Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was illuminating, I think we'd have to say. I think Senator Grogan just said the quiet part out loud when she said 'we', meaning the government, appointed this new productivity commissioner, Ms Wood. My understanding is that the Governor-General makes that appointment, under the legislation. But we learn something every day! And we know that this Labor government does have a top-down, central control approach to government, so why should it be any different in respect of this particular appointment?

We've made the observation many times over the last 18 months or thereabouts—I've made it many times myself—that we on this side of the chamber said prior to the last election that it was not going to be easy under Albanese, to coin a phrase. I think it becomes clearer every day that that was quite prophetic. We're seeing example after example. If you're a homeowner it hasn't been easy under Mr Albanese, as a result of the interest rate rises. For households it has not been easy seeing massive increases in energy bills. Families have seen massive spikes in shopping bills over the last 18 months, primarily, I would say, as a result of this government's reckless energy policy and the war on cheap energy.

No-one on that side of the chamber is saying it. They're all saying, 'We don't have any plans to introduce an inheritance tax,' despite the fact that they've got about a thousand champions for an inheritance tax. But, as a result of this decision, it's very clear we're now looking down the pipeline into the brewing battlefield of death and inheritance taxes by stealth. They're coming. We can see it. We've been saying it for a while. My colleague Senator Gerard Rennick has been talking about this for a while. Senator Canavan pointed out that Senator Ayres has a particular penchant for an inheritance tax. Who wouldn't? What self-respecting leftist wouldn't love the thought of taxing—

That's right. Thank you, Senator Henderson. The appointment—sorry, the selection by the Labor Party, or the Star Chamber, depending on who you ask in this room—of this new chair of the Productivity Commission has—