Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This issue is not about what those opposite claim. At the heart of this is the issue of trust. Our democracy needs—it demands—that Australians can trust their Prime Minister. Leadership as Prime Minister means that people might not always like you and they might not always like your decisions, but true national leadership means that people can understand and can trust your decisions, big and small, are made on behalf of our nation.

There is no question that, this week, the Labor government have betrayed Australian taxpayers, they have killed reform of the tax system and they have trashed the aspirations of millions of hardworking Australians. They also can't be trusted anymore on negative gearing, capital gains tax and the family home—all of those other things they have promised not to touch. As Senator Babet has just gone through, they have already broken so many promises, but this is the biggest and the worst yet.

The Prime Minister promised 100 times that they would not do what they have done in relation to the stage 3 tax cuts. He said, 'My word is my bond.' But his bond is no longer his word, and he no longer deserves the trust of the Australian people. The Albanese Labor government have misled and betrayed the Australian people, and they know he cannot be trusted again. That is a sad, sad thing for our democracy.

As Liberals, we are the party of lower taxes. It is in our DNA that all Australians who are aspirational and work so hard to realise their aspirations for themselves, for their own lives, and for their families should keep more of what they work so hard to deliver. Many of these hardworking Australians are in my own home state of Western Australia, and they are FIFO workers. FIFO workers work so hard. They make so many sacrifices in their lives to earn money, to meet their own aspirations and, as they get a family, to meet the aspirations of their family as well. Labor is crushing the aspirations of hundreds of thousands of FIFO workers—the majority of them probably in my home state—and it is a disgrace. The real issue here is that Prime Minister no longer deserves or gets the trust of the Australian people. (Time expired)