Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Our tax cuts have helped the Australian economy have a strong recovery from the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression. The fact is that unemployment today is at a 13-year low of 4.2 per cent, compared to 5.7 per cent when Labor was last in office.

Our tax cuts have been opposed every step of the way by this Leader of the Labor Party—a leader of the Labor Party who has never held a Treasury portfolio, a leader of the Labor Party who attacked our tax cuts for families and called them 'the top end of town', a leader of the Labor Party who's too weak to stand up to the Greens and the unions, and a leader of the Labor Party who, every day of his political career, has stood for higher taxes. The Leader of the Labor Party has stood for a carbon tax. He's stood for a mining tax. He's advocated for a congestion tax. He advocated for higher superannuation taxes, higher income taxes, a housing tax, a retirees tax and a tax on family businesses.

But most damning of all is the Leader of the Opposition—the Leader of the Labor Party—standing and advocating for death duties. Yesterday, in this House, he called that a lie, but this is what he said, in his own words, to Labor's centenary conference: 'Comrade Chair, I am pleased to move this resolution, which is calling on the government to consider the imposition of an inheritance tax.' The Leader of the Labor Party might want a fact-free election, but the fact is this Leader of the Labor Party stands for higher taxes—

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