Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I love that the dots aren't able to be joined by those on quorum duty today, but, when you take away the investment here, what you get in the end are fantastic investments—like getting a Silicon Valley company to build a computer, owned in America, and slapping a 'Made in Australia' sticker on it. You beauty—a billion dollars—what a great idea! Australia has mocked it and rejected it completely. But that's where we'll go if we continue down this path of making self-managed super funds less and less attractive.

My favourite part though, amongst all of this—because there are always different views—was from a silk, who was quoted in the SMH, that great bastion of right-wing thought:

Appearing before a senate select committee, Michael Black KC, said there was 'no doubt' there would be a constitutional legal challenge to the tax change.

So here we are. Not only is it poor, and not only does it present an affront to our entire taxation history; it's completely risky. Of course, necessity is the mother of invention. When you have a high-spending government like this, they need to find new ways to raise taxes, and this is a great invention. It's outside anything we've had before. They've invented a tax unlike anything we've had.

The government cannot say it hasn't been warned of the consequences of this tax. We've heard from speaker after speaker, particularly on the impact on farming. I guess it's okay; we don't expect Labor to be across the issues that farmers face—it's not their thing. But, when you have the NFF speaking out as clearly as it can on the impact of this; when we have local farmers raising their concerns to their members consistently about the impact this will have on their operations; and when we bring those concerns here and get them completely rebuked, laughed at and mocked by the government, you know they're not listening. They're not listening to the concerns about the consequences of this legislation—and they are significant, and they will play out. The government has been warned, and they now own every single outcome that will play out across farms in Australia. When this comes through, and your operational income hasn't increased, but the paper value of your land has, and you can't service this taxation—this is what the government wanted. That is the situation that the government is deliberately creating for farmers of Australia. They have been warned, and they refuse to listen.

They could have addressed it. They've had plenty of time to address this, and they haven't. It's a very simple calculation. There is no increase in the capability to service a new tax. In fact, we're in a period of time where inflation has driven the cost of living through the roof, across every aspect. We can complain about new taxes on biosecurity laws that are unfairly put onto farmers and that should be distributed to those importing the risk, but this is such an affront to the farming community because there is no reason whatsoever why this concern should not be addressed. The government have walked away from their responsibility on this one.

We can be very clear: the impact of this will be that the smaller the farm or operation the more hurt it will cause, because they have less ability to pay a new tax. Once again, the small family run farms will be pushed out, and we'll see farming run exclusively by corporations in Australia. That's where we're heading. It's an absolute shame. I think about my electorate, where we still have the settlers' blocks, the blocks that were given to the soldiers who came back. They're small for a reason: so that a family could make a living on these farms. Because of their proximity to growing cities, these farms have grown in value, and they are now right in the firing line of this new tax. That is who is getting squeezed out. And who's getting rewarded? The giant multinationals, who can afford to pay a new tax. They can afford to cover it. They've got the operational costs. The small guys don't have the operational money coming in.

Government members interjecting—

I love to hear the laughter from those on quorum duty at what's going to happen to farmers. It's okay. I get it. You don't have them in your patch. You don't understand them. They're not yours.

Government members interjecting—

I am angry. Absolutely. I want this point to be on record because I want to be able to say: 'You guys turned your back on these people. You turned your back on them, every single one of you. There was a chance you had to change these ridiculous laws, and you didn't.' This is completely on the government. They've ignored the experts.

What we have here now is a clear separation. There could not be a clearer choice for regional Queensland: those who have chosen to tax farmers in an unreasonable and unfair way and those who have stood up for them. I'm very happy to be able to say that I have stood up for my farming communities.

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