ADJOURNMENT
Senator GATENBY (Tasmania—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (19:34): I recently read that the Prime Minister told a room full of business leaders that Australia's international reputation depends on having a government that 'says what it's going to do'. I nearly fell off my chair! With this Prime Minister there are two kinds of commitments: the ones he breaks and the ones he hopes you've forgotten.
Remember the stage 3 tax cuts? Before the election, he was asked whether they were absolutely locked in. 'Yes', he said. Could he envisage circumstances in which he would roll them back? 'No', and 'my word is my bond'.
Then he changed them. Apparently, when the Prime Minister says 'locked in', he means 'locked in until the next opinion poll'. Then there was superannuation.
Before the election, no changes would be made to superannuation. After the election, there were higher taxes on large superannuation balances. Apparently a promise remains intact provided you change the definition of the promise.
Who could forget the famous $275 reduction in household power bills by 2025? It was not $270. It was not approximately $300.
It was $275. In fact, he was so confident in the modelling that he mockingly declared, 'I don't think; I know.' Then he ran a mile from it. Tasmanian families are still looking for that $275.
Perhaps it's hiding behind the electricity meter. At his 2022 campaign launch, he promised Australians cheaper mortgages. The Reserve Bank's cash rate is now 4.6 per cent—a 15-year high.
For households juggling mortgage repayments, groceries and insurance, that promise has aged about as well as milk left in a hot car. Perhaps the most extraordinary example is housing. Before the last election, Albanese was asked whether he would rule out changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax.
His response: 'Yes. How hard is it? For the 50th time'.
Not once; not twice—apparently 50 times. Then came the 2026 budget, and suddenly negative gearing was being restricted and the capital gains tax discount being replaced for most future gains. When confronted on the ABC's 7.30, what did the Prime Minister say? 'We've changed our position.' At last, Deputy President, an admission we can slightly believe.
Apparently the Prime Minister has a new definition for an election promise: something you repeat 50 times before the election and abandon once the votes are counted. What happened to Labor's target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029? Its own independent housing council now forecasts the targets won't be reached any time soon.
That is not a housing plan on time; that is an extension request. Then there is integrity, including in more recent times. Remember the promise to restore trust and accountability?
This month, a leading constitutional scholar raised serious concerns about a $6 million golf club grant in the Prime Minister's electorate awarded through a non-competitive grant. Apparently transparency is a wonderful thing provided that nobody asks to see through it. Speaking of small businesses, Labor celebrated the credit card surcharge ban as a saving for customers, but, when the tax office faced those same processing costs, what did they do?
The government announced it would stop accepting credit cards. After the backlash, the government scrambled to delay the decision. They should reverse it.
Apparently, there's one rule for your local cafe and another for Canberra. Labor should be backing small business, not breaking it, including through tax and trusts. Australians don't expect perfection.
They understand that circumstances change, but they do expect the Prime Minister to admit when his word changes with it. The Prime Minister says a government should say what it's going to do. I agree, but it should also do what it said.
When a prime minister keeps breaking his promises, Australians eventually stop believing anything he says, and that, Deputy President, is Anthony Albanese's problem.