Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 10 days time, Western Australians will have to vote, again, for the Senate. This is a choice that is absolutely clear. The voters have three clear policies that are of great concern to them, according to feedback in recent years to my office, and only one side that will deliver for the people.

The first issue of concern is the boats. The voters can back the Liberal Party and see the boats stopping for the first time since 2008 and integrity returned to the immigration system. If the voters have had enough of Labor and the Greens, who designed, oversaw and in every way presided over policies that saw over 800 boats and 50,000 people arrive, then Labor and the Greens should be rejected again. The billionaire Palmer United Party is also on the record as wanting to open up the borders.

The second concern is the carbon tax. Again, there are very clear differences between us and our opponents. We said we would repeal the carbon tax and Labor and the Greens are defending it, fighting tooth and nail to save it. They are blocking the repeal that the people of Western Australia voted for in September, and on 5 April the people of Western Australia have the chance to say again to the Labor Party and the Greens that they do not want their anti-Western-Australia carbon tax.

As Western Australians know, Labor, the Greens and the Independents brought in the carbon tax after the 2010 election, after the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said that there would be no carbon tax under a government she led—infamous words, because some months later they were slapping each other on the back triumphantly when the carbon tax was passed here in this chamber. That was when the carbon tax was passed, and it endures to this day. Throughout the last parliament, the carbon tax endured, and at no point did the Labor Party abolish or get rid of the carbon tax. It endures and is doing what they wanted it to do: driving up the cost of living, to this day, in Cowan, in Western Australia and across our country. The carbon tax is a reality for every Australian, because Labor votes against us and the will of the people here and in the Senate.

In Western Australia, the people can only support one team that will look after them. That Liberal Senate team is the team of Senator David Johnston, Senator Michaelia Cash, Linda Reynolds and Slade Brockman.

On the opposite side of politics, Western Australians should reject Labor's Louise Pratt, because she cannot be trusted. She distributed a flyer at the last election in September that was designed to deliberately mislead voters—self-interest above principle. I have a copy of that flyer and it says on the front and back, 'Kevin Rudd and Labor remove the carbon tax'. I make the point that at the time that the flyer was produced, and every day since, the carbon tax has been in operation, and that not only did Labor not try to remove it, they have fought to keep it. Therefore, the flyer is a fraud, a falsehood, and is designed for the sole purpose of trying to get Labor more votes. And who was it that authorised it? At the bottom of the second page it reads, 'Authorised by Senator Louise Pratt'. Labor is a party defined by the guiding maxim: 'Whatever it takes'. I therefore make the point that Labor and Senator Pratt cannot be trusted on what they say before an election, because they will say anything to get a vote.

Finally, the third key concern is the mining tax. There are many examples of massive policy failure from the previous government, but the Labor Party's mining tax is an example of the worst of excesses. It raised hardly any money, yet they spent massively against it, creating a huge budgetary problem. The only thing they achieved was to undermine investment in Western Australia. The Labor Party and the Greens wanted to fleece Western Australia, and they have damaged the opportunities for Western Australians and for my constituents specifically. Another example of the Labor betrayal of Western Australians and taking advantage of our state.

Labor made the decision and planned to attack Western Australia and attack our productive capacity by establishing the tax, and then just very recently, voting in the House and the Senate to keep the mining tax. Meanwhile, over in Perth, Labor candidate, union boss Joe Bullock, is saying that Labor is against the mining tax—example after example of the Labor Party and its candidates, saying one thing in Perth but doing the complete opposite in Canberra. They cannot be trusted and should not be supported by anyone.

I say again that there is only one solid choice and that it is a choice for integrity. A vote for the Liberal Party team of Johnston, Cash, Reynolds and Brockman is a vote for four Western Australians committed to the people of Western Australia, to defend our borders, to increase the work opportunities and to lighten the cost-of-living load on their fellow Western Australians. In contrast, you have the Labor Party, who will say anything false for a vote; a billionaire, who wants a multimillion-dollar tax refund in exchange for his party's support in the Senate; and the Greens, who want open borders and more taxes on every Western Australian. The choice is clear: go to column R and vote for the Liberal Party.