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

It's wonderful to have the opportunity to rise to speak on this adjournment on the day after the budget was handed down by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. How do Australians feel today—the day after this wonderful Jim Chalmers budget? Well, I can tell you how they feel. They feel just as broke as they felt yesterday. That is the truth of it, because Treasurer Jim Chalmers did not charm us. He's a doctor, but he's not a doctor of economics; he is a doctor of spin. So what we saw was lots of slick lines. There was a sprinkling of cash. But, honest to goodness, this was not what Australians were looking for. The Treasurer aspires to greatness. We know that he's studied Paul Keating, one of the greatest Labor figures of our time. But this Treasurer is Keating-lite. There is nothing of substance to offer the Australian people beyond a sprinkling of cash—70c a day in 12 months time.

We were so shocked by this pathetic attempt to try to buy votes that we almost lost sight of the fact that we have now nudged $1 trillion of national debt. This Treasurer and this Albanese Labor government have completely lost control of the finances of the nation. That means that the household budget now hurts even more. These tax cuts, as they have been described, are nothing more than a cruel hoax. I stand outside shopping centres in my electorate in places like Labrador, Pacific Pines and Coomera. At each of these locations in recent weeks, people were gravely concerned about the cost of groceries. Food has gone up by 13 per cent, insurance is up by 19 per cent and electricity is up by 32 per cent, and yet what did we see last night from this amazing Treasurer? We saw $150 off your electricity bill. That's not touching the sides because the reality of this cost-of-living crisis that every Australian family is facing is that, if you are a mortgage holder, you are $50,000 worth off than when Labor came to office.

And so, tomorrow night, the Leader of the Opposition will speak from the dispatch box. He will give his budget reply speech, and I think it's something that Australians should tune in to. He will outline a pathway to prosperity and a pathway to a secure nation, economically and in terms of our national security credentials. It doesn't have to be like this, under this terrible Albanese Labor government. We know that we can't afford another three years of Labor. We simply must get Australia back on track.

We know that there are so many sectors that are under attack by this Labor government. What was exposed today and laid bear in question time was that small businesses under this government are going to continue to suffer. If it weren't enough to put up their power prices and to destroy their businesses with industrial relations frameworks that are completely unworkable, what we have now seen is that an instant asset write-off that they quite simply could have claimed in a very simple ATO transaction has now been reduced to $1,000. What the coalition will do is support small and family businesses by providing a $30,000 instant asset write-off, and we will make that permanent. That is just one of the things that we will do to help restore prosperity in our economy. We must get Australia back on track with a coalition government.

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