James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It cut taxes. Because cutting taxes is good for you. It is good for your family. It is good for your job, whether you are working for a small company or a big company. It is good for the company that employs you. It is good for you if you want to get ahead and start your own company, for those people who have a dream.

Those of us on the Right and the Centre Right of politics believe in this concept called freedom; those on the Left don't. We believe that you, as the individual, as the family unit, as the community, should have the freedom to do as much as you wish without impinging upon the rights of the other, and the classic case of this is the freedom to spend your money. Because it is your money. It is not the government's money. It has never been the government's money. It is your money because you worked for it, whether you were digging holes or sitting in an office, whatever you were doing. It is your money. And we on this side of politics—and it is that defining streak that goes through this chamber—believe you can spend that money as you wish, because it's your money and you know what to do with it. It's not the government's money.

The government has a role to play—a limited role, in my view—in the affairs of the nation. The nation is best served by powerful individuals who have the means, through their own blood, sweat and tears, to go ahead and do as they wish and not be controlled by a government that taxes them from birth until death and spends their money, often on vanity projects of politicians, like Pink Batts, 'clash for clunkers' and many of the other renowned—I don't know if 'renowned' is the correct word to use there—schemes of the Left.