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

It was only a short time ago in this chamber that we heard from the Prime Minister that it has been 'a good ten months'. As I get around my electorate and around Australia, that's not what I hear from Australians. I don't think Australians agree with the Prime Minister.

Today we heard from the Leader of the House an answer to the very puzzling question: how could they possibly think that it was a good 10 months? He gave that answer very clearly. The answer is more laws. For Labor, that is the answer to everything. A law for every Australian. A law for every man, woman and child in this country. That's what we need.

But what we have not seen in the last 10 months are promises being kept. Yesterday in question time we saw the Prime Minister use fairytale language in response to a serious question about the very real housing stress that Australians are feeling. In an answer to that question, he said that he would not promise absolute pixie dust. While I am sure the Prime Minister wants a happy ending to his fairytale, the real question here is: has he kept his promises, or did he indeed promise absolute pixie dust in the lead-up to the last election?

It is worth holding him to account on this, because there were many promises before the last election. We all heard them. We had them many times over—in one particular case, 97 times over. The promise of cheaper mortgages—it turns out that was pixie dust. The promise of no changes to superannuation taxes—it turns out that was pixie dust. The promise of a $275 reduction in electricity prices, a promise made 97 times, no less—what was that promise? It was pixie dust. The promise of lower inflation—what was that promise? Nothing but pixie dust. The promise that we are not touching franking credits—'We're not touching franking credits'. Well, that was another piece of pixie dust.

It is clear that the Prime Minister's word means absolutely nothing. It is quite right and understandable that right now Australians are sitting there thinking, 'How can I believe this government and this Prime Minister?' The reasonable question every Australian can be asking—and I know many are asking—is: 'What will be this government's next broken promise and their next piece of pixie dust?' Will it be stage 3 tax cuts? Will they go? Are they going? We heard them promise this, because we knew they did not want to go to an election like the one in 2019 where they were at least straight with the Australian people about what they intended to do, which was to raise taxes. They were clear. There was no ambiguity. Are stage 3 tax cuts going to go?

Will it be changes to work expense deductions? Today I asked the Prime Minister whether there will be changes to work expense deductions. He got up in his usual sneering manner—at a time when Australians are worried about taxes and taxes have gone up almost 10 per cent in the last quarter; that's how much they've gone up in the CPI data— and in response to being asked whether he would rule out changes to work expense deductions he completely ignored the question.

Will there be more changes to superannuation taxes? We know they have opened this Pandora's box. They're not worried at all, clearly, about keeping their promise that there would be no changes to superannuation taxes. So are we going to see more? The assistant minister is sitting here. He's the champion of changing superannuation taxes. He's the champion of going after unrealised capitalised gains. Is he going to go to the next level? Is he going to keep going on this? Will there be changes to capital gains tax?

We know this Labor government believes firmly in taxing people before they have any cash—unrealised capital gains—so will we move from a realised capital gains tax to an unrealised capital gains tax? Will they move to an unrealised capital gains tax across the board? It is clear they're very happy to go in this direction. There's no ambiguity about that. If that forces farmers to sell their business and if that forces small business people to flog their businesses, they couldn't care less. It is of no concern to them. The reality is that farmers are a small business people. There's nowhere there for unions, is there? So, if they have to flog their business, if they have to get out, if they have to go through that cathartic processes of selling off their business—and from time to time we see farmers and small business people having to do this for other reasons in our electorates—if they have to do it because of government policy, the government couldn't care less.

Before the election we saw a prime minister who said he would take responsibility. He said things like, 'I will act with integrity and lead with responsibility'—no mention of pixie dust there—'and treat you with respect.' Yet, when asked about the cost-of-living pressures Australians are facing right now, he simply walks away from it. On 4 May, the Prime Minister said, 'When leaders focus on conflict and blame shifting'—no blame shifting from him at the moment!—'they achieve little beyond protecting their own narrow political interests.' The truth of the matter is that he is looking for anyone to blame for his broken promises.

The truth is that, on the ground, we are seeing extreme pain at the grocery checkout, when people fill up their cars and when they make their mortgage payments. The numbers are stunning. If you are a young family who has bought a house in south-western Sydney, you probably paid close to a million dollars with a mortgage of $750,000. In the time that those opposite have been in government, your mortgage payments have gone up by $1,700 a month. That is around $20,000 a year. At the same time as you're seeing rising electricity bills and rising grocery prices, you're up for in the order of $23,000 or $24,000 that you didn't have to find in the past. What gives? Someone has to take on an extra job. The grandparents have to do a couple of days of child care. You have to take one of the kids out of school because you can't afford the school fees. You can't put the same meals on the table that the family is used to. These are real strains and stresses being faced by Australians.

We've heard many examples of this from those on this side of the chamber in recent days. The member for Petrie just yesterday brought us the stories of Georgina and Shenelle, who are struggling with the rising cost of living. We heard from the members for Menzies, Hughes, Herbert, McPherson who have all brought to the chamber devastating stories of the reality of what families and businesses are facing right now from the cost-of-living pressures that those opposite won't even answer questions about. They won't even answer the most basic of questions about these pressures.

Last night on Channel 10, we heard even more stories from businesses in Western Sydney. We heard about a family run Turkish grocery shop in Auburn serving the community for more than 40 years, struggling to get the money to pay their staff, and all we hear from this out-of-touch Prime Minister is disdain for questions being asked about those pressures. We're seeing those pressures being felt at Lifeline. In my own electorate, the Revive Emergency Relief Program—a fantastic volunteer group supported by Karen and Lesley—is just seeing more and more people coming in off the street to get a meal and feed the family. This is the reality of inflation. This is the harsh on-the-ground reality of inflation that those opposite show absolutely no concern about. More than 800,000 Australian households are coming off fixed rate mortgages and going on to floating mortgages. This is a disaster in the making which those opposite are ignoring. This is a government that simply couldn't care less.

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