Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I picked up this proposal from the shadow Treasurer, in which he talks about the plan for a fair and sustainable future for our country, and I thought, 'We are just going to go back and forward with one of these ridiculous political arguments where the Labor Party in all of their speeches say that it does not matter really about what we hand over to next generation.' In this place we could keep going back and forward like this—Labor members could yell and interject and we could beat our chests on this side—or we could actually just talk about the future of Australia and what we are facing. It is a big decision for us in this place: are we actually going to talk about what we are facing for the next generation of Australians, or are we going to stand in here and chest-beat and laugh and point and go through this ridiculous political cycle, all for our own political survival today, and hand over to the next generation of Australians a country that ultimately will have less opportunity? If we cannot meet the challenges that we face as a country collectively, Labor or Liberal, that is what we are going to hand over to the next generation of Australians.

Let me try to remove the partisan politics from this matter, Mr Deputy Speaker. Let me tell you how I see it. The next generation of Australians will inherit a country that has a significantly greater debt burden—that is just a reality. Sure, when we left government last time the books were very much in the black and when we came to government they were very much in the red, but if we hand over a nation with that much debt to the next generation of Australians that will mean less money to invest in schools, in roads and in hospitals and less money to invest in education and training opportunities for the next generation of Australians. We have to be able to deal with that debt burden. It also means that, if we cannot deal with that, the next generation of Australians will pay more tax than this generation does.

There is also a demographic reality that we have to face at some point as a nation. Sure we can jump up and down and the Labor members can make political points and the coalition members can make political points, but at some point we have to realise as a country that our demography will change our society and we have to be able to deal with that.

This is the Productivity Commission report talking—not me as a coalition member, not those interjecting Labor members but the Productivity Commission: today, there are 7½ Australians working for every Australian that is not. By 2050, that will be only 2½ Australians working for every Australian that is not. So when my generation gets close to the retirement stage—and we have talked a bit about the retirement stage—there will be only 2½ people working for every person that is not. Today, the system has 7½. We need to be able to do something to ensure that the next generation inherits a country which has the same opportunity or, preferably, more opportunity than our country has today.

Just from the demographic reality, if we do nothing, which is what the Labor Party is currently proposing, the next generation of Australians will pay 21 per cent more tax than the current generation of Australians—just to fund the demographic change. What is fair, what is sustainable, about saying, for our own political survival as members of parliament: 'We will take cheap political decisions today so that the next generation can pick up the bill and the next generation of Australians will inherit that debt. The next generation of Australians will pay at least 21 per cent more tax than we currently do'? There is nothing fair and sustainable about that as a country.

We have to grow the productive capacity of the economy. We have to have the next generation of Australians in better jobs, earning higher real wages so that ultimately they can pay more tax. That is why we on this side of the parliament believe that ultimately the wealth and prosperity of our nation comes from the Australian people, not the government. If we keep putting the government back at the centre of our society and we keep restricting the ability of our citizens to go out there to find and to grow those new jobs of the future then we are going to lose. There is a demographic reality. We are going to lose. That is why we on this side of the chamber will do everything in our power to free our citizens, lower taxes and give them those equal opportunities to go out there and find their jobs, and actually have a country that is productive, that is outward looking and understands that, as a billion people come into the middle class in Asia, we have enormous opportunity to sell them the products that will create the future jobs our country needs.

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