Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know. It's really, really tough to understand. With taxing unrealised capital gains, you're paying tax on paper gains, which is absolutely ridiculous. I will give you a real-life example, because on this side of the House we live in the real world. This will be something new for you. When an evaluation is made on a grazier's property and it goes up in value, you're asking them to pay tax on the unrealised gain. That is absolutely ridiculous. That happens nowhere else, and that's exactly what you're asking to do.

A person who owns a large block of land, one large parcel, might be asset rich and cash poor, but, if a valuer comes along and makes that increased valuation, they will have to pay tax on that. So what's the answer to that? Do they have to subdivide a block, or do they have to cut it out? Do they have to sell the family farm or property? Is that what they have to do?

Have a good think about this, and I hope you listen up because this is very, very important. These are the people that provide food and fibre for the country. They're the ones that feed you. I don't know why those opposite are so hell-bent on making life difficult for farmers, but I know where some of the money is going to go. Once you get this money, it's going to go towards the 36,000 bureaucrats that you're going to put in Canberra. Well done! How productive will they be!

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