Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will get to the schools, minister for small business. The consequences of this reckless spending will be felt for decades to come. We know, and the reports on this have come in already, that the health system needs an overhaul. I am sure the Minister for Health and Ageing, who is in the chamber at the moment, would really like to see some of the $12.7 billion allocated to her health budget. But it is gone now, and Australian families can look forward to increased taxes as they pay off Labor’s debt.

The member for Casey correctly pointed out in his presentation in this debate that all this spending will end in pain for families and small businesses. It will end in higher taxes, and who knows what the Minister for Finance and Deregulation has in store for us in the next budget. Higher income tax? Death duties? They have not even ruled out extra taxes affecting the family home. I refer to a Hansard of 1994 which reflects the minister for finance’s opinions in relation to the tax treatment of the family home. He said:

We should focus on the real issues of tax reform. Overinvestment in housing, which has been chronic in this country, has been contributed to by favourable treatment in the tax system. We should abolish negative gearing and modify the capital gains tax exemption by, for example, applying that exemption only to the unimproved value of houses purchased. In that way, there will be no bias in the tax system which impels people to invest in extensions and the like.

Even the family home is not safe from the minister for finance. We are likely to see cuts to services across the board. Families and small businesses will feel the pain of Labor’s reckless spending. As the member for Cook also highlighted, it is as inevitable as night follows day that higher interest rates will follow Labor’s reckless spending spree.

Those opposite like to claim that the opposition rejected any form of economic stimulus whatsoever. That is a fiction or a fairytale, if you like, that they like to promote to keep themselves warm at night when they reflect on the fact that they have fired every shot in the locker and have nothing left for the next challenge when it inevitably arises. Like the member for Cook with his ‘push me pull you’, I am reminded of another fairytale. It is not the one where the ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan—with all due respect to the Treasurer. The fairytale I am referring to is The Emperor’s New Clothes. That is the one where the emperor of a prosperous city pays a fortune for a new suit and two conmen tell him that it is invisible to anyone who is either stupid or unfit for his position. The emperor and his ministers refuse to say they cannot see the suit, for fear of appearing too stupid. The emperor parades through his town naked, until a small child cries out, ‘The emperor has no clothes.’ And you can relax, Mr Deputy Speaker, I do not have any props of the emperor with no clothes.

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