Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Let's be very, very clear about what's happened over the break. It's very, very clear what's happened. The Labor Party voted for stage 1, 2 and 3 of a very carefully calibrated tax package a few years ago. They voted for it. They took it to the election. They promised over a hundred times not to trash it. The PM campaigned on trust: 'Trust me; I won't trash it.'

What has happened over the break? If they fervently believed this was a cost-of-living measure that needed to happen for Australians doing it tough, why wasn't it part of their October budget in 2022? Why wasn't it part of their May budget in 2023? Why wasn't it part of their MYEFO considerations at the end of last year? What's the only thing that's changed? Australians have been struggling with cost of living because of this government for 18 months. As Senator Birmingham made very, very clear, Australian households are 8,000 bucks worse off as a result. Some $24,000 a year in additional mortgage payments have to be found by the average mortgage holder in this country. Why? It's because this government can't get the fundamentals of economic management right. They can't get their spending under control. They can't lift productivity. So we have had inflation higher than it needs to be and prices going up more than people's wages. That is not Australian small businesses' fault. It is your government's fault because you cannot get your own spending under control and get inflation under control.

What is the only thing that's changed since two budgets and a MYEFO? They could have brought this forward. They could have done their triple-pike backflip. What would it be, Senator Birmingham? What would it be? Oh, I know! A Dunkley by-election. The Prime Minister has trashed his reputation to bribe voters in a by-election. That's the only reason. And why? It's because they did the internal polling. They went: 'Mate, we're going to have to do something pretty drastic here. They don't believe us. They don't trust us. They know we're not on their team. They know we've been focused on a voice referendum that no-one voted for. We spent 450 million bucks on that. How do we win their trust back? I know: we'll lie to them.'