hype of green hydrogen. Well, gee, he spent $9 billion of taxpayers money on that hype.

I'd hate to think, if the climate change minister believed in green hydrogen, how much money he would have put into it, given he doesn't believe in it, has said it's all hype and put $9 billion into it. Again, this is taxpayers' money. This isn't Monopoly.

This is $9 billion of taxpayer money that has gone into projects that aren't going to happen. Through the whole process of this Labor government, energy prices have gone up. I just remind those opposite that the two biggest emitters in the world are China and America—I'll just throw in India as a big emitter as well.

Those three countries are not signed up to net zero by 2050. And you might just remind yourselves of that when you keep spending taxpayer money on trying to achieve a goal that the big emitters aren't. Also remember that when the government makes those policies, it is adding a cost to energy bills across Australia.

That's why there's no surprise that you have companies like Tomago, a business that I know you know well, Deputy Speaker, and a lot of big energy users like that being unable to afford their energy bill. Things aren't good. The government needs to wake up to it.