Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

How many people in my electorate are asking me for higher taxes? How many people are asking me to lower their house price, push up their rent and scrap negative gearing? How many people are asking me to let people smugglers back into business? How many people want a brand new carbon tax? How many people wish there was less support for schools? None. How many people are talking to me about changing to a republic? None. How many people are talking to me about same-sex marriage? Very few. They're not talking to me about it. Not once have most of these things been raised, yet they're fundamental Labor Party policies. The opposition is obsessed with issues that are of little or no concern to not just the people of my electorate but the majority of Australians. Australians want tougher border control. They want to pay less tax. They want a good education for their children and grandchildren, and to be able to see a doctor when they need to. They want increased opportunities, and they want government support for them and their community. Most of all, they're yearning for positivity, not the Labor negativity that we continue to see.

Take infrastructure, for example: the government is implementing practical measures not just in Petrie but right around the country. In Petrie we're investing in road, rail, stadiums and community group support—there's lots happening. What do we hear from the Leader of the Opposition on this MPI? The MPI is:

… to deal with issues confronting Australians and govern in the national interest.

What does he do? He comes in here and sticks up for his shadow foreign minister—a shadow foreign minister who has said 'My chief of staff contacted a New Zealand Labour MP without my knowledge.' I ask those opposite, and every member of this House, 'How many of our staff go contacting foreign MPs overseas without our knowledge?' I call her out and say that is rubbish from the shadow minister. And that is what he comes in here and speaks about. He's got a serious issue with foreign policy when he acts as the deputy Labor leader from the job. His current shadow minister says that she doesn't have faith in her own staff. It's outright wrong. And his biggest issue is to call our strongest ally, the President of the US, all sorts of names. That was the Leader of the Opposition himself. The Australian people would have an issue if this opposition ever came to government.

You know what the Leader of the Opposition also talks about? He was talking about white supremacists in the US in his MPI today—like the people of Petrie are really interested in that! The Leader of the Opposition spoke about penalty rates, but he failed to mention that when he was leader of the AWU he slashed penalty rates. He slashed penalty rates for workers at Cleanevent and Chiquita Mushrooms. Why did he do it? He slashed it for a handout to his union.

The latest employment figures we heard today from the Treasurer: 240,000 new jobs in the last financial year and 210,000 in the last six months alone. Youth employment has plummeted thanks to policies from our government, like the PaTH program that those opposite voted against. They voted against it. And I say to those opposite: give me one policy that you have to create a new job in this country. Not an interjection. Exactly! They have zero policies, and they don't know. You know what their policy is? Their policy is to smash small business, to increase taxes for those businesses with less than $10 million turnover. Yet small businesses employ 80 per cent of Australians. Those opposite want to come into this place and talk about the casualisation of the workforce. I'll tell you that if you start smashing trust and smashing small businesses, you'll see greater casualisation.

I'm on the ground, talking to people in my electorate every day, and I can tell you what things are important to them: national security, immigration, jobs and energy prices. We have a state Labor government moving debt onto our power companies—and we wonder why, in Queensland, our energy prices have doubled! (Time expired)

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