Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's been an article of faith in the Liberal Party, handed down in reverent tones from Liberal parent to Liberal child, that the Liberal Party stands for lower taxes while the godless socialists of the Labor Party seek only to tax and spend the nation into economic oblivion. The facts tell a different story, of course—has anybody heard about those two Labor budget surpluses? Facts rarely shake those of the deepest faith, but what a shock it must have been this week for even the bluest of blue believers to see holy writ being torn up before their eyes: a Labor government voting to cut taxes and a Liberal opposition voting to keep taxes higher. The Liberal leader even described Labor's tax cuts as a 'cruel hoax', despite the fact they contribute to a package of tax cuts, now delivered by a Labor government, that will see, on average, $2½ thousand put back into the pockets of Australian workers every year.

But I'll tell you what is a cruel hoax. Spending three years as Liberal leader voting against every cost-of-living relief measure the Labor government has put forward and then claiming to care about the cost of living—that's a cruel hoax. Spending a parliamentary career railing against so-called higher taxing governments but then voting to keep taxes higher—that's a cruel hoax. Opposing work-from-home flexibility, which saves workers the significant cost of travelling to and from an office, but then opposing workers having the right to disconnect from their employers when on their own time—that's a cruel hoax. Standing next to tradies and apprentices and claiming that he backs them, but voting against the same job, same pay laws that ensure workers are treated fairly on the job—that's a cruel hoax. Inviting employers to claim long lunches as tax breaks, but opposing their employees getting even modest tax cuts—that's a cruel hoax. Complaining about immigration while opposing the Labor government's cap on student visa numbers—that's a cruel hoax. Complaining about crime, when, as a Liberal minister, he presided over a migration system riddled with corruption and human trafficking, and did nothing to stop robodebt—that's a cruel hoax. Complaining about the cost of energy, when he did nothing as a senior Liberal minister for 10 years to produce more energy supply—that's a cruel hoax. Complaining about the cost of energy, but voting against Labor's power bill relief and against Labor's cap on domestic gas prices—that's a cruel hoax. Planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers' money developing nuclear reactors, when, as a Liberal minister, he said such a plan would be too expensive and take too long—that's a cruel hoax. Planning to cut thousands of public servant jobs, when he wasted millions of dollars on expensive consultants as a senior Liberal minister—that's a cruel hoax. Claiming he supports veterans while planning to cut the jobs of the staff who provide their services—that is a cruel hoax.

The next election will be called within days and will be held in May. In just three years, this federal Labor government has delivered a record number of new jobs, supported higher wages and fairer working conditions, delivered bigger and better tax cuts and halved Liberal inflation. We know the job's not done and we know people are still doing it tough. The difference between Labor and the Liberals is that Labor is doing something about it. Our measures are improving the economy over the long term after a decade of Liberal neglect and failure. We are fixing the skills crisis that we were left with with free TAFE. We are building more homes. We are delivering critical infrastructure, improving school and tertiary education and strengthening Medicare. We are doing this while providing affordable, responsible cost-of-living relief, backing in higher wages and delivering permanent tax cuts so workers earn more and keep more of what they earn.

The alternative is a divided Liberal Party at war with itself and its own principles, a Liberal Party wedded to a nuclear plan that is unaffordable, undeliverable and unnecessary, a Liberal Party that will smash the essential services Australians rely on, and all led by a Liberal leader whose own record as a Liberal minister is one of cuts and portfolio failure.

This will be my last contribution to this parliament. I use it to urge all listening to vote Labor at the May election in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate. In Lyons, vote 1 Rebecca White.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to get up and speak quickly about the cost-of-living relief that we're going to be giving in tonight's budget-in-reply, as some have alluded to, but also about some of the wonderful Nats candidates who are standing in this general election. As we saw, 70c a day, Labor's plan a year or two out, isn't cost-of-living relief. You wouldn't even get two-minute noodles on special at 70c. But ours is going to be immediate cost of living relief. If you fill up your tank, it's about 60 litres. You're going to be saving $15-20 every time you fill up the tank. That's real cost-of-living relief.

I know our candidates are excited about this. I wanted to go through a number of our candidates that are standing for us. We have Mia Davies in Western Australia standing in the seat of Bullwinkel. She is a wonderful candidate and was actually the Leader of the Opposition in the WA parliament in the last term. Her father, too, was a Nationals legend. She has real Nationals pedigree. She is standing in the seat of Bullwinkel and will be a great representative given the fact that she has been in the state parliament and has represented her seat over there very well. We are excited about Mia potentially being in chamber.

We also have a great candidate in Bendigo. You might say, 'Bendigo? The Nationals?' but yes, we have a strong candidate in Andrew Lethlean, a really well known small-business man in Bendigo. He's running a great campaign. He has strong local support, and we're excited about his candidacy in Bendigo. We're looking forward to him joining.

We also have Sam Farraway running in Calare. We're really excited about Sam being a candidate for the Nationals in Calare as well. Sam is an ex state MP, has a great record as a state roads minister and is a really strong local person. I was talking to Sam this morning. He knows that cost-of-living issues are the important issues for the people of Calare. We spoke this morning about the petrol excise cut, the tax cut on petrol, and Sam is very supportive. He's also very excited about our nuclear plan cutting energy bills. There is a proposition to have a nuclear generator at Mount Piper, and he says he wants that because it's reliable base load. We support and like renewables, but we need secure base-load power. He says he wants to know where all the candidates stand in Calare on this nuclear generator. As he says, if we don't have a nuclear generator there, where are we going to put the 1,500 wind turbines that we would otherwise have to have?

As for other things that I know are important to Sam, he speaks with great passion about the Great Western Highway. He was very disappointed in the Labor-Greens-teals-Independents budget this week in the sense that there was no new money for the $2 billion needed for the Great Western Highway. The $15 million Bathurst integrated medical centre is a very big passion of his. There was no money for that either. There was also no money for local roads in Calare. As Sam said, that's what you get when you get an Independent.

At the last election, Calare did elect a Nationals MP. He, for his own reasons on the voice referendum, left the Nationals. We were very disappointed that he left, but we are asking the good people of Calare. We are very worried about the election if after the election result we were to get a minority Labor-Greens-teals-Independents government. We think that wouldn't be good for the people of Calare. We don't think that would be good for the people of Australia.

We're asking the people in Bullwinkel, the people in Bendigo, the people in Calare, the people in Whitlam, the people in Hunter and the people in Richmond, where Kimberly Hone is running. We have some great candidates around the country. We're asking all those local communities to support their Nationals candidate, because, as I said, we want strong representatives, and I think the best result for this country after the next election is to have a majority Liberal-Nationals coalition. We have been proven through many decades of being in government to be strong economic managers. We have national security concerns as well, which we think we will be stronger on. We know we need cost-of-living relief, which is why the petrol excise is important to us. We know it's important to family budgets. We know 70c a day a year or two out isn't going to cut the mustard.

Again, I'm very excited about Sam Farraway in Calare and many others. We need strong representation in this chamber for the Australian people, especially in regional communities, not a Labor-Greens-teals-Independents minority government.