Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We're having a bit of fun this evening, but I certainly think that's going to be next on the chopping block as we approach the May budget. In a worsening cost-of-living crisis, all this Labor government seems to care about is making everything more expensive and then coming after your money. We know older Australians, not-for-profits and the Australian super funds will be hit hardest by these changes. The Treasurer and the Treasury have both said this. But don't misunderstand this bill. The removal of franking credits is a tax. Labor's budget is clear on this. This is only one in a long line of policies that will increase taxes on Australians and make this cost-of-living crisis even more painful and more of a crisis than it would otherwise have been.

Despite promising no changes to superannuation before the election, this Prime Minister is now proposing doubling super taxes on 10 per cent of Australians by the time they retire. Despite promising no changes to franking credits before the election, this Prime Minister is now proposing to prevent companies from offering franking credits to investors, super funds and charities. Despite promising no changes to capital gains tax before the election, this Prime Minister is now promising taxing unrealised capital gains on super, meaning Australian retirees will pay tax on money that they haven't yet realised. That was an important point made by the member for Forde just before I spoke here tonight, and it was also a point that the Assistant Treasurer unsuccessfully attempted to tackle today in question time.

Beyond being blind to their own promises, as if it wasn't bad enough, this Labor government is also blind to cold hard facts and the opinion of experts. Despite Labor's claim that fewer than 80,000 Australians would be affected by their super tax, independent research now reveals that by retirement age more than half a million Australians will be hit—not that this government cares too much, because, for some perverse reason, this government argues that a broken promise doesn't count if it only affects rich people. That's not too different from the view that theft isn't really theft if you only steal from rich people—because, after all, they have plenty.

This perfectly sums up the twisted logic of this Labor government, which is deeply rooted in the false narrative and flawed economics of class warfare. The broader flow-on economic impacts of taxes like this are never considered by the Labor Party, because, when it comes to issues like superannuation, as far as Labor's concerned, it's not Australians' money; it's theirs.

The Prime Minister says it will impact one in 200 people. Then the finance minister says it's one in 10. That is not a small discrepancy. How can the Australian people trust a Labor government that doesn't know the details of its own policy? I think the Assistant Treasurer made a very good point of underscoring that in question time this afternoon.

Even ignoring slip-ups on the specifics, this government makes errors. In fact, they sometimes forget their policies exist at all. During Senate estimates on 8 November 2022, the finance minister denied 10 times that this franking credit policy was even in the budget that she helped create. How does a minister, particularly a minister in a closely linked portfolio, fail to remember her own policies? This is symbolic of a failing Labor government that's incapable of controlling its own caucus. As Margaret Thatcher famously quipped, 'The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.' This observation is more or less true of every Labor government, and this bill is clear evidence that it is certainly true of this government.

The coalition is opposed to the schedules in this bill related to franking credits. We think the government is taking yet another step away from the promises it made ahead of the election, and I think the Australian people are awake to the fact now that this is a government that says one thing before the election and a very different thing after the election.

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