Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's great to be back in this place, where we intend to hold this terrible Labor government to account for what it is failing to deliver for the Australian people each and every day. We return to parliament after what has been a tough Christmas and new year, certainly for many people in my community, and I'm not just talking about the Christmas Day tornado.

Although it's traditionally a happy time of year, it was simply not so for many people enduring hardship during this cost-of-living crisis. The price of the Christmas ham was up. The toys for the kids were more expensive. Petrol in the car: up, again. And then the electricity bill rolled in—up, even more.

Net disposable income has fallen by almost $8,000 since Labor came into office. That's a whopping $153 per week worse off. Now, over the last couple of weeks, this Labor government has been trying to fix an inflation problem with a taxation lever—two separate economic issues. Quite frankly, I wouldn't trust them to get either issue right, let alone both of them at the same time.

So let me say something about inflation. The Treasurer continues to use words like 'moderate' and 'under control', but the economic reality is that inflation is a rising and compounding burden. Let's not kid ourselves. Labor have done serious and permanent damage to the household budgets of millions of Australians. In about 145 days time, the government is going to offer an additional $15 a week to many Australians, which, quite frankly, they will happily take. But you know what? Australians are rightly sceptical of this Prime Minister and this government, because they know that Labor will give with one hand and take twice as much with the other.

Australians are absolutely staggered that the Prime Minister looked them in the eye—and we now know, in cahoots with the Treasurer—misled them on no less than 100 occasions. Up until very recently, the Prime Minister continued to cover his tracks. He said on Seven News on 11 November 2022: 'My word is my bond,' and, 'We said during the election campaign that we would maintain the position that had already been legislated. I've always been a man of my word, and I believe that, when you go to an election and you make commitments, you should stick to them.'

Let's put it bluntly: the Prime Minister has let down a whole cohort of Australians who mistakenly took him at his word. In fact, some have suggested that the Prime Minister lied his way into the Lodge by playing a straight bat to tax, taking away the election scrutiny, saying that it wouldn't change, when, all along, that was never going to be the case. After years of waiting, those aspirational Australians amongst us thought they were going to receive their extra tax cut—patiently waiting, after stage 1 and stage 2 had already delivered significant benefits to low- and middle-income earners—only to have it snatched away.

The coalition is committed to lower and simpler taxes. We will make decisions on taxation, as we did with the original reform agenda, that will last beyond this week's news cycle for a government showing desperation in the Dunkley by-election. When we take a commitment to the next election, Australians will know that we will keep our word. Now, at some point in the next, maybe, 18 months, we will hear the Prime Minister or the Treasurer or some other minister say, 'Oh, we'll take that to the next election.' But, sadly for millions of Australians, that now means nothing.

My constituents in Fadden certainly won't forget, because almost 10,000 hardworking taxpayers will be worse off, come 1 July, than they would have been if the Prime Minister had simply kept his word. People who judged the Prime Minister at his word prior to that last election now know that his next promise that's broken may in fact cut very, very deep. So what will it be? Negative gearing, franking credits, death taxes or the family home? They say that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. But the real certainty for Australians is that Labor will tax you to death.

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