Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We live in the best country in the world. But, for millions of Australians, things aren't easy right now. You're facing increasing financial pressures, in your mortgage repayments, insurance premiums, visits to the supermarket, filling up at the petrol station, and especially in your power bills. The cost of living is skyrocketing and it may seem out of control, yet it can be kept in check—but not while this Labor government makes bad economic decisions.

Labor's budget was a missed opportunity to help you at a time when you need help. It didn't address our economic challenges or inspire confidence. It's a budget which breaks promises rather than keeps them, it's a budget which weakens Australia's financial position rather than strengthens it and it's a budget which adds to rather than alleviates your cost-of-living pressures.

Peter and Lee are pensioners from Bankstown in New South Wales. They've been with the same energy company for more than 30 years. Their bill is set to rise by $753 in just 12 months.

Kel runs a multigenerational, family-owned IGA supermarket in Mapleton in Queensland. He negotiated a commercial and industrial energy contract when the coalition was in government and power prices were much lower than they are now. Today, Kel's business is threatened as he faces an increase of $160,000 on the power bill from last year alone.

But Peter, Lee and Kel's energy costs will go up further—that much we know. Under Labor's budget, electricity prices are set to rise by more than 56 per cent and gas prices by more than 44 per cent.

Now, we all know that these are difficult times. Nations around the world are contending with economic challenges born from the pandemic and amplified by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But, thanks to the coalition government's record, the fundamentals of the Australian economy are strong. The costs of living are going up, partly due to global conditions but also due to this Labor government's bad decisions. The Treasurer said his budget makes 'hard decisions for hard times'. But I say his budget makes bad decisions, making hard times even harder for all Australians.

Now, whether you're young, whether you're raising a family or you're retired, whether you're an employee or running a business, on Tuesday the Treasurer failed to mention in his speech what Labor's budget papers reveal: everything is going up, except your wages. The cost of living, power prices, taxes, interest rates, unemployment and the deficit are going up, or will be going up, under the government's predictions. The same budget papers confirmed that real wages are forecast to go down. And this means that, by Christmas, a typical family will be $2,000 worse off under this budget. So you have every right to be anxious and disappointed, because the Prime Minister has broken his faith with you.

The job of an opposition is not to oppose for the sake of it. We don't disagree with everything in this budget, and policy must be judged on its merits. If it's good for you, we will support it. If it's bad for you, we will stand against it. So we commend several good measures in Tuesday's budget: the extension of the childcare subsidy to more Australian families; the commitment to reduce the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment, to lower the cost of medicines; the support for housing for our veterans; the initiatives to combat domestic violence; and the funding to help Australians recover from devastating floods.

Tonight, I will tell you about some of the coalition's priorities, and I will also highlight where the budget is failing you: in energy, tax relief, housing, filling job shortages, industrial relations and infrastructure in our regions. Labor's budget makes life more difficult for millions of Australians and it shows, yet again, that Labor can't manage the economy when it forms government.

There's a historical pattern of Labor creating a mess and the coalition cleaning it up. Liberal Prime Minister John Howard and Treasurer Peter Costello inherited a damaged economy from Paul Keating's Labor government of high interest rates and unemployment. They turned the economy around, showed financial restraint, introduced reforms like the GST, and left our nation with the Future Fund. In 2013, Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey inherited a broken economy from Labor's Rudd-Gillard-Rudd tenure. They commenced budget repair and prepared for a rainy day. This work was continued by Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison. By 2019, the coalition brought the budget back into balance for the first time in 11 years.

Then, of course, in 2020, COVID-19 hit. That once-in-a-generation pandemic caused the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. It was only due to our economic management, over the seven years prior to the pandemic, that we were in a strong position to implement the suite of support measures. With 20/20 hindsight, we didn't get everything right. Some of the state government lockdowns went on for far too long, and some Australians are still bearing the wounds of those lockdowns today.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's policies kept our nation afloat. JobKeeper assisted one million businesses and kept four million Australians in jobs. Our cash flow boost helped 820,000 businesses. On almost every economic and health measure, Australia was either world leading or performed better than other countries. The final budget outcome for 2021-22 revealed a $48 billion reduction in the deficit and a $115 billion reduction in debt, compared to the budget handed down in March. In just one year, from 2020-21 to 2021-22, the budget improved by over $100 billion, the largest turnaround since Federation. There are now 596,000 more Australians in jobs than before the pandemic. Other economies fared much worse than ours. The Labor government talk down our economy but could not name a single country whose position they would rather be in. They were vocal in criticising our pandemic response, but they remained silent on the fact that their own measures would have cost taxpayers an extra $81 billion, including further expanding JobKeeper and paying people to get vaccinated.

As for Labor's claim of $1 trillion of debt, even my friends at the ABC, with their Fact Check, didn't support that claim. Every democratic government around the world, left or right leaning, incurred COVID debt. Yet Australia emerged from the pandemic in an economic position the envy of most nations, with debt lower than any other major advanced economy.

So, when you hear Labor's spin and when you hear them carry on about a wasted decade, it's a distraction from the fact that this government has no economic plan. Labor will continue to misrepresent the truth until the next election, to mask their own bad decisions—most notably, their bad decisions on energy policy. In the Rudd-Gillard Labor government years, power prices rose, on average, by 12.9 per cent per year. Over nine years of coalition government, they rose, on average, by 0.3 of one per cent per year.

Six months ago, the Australian public heard the Prime Minister very clearly. He said to them that he had a plan to help with your cost-of-living pressures, especially your electricity bills. On 97 occasions he promised to you that your bills would go down by $275. In this budget, instead of going down by $275, as promised, Labor's plan will see your electricity bill go up by more than 56 per cent over the next two years. Not only that, of course, but your gas bill will go up by more than 44 per cent. Pensioners can't afford that level of increase, but it is not just pensioners; it is self-funded retirees, families and small businesses too—in fact, most Australians.

In Europe, we're hearing about people, particularly pensioners and low-income earners, having to choose between paying their power bills or putting food on the table, between heating or eating, this winter. Their electricity and gas bills are spiralling out of control. Countries are rationing power, and not just because of the invasion of Ukraine but because governments in several countries in recent years have made catastrophic energy decisions. They've turned off the secure supply of electricity and gas before the technology and system are ready for new renewable energy. Despite those warnings and lessons, this Labor government is following in the footsteps of those countries.

Investing in renewable energy, reducing emissions and doing so credibly to protect our environment is crucial, and we're committed to it. Indeed, we want a sustainable and sensible pathway to reduce our emissions. But, when the Prime Minister says to you that the sun and wind are free energy sources, your power bill tells a very different story. It's much more complicated than what the Prime Minister wants you to believe. The technology just doesn't yet exist at the scale that is needed to store renewable energy for electricity to be reliable at night or during peak periods. That is just the scientific reality. Firming up means using coal, gas, hydro, hydrogen, nuclear or batteries as an energy source or to store power when renewables aren't feeding the system. But Labor is going to phase out coal and gas before the new technology has been developed and rolled out.

The energy minister calls gas pipeline projects BS. Indeed, in this budget the government makes it harder for more gas supply, at a time when we need it most. On Tuesday night we saw the government rip up funding for gas exploration and cancel gas infrastructure projects which would eliminate shortfalls and make your bills cheaper. They handed over funding to environmental activists who want to overturn gas project approvals. Higher gas prices will be baked in for the foreseeable future, putting high-paying jobs in regional communities at risk.

Competitively priced hydrogen is at least a decade away, and the best batteries in the world today, like the Victorian Big Battery, provide only 30 minutes of power at full discharge. Labor's push for 82 per cent renewables by 2030 comes without a plan to ensure reliable baseload power. Its policies will see hundreds of billions of dollars spent on rolling out poles and high-voltage transmission wires in towns and suburbs. Labor is misleading Australians when it says it can roll out billions of dollars worth of transmission wires, cables and towers for renewable energy in just the next few years. Regional communities and farms will be carpeted with up to 28,000 kilometres of new high-voltage transmission lines. That's almost the entire coastline of mainland Australia, or the distance of travelling from Melbourne to Perth and back four times. Every dollar spent on new transmission lines will be paid for by consumers, through higher electricity bills—bills your Prime Minister promised would go down by $275.

The energy minister himself outed the reckless rush to renewables. He acknowledged that, to reach Labor's legislated 43 per cent by 2030 emissions reduction target, 40 wind turbines must be built every month and 22,000 solar panels installed every day in our country for the next eight years. These costs will considerably ramp up your power bills over coming years. So the 56 per cent hike in your electricity bill that the Treasurer never mentioned in in his speech on Tuesday is just the beginning.

As the Australian Workers Union noted, struggling manufacturers will be forced to move their operations offshore. Should that occur, there will be no net benefit to the global environment, only a net loss of Aussie jobs, income and sovereign capabilities.

Meanwhile, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and the US are all investing in next-generation zero-emission nuclear small modular reactors. They are doing this to shore up energy security and to meet their zero-emissions targets. The UK plans to triple the size of its new-generation nuclear by 2050. The imperative to create affordable, reliable and emissions-free energy is why the coalition is seeking an intelligent conversation on the role that these new-age nuclear technologies might or might not be able to play in the energy mix.

Your cost-of-living relief is interconnected with tax relief. To help you and your families to plan and get ahead, the coalition believes in a core principle—that you should keep more of what you earn. Hardworking Australians should be awarded, and the best reward for hard work is lower taxes. Due to our tax relief in government, a person earning $90,000 paid $3,000 less tax than they did under Labor each and every year. Stage 3 of our legislated plan, lower tax for more than 10 million Australians, will simplify our tax system, abolishing the 37 per cent tax rate in its entirety and reducing the 32½ per cent tax rate to 30 per cent. It means that those earning between $45,000 and $200,000 will pay more than 30 cents in the dollar. For a hairdresser earning $60,000 a year, it means $4,400 more in your pocket; for an executive assistant earning $80,000 a year, $900 more in your pocket; for a qualified diesel mechanic earning $100,000 a year, $1,370 more in your pocket than in Labor's. For 95 per cent of workers it means a top rate of no more than 30 cents in the dollar. Our plan means that the top five per cent of income earners will pay 33 per cent of all income tax. For millions of Australians, you can work hard, take an extra shift or get a pay rise or promotion without suddenly being pushed into a higher tax bracket. Our legislative tax plan futureproofs your income. And, when your income rises over time, you won't be pushed into higher brackets or be hit by tax increases by stealth. Stage 3 tax relief comes into effect in July 2024, and, as economists have pointed out, after interest rate rises, that's when our economy will need it most. That's when Australians especially deserve it.

Labor took our tax plan to the election. Like on energy, they promised unequivocally to honour their commitment, not to reverse it. But now they're laying the groundwork to break this promise as well. This budget provides uncertainty for 10 million Australians expecting tax relief in 2024. The budget is intended to soften up Australians. It gives the government time to come up with more excuses by May of next year to tax you more. In fact, it's important to recognise—and this wasn't mentioned in the Treasurer's speech—that under Labor over four years they will collect an extra $142 billion of taxes that come from you. We know that Labor can't manage money, which means that, when they want more, they come after yours. The coalition will continue to fight for your tax relief because it's your money, not theirs.

Normally family members are here in the chamber for an event like tonight. It was great to see the Treasurer's wife and children here the other night. My teenage boys are in the middle of their exam block in Brisbane, and my wife is at home with them making sure that they're studying for their exams and not watching television. But I wanted to mention my parents, who are both unwell at the moment, unable to travel down to Canberra.

My dad, Bruce, started out as a small-business man, as a bricklayer. My mum, Ailsa, was a secretary. By the time five kids came along, of which I'm the eldest, Mum was at home raising us and doing the books for dad, but she also took in local kids as a day-care mum. My parents had a strong work ethic. They taught us to appreciate the value of money. We were raised with a lot of love and support but not much money. We lived in what is still a working-class suburb. It was a time when Labor was presiding over high interest rates and unemployment, and it was a terrible time for the building industry.

I was encouraged to get a part-time job, as many kids in my generation were—and today are. From grade 7 until I started university I worked in a local butcher shop after school and on Saturday mornings, scrubbing floors and washing up and serving at the counter. It was tough work, but it was character building, and it gave me an appreciation for many different perspectives. I saved like crazy, and one of my proudest achievements was buying my first home. It was nothing flash and a bit less than $90,000, from memory, but it was mine. Today, of course, it's much, much harder, almost impossible, for many young people to afford their first home, even with hard work, even with sacrifice and even with savings.

Tonight I recommit the coalition to assisting first home buyers by accessing their superannuation through the super homebuyers scheme. Currently, a super fund can be used to buy a residential or commercial rental property, to buy shares or even livestock. In fact, it can be used to buy almost any asset class except a home to live in. Taking money out of super before retirement is a bad investment decision unless you put the money back in before retirement. Take this example: a 30-year-old couple each withdraws $50,000 from super to help buy a home. Over a decade, the $100,000 would be worth about $188,000 had it remained in super. But, without the $100,000 from super, the first home buyers wouldn't have been able to afford their home. With access to super, they have a home to live in. If the house were sold after a decade, the $100,000 would be worth around $214,000. And if the $100,000 was reinvested back into super—as we would require—the couple would end up with a balance, from that amount, in their super when they retire of over a million dollars.

Under a coalition government we will extend the same opportunity to women who separate later in life, women with very few housing options and those who are increasingly left homeless. After all, your super is your money. This government think it's their money, something that we've seen in this budget. They want your super to invest in someone else's home, but not your own. At the same time, they want super funds to be less transparent about what they do with your money. The coalition has a strong record when it comes to getting first home buyers and single-parent families into their own homes. We support initiatives to increase the supply of housing, but the government's initiative has no detail. The Labor government has promised one million additional homes in five years, costing $10 billion. Does anyone believe that? It's Kevin Rudd-esque in design. Remember the pink batts and the school halls? They were designed when this Treasurer was the chief of staff to the then Treasurer Wayne Swan. This program has a familiarity to it. Sadly, though, this program falls into the category of wasting billions of dollars and delivering very little—exactly what Labor did when they were last in government.

Another feature of this budget not in the Treasurer's speech was that Labor has no plan to save a predicted 100,000 Australian job losses—that's what they predict over the next four years—but it plans to employ 20,000 public servants in Canberra over the next four years. Across the economy, employers are crying out for workers. In June, the coalition announced our policy to double the age and veteran service pension work bonus scheme from $300 to $600 per fortnight, or to $1,200 for couples. It's a policy to allow older Australians and veterans to work more, if they choose to do so, without losing their pension payment. It not only fills job vacancies and adds to the economy but also helps older Australians and veterans to supplement their fixed incomes and to deal with Labor's 56 per cent increase in their electricity prices. Remember, the Prime Minister swore to you those bills would go down by $275. Labor's policy is about 25 per cent less than the coalition's proposal, and right now we need more incentive in the system to get people into work, not less. We need it now because we need to mobilise a ready workforce.

Australians were hoping that in this budget there would be a lift to productivity. Instead, Labor's changes to multi-employer bargaining threaten to undermine productivity and will be a throw-back to the 1980s. Labor's changes will impose industry-wide, one-size-fits-all conditions which empower unions. Where union ultimatums are not met, however unreasonable, multiple sectors will be able to engage in crippling, economy-wide strikes where parties unaffected by disputes join in on protests. Don't take my word for this. Even Paul Keating has criticised this plan. The last time unions used industry-wide strikes to pursue sector-wide ultimatums was in 1982. In that year, unemployment reached 9.4 per cent and inflation 12.4 per cent, and two million working days were lost in industrial disputation.

We're all here in parliament to improve the lives of Australians, especially children. We're all influenced by our experience in life. As a police officer, I saw the best and the worst that society has to offer. I attended countless domestic violence incidents, and there's nothing worse than hearing calls for help from women or children as you hop out of a police car and run towards a house. I'm proud of the record funding that both sides of politics have provided to services supporting these families. The coalition will invest significantly in these family support services and also to protect women and children from sexual assault. I worked in the sex offenders squad, which has stayed with me even to this day—the horrific details of victim statements and ensuing investigations. And, as Minister for Home Affairs, in charge of the Australian Federal Police, I led the cause. I provided $70 million to establish the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. It's now internationally recognised, and works with global partners to protect our children online and off. It's estimated to have saved more than 500 children. I acknowledge Bruce and Denise Morcombe—it's Day for Daniel tomorrow, so please give generously—along with Sonya Ryan and others who have inspired us as parents to fight back against those who seek to hurt our children. They work hand in glove with the police to prevent children being harmed, and I'm honoured to have worked so closely with them for many years.

Prime Ministers require a strength of leadership to make tough decisions to keep our people and our country safe. My record in the area of child protection and the safety of women will be enduring priorities of a government I lead. The coalition has always been a strong supporter of choice, and that's why we supported increased access to child care for working families. We nearly doubled childcare investment and women's workforce participation reached record highs. Women were earning more than ever before and women's unemployment was at its lowest level since 1974—this is a record of which we are incredibly proud. But we know that we can do much more.

We'll also work with the government to combat the scourge of domestic violence in Australia. Ending violence against women and children within a generation is an ambitious but worthy goal. It's one that our nation should and must strive for, as is continuing to support those with disabilities. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is an important initiative for the most vulnerable in our society. The coalition has supported it since its inception. We cannot allow, however, this important program to become unsustainable. To do so would deprive those in most need of care. The coalition is prepared to support sensible government proposals in this place and in the Senate to strengthen the NDIS and to ensure its sustainability. This provides the structural reform of spending in the budget but, most importantly, provides certainty to people with disabilities and their families.

We celebrate our migrant story and it's a key strength of our economy. As the Minister for Border Protection I did have to make tough decisions to keep our borders secure, but I also brought in record numbers of people from India, China and many other countries. I instructed my department to undertake an operation to resettle Yazidi women, and more than 4,000 Yazidis now call Australia home—and we're proud to call them Australians. Not all Australians will know the plight of the Yazidis. These women were persecuted; many lost their lives at the hands of Islamic State. I'm incredibly proud that members of the Yazidi community are in the gallery tonight. Many of their scars will never heal. The sense of loss of their loved ones will remain with them forever. But they will be able to tell their children, their grandchildren and their great grandchildren that Australia offered them a home, that they took it and that they started a new life. And now they're a wonderful part of our country.

It was disappointing to see in Tuesday's budget that $50 million set aside for round 7 of the Safer Communities funding was cut. Earlier rounds of the program supported the safety of our multicultural communities—for example, to provide security cameras at places of worship and programs to help youth at risk. A coalition government I lead will restore that funding.

As a nation we celebrate our wonderful Indigenous history, but we need to be equally proud of our British heritage and our migrant story. Many parents from across the country are increasingly concerned about the education their children are receiving at school. Despite great teachers and record funding going into schools, government and nongovernment, our nation's literacy and numeracy levels are falling short. It's important to include studies of the environment and many other social policies in our school curriculum, but the system has allowed ideologically driven advocates too much influence over what is taught to our children. Teaching a sanitised and selective version of history and the arts, and radical gender theory, is not in our children's best interests. What is needed is a focus on making the basics a priority: reading, writing and maths; fostering a love of our country and a pride in our history and democracy, without sugar-coating the past; where the teachers lead the instruction and are supported to have orderly classrooms; and where students learn respect, discipline and how to think—not what to think. A coalition government pledges to work with families to respect and to reflect their values and perspectives in our schools.

So much of our lives are already online, be that through internet banking or sharing personal messages, videos and photos. While children and the elderly are most vulnerable, none of us is immune, and a coalition government I lead will do more to help families deal with the threats online. Our laws need to be tightened and social media companies held to account for what happens on their platforms. It needs to be a safe environment. We expect no less online than we do in the real world.

Of course, our threats aren't only online. Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine is a devastating reminder that we shouldn't take for granted our 80 years of relative peace since the end of the Second World War. As defence minister, I provided more than $285 million in support to President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine. It's a signal of our values and sends a statement to the world. We stand shoulder to shoulder with this government in providing even more support, including the announcements that were made today.

The threat of conflict in our own region, as we know, is real. As many military leaders have warned, we have to be realistic about the increasing prospect of that conflict. The AUKUS deal negotiated by Prime Minister Morrison and me will give our country the best chance of peace. It provides deterrence, not just through the acquisition of nuclear powered submarines but through collaboration with our two most important allies in the areas of artificial intelligence, space, cyber, hypersonics and the interoperability of our respective forces. With threats in the region, Labor and the coalition must be on a unity ticket. Australia must not only be a credible defence partner in the region but also ensure our men and women in uniform have the capability they need to credibly deter aggression.

Can I take this opportunity to thank the wonderful members of the ADF, along with first responders, local councillors, community leaders, volunteers and many more, for their efforts in supporting Australians and communities affected by the recent floods.

In government, we invested a record amount in our veterans, and I thank the government for continuing that investment. The number of veteran suicides in our country remains far, far too high. It is a national tragedy.

The coalition strongly supports the government's commitment to expand the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme.

One moment as defence minister I'll never forget was attending the funeral of Private Tom Halloran. Tom was 19 years old when he joined and 21 years of age in March of this year—an incredible young man with everything ahead of him and a proud digger. He took his own life on 26 April this year. Entering the chapel, Kirilly and I spoke with Tom's parents, John and Robyn, and their daughter, Annie, Tom's sister. As you can expect, they put on a brave face, but they were totally crushed. And they were looking for answers. On Tuesday this week, John gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. I spoke to him earlier this afternoon. His family want a better system of support for our diggers. Our whole country does. I've raised some suggestions that the family have made with the Minister for Defence and the Chief of the Defence Force, and I thank them for that audience. We'll work with the government to do whatever is required to turn this situation around.

Infrastructure investment drives economic growth, creates jobs, encourages investment, boosts productivity, busts congestion and supports resilient supply chains. That's why the coalition committed record funding of $120 billion for infrastructure over the next 10 years. In contrast, this government's first budget axed $2.8 billion of infrastructure projects and further delayed $6½ billion worth of projects. We will work to restore that funding in government.

We know that this government has prioritised a $2.2 billion commitment to Daniel Andrews to help with his re-election in Victoria, taking that money away from regional Victorians and regional Australians.

We will work with farmers as they face difficult struggles, because there was nothing for them in this budget. Labor's intent to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent will drive up the cost of meat at the supermarket. It's not only bad for farmers but it has just added to your grocery basket.

In conclusion, Australians will recall that, prior to the election, Prime Minister Albanese promised that he would be a leader who wouldn't run from responsibility. He promised to lead a government that steps up, does its job and doesn't always blame someone else. For all their moral posturing and for all their promises, Labor show time and again that their rhetoric in opposition never matches their actions in government. You are never better off when Labor has its hands on the budget. As an opposition, we will stand against Labor's broken promises. We will have a clearly defined positive and bold plan, ahead of the next election, to take our country forward. We will support hardworking Australians. We will support all Australians. And we will rebuild a stronger economy for your family and for our country.

Debate adjourned.

House adjourned at 20:06