Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is indeed a delight to have the opportunity to speak on this MPI, because I have spent much of the last 12 months being lectured by those on the other side of the House about fairness, or at least their version of it. Indeed, I was so interested in the topic of fairness that I read and thought deeply about it over the holiday break. It is interesting, because what we are dealing with here is a party whose definition of fairness is knifing two leaders—not one, two—in their disastrous time in government. And they were good at it. They could teach us a thing or two, I am sure. They allowed 40,000 people to jump on boats, and 1,200 of them died. And that is fair? They poured money into school buildings that have never been used. They funded pink batt programs responsible for deaths and phenomenal wastage. And that is fair?

But, in this budget context, their approach to fairness is absolutely extraordinary. Let's go back to basics. The Parliamentary Budget Office tells us that Labor locked in spending growth of 6½ per cent a year. For those of you who are not economically literate—and I realise that is a fair whack of those over that side of the House—that is significantly faster than GDP and tax. So guess what you have to do if you are going to do that. Option 1 is debt. Do not demonise debt. I have heard it from the former Treasurer. You can run that option if you really want to. Your other alternative—and I suspect this is the real plan—is to raise taxes, not once but every year from now till forever. They are your options.

We have a plan to fix this problem, but, given Labor's complete refusal to manage its spending, it only has those two options. Labor needs to come clean with Australians about which path it is going down. Are you taking us to European-style debt or are you going to raise our taxes every year from now until forever? The real question here is: who will pay for Labor's largesse? Is it today's taxpayers or tomorrow's Australians? That is your choice: today's taxpayers or tomorrow's Australians. Come clean. But we have hints. The member for Fraser has told us that Labor could balance the budget by bringing back carbon and mining taxes. So we have been told. It is clear. We know the answer. And we know he echoes the views of others in his party. Whack middle Australia with a tax to fund your handouts. Never mind that the mining tax revenues never eventuated and the carbon tax was simply shifting jobs, emissions and tax revenues offshore. But the member for Fraser knows well there is an alternative, and that is to pass on the debt to your kids.

A lot of people say that government debt is different to household debt, and that is quite right. It is different. And there is one big difference: you can pass it on to your kids. And that is exactly what the Labor Party plans to do. And let us look at the situation of younger Australians. House prices have been rising for 20 years: cheap mortgages, supply shortages and a lack of investment in infrastructure have resulted in high house prices across Australia. We have amongst the highest levels of household debt in the OECD, and you want to add on more? In fact, the Grattan Institute tells us that you have already added $50,000 for every young Australian through your debt—and that is fair? Please, please, please have a think about what fairness is really all about.

In a recent opinion piece I made the point that Labor is treating middle Australia and young Australians like Boxer the draught horse in George Orwell's Animal Farm, and I was delighted to hear Animal Farm raised by the member for Higgins. As a reminder, the pigs—the socialist revolutionaries in Orwell's novel—exploited Boxer's good nature, strong work ethic and commitment to his community for their own selfish purposes, and then sent him off to the knackery when he could not work anymore. I read Animal Farm as a 10-year-old, and I knew that was unfair. (Time expired)

See this speech in context