- 5 months ago
The Opposition leader has outlined the Coalition's migration plans, housing plans, fuel and drilling policies in the 2026 Federal Budget response.
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00:00To Australians watching, thank you for your time.
00:05Tonight I want to tell you about my vision for a fairer, freer and better Australia for
00:12all.
00:14An Australia where life is affordable.
00:18An Australia where we have cheap and abundant energy.
00:23An Australia where industries thrive and businesses boom.
00:28An Australia where we innovate, make and build things of ambition and farm, mine and drill
00:36with determination.
00:39An Australia where a single income earner on an ordinary wage has enough for a home deposit
00:45and to pay off a mortgage steadily over time.
00:50An Australia where a mum or dad can afford to take time away from work to do the most
00:55worthwhile thing in life.
00:57Raise a child.
01:00An Australia where those we welcome to our shores are all determined to embrace our values.
01:06To work hard.
01:08To contribute to this nation.
01:10To become Australian.
01:13An Australia where we have confidence in our nation's future.
01:17An Australia where we have hope and optimism.
01:23This isn't the Australia we know today.
01:27But we have known it.
01:30And we can know it again.
01:33We can restore our standard of living and we can protect our way of life.
01:39Now that starts by fighting against the assault on aspiration at the heart of Labor's budget.
01:46Labor is locking out young Australians from the opportunities afforded to older Australians
01:52to build wealth and prosperity and to get ahead.
01:57This Prime Minister is one of many Australians who has benefited from these opportunities.
02:03Now he is pulling up the ladder of opportunity for the next generation.
02:09Not only by whacking higher taxes on housing but also on their savings, investments and small businesses.
02:20When government whacks a tax on something you get less of it.
02:24Less housing, less savings, less investment and less small business for the next generation.
02:36Labor's budget isn't intergenerational fairness, it's intergenerational fraud.
02:43Their budget is also an attack on every Australian.
02:49As Labor's own budget papers state, its tax hikes will reduce the number of houses available
02:55for young Australians to buy or to rent.
03:01Labor's negative gearing changes will hand over housing investment to multinationals and
03:06foreign pension funds.
03:09Labor's increase to the capital gains tax will discourage the investment Australia needs to
03:15grow.
03:17And Labor's small business tax will punish small and family businesses that are already
03:23working harder than ever and collapsing at record rates.
03:29The Treasurer's higher taxes aren't economic reform.
03:33They're an assault on aspiration.
03:36They're an attack on the wealth creation that benefits all.
03:41They will crush the reward for hard work spirit that underpins our nation's success.
03:48And so the Coalition will fight like hell to prevent Labor's toxic taxes from becoming law.
03:57But if they do, I commit that a Coalition Government I lead will repeal them.
04:06Now there's a simple reason why Labor has broken its core election promises.
04:12This incompetent Government has lost control of its spending.
04:17When Labor runs out of its money, it comes after yours.
04:23Intergenerational theft isn't caused by older Australians.
04:27It's been caused by the Albanese Government.
04:30Labor's reckless spending will soon see our country with $1 trillion of debt.
04:38The only way to get debt down is to throw out this bad government.
04:43Now, to know a fairer, freer and better Australia, we also need something that has been missing
04:51for too long.
04:52And that's honesty.
04:55Honesty about what's holding Australia back and leaving Australians behind.
05:01First, mass migration is changing Australia for the worse.
05:07The number of people coming in far exceeds the number of houses built.
05:13Consequently, the great Australian dream of home ownership is vanishing for old and new
05:19Australians alike.
05:21Across its two terms, Labor will have brought in 2 million people.
05:28That includes 90,000 more than planned in the next two years.
05:33By inviting in too many people, too quickly, we've also seen some come with the wrong values.
05:43People who don't want to join and embrace Australia, but people who want to change Australia to suit
05:49them.
05:51We saw this with the Bondi tragedy inspired by radical and violent Islam.
05:56Second, prioritising net zero and emissions reduction above all else has seen cheap, always
06:05on power dismissed for expensive, sometimes on industrial scale renewables, mainly sourced
06:13from offshore.
06:14Power prices have soared, causing households to struggle, businesses to close and industries
06:22to move offshore.
06:25Far from a future made in Australia, our future is being made abroad.
06:31Australians have been fed the lie that our economy can function on solar, wind and batteries alone.
06:38But the truth is, fossil fuels continue to drive our economy and our prosperity.
06:45In this budget alone, Labor has $18 billion in new net zero spending.
06:53Labor's net zero obsession is driving up inflation and destroying our economy.
06:59And that's why net zero must go.
07:04Third, all Australians prosper from having access to international markets.
07:10But blind faith in globalisation has hollowed out our vital industries and made our country
07:16vulnerable.
07:19We are too dependent on other countries for critical supplies for jet fuel, diesel and fertiliser.
07:27And yet we have an abundance of resources beneath our feet.
07:31We could be self-sufficient and re-industrialised in key areas if we stopped locking up our resources
07:37and turbocharged digging and drilling.
07:42Fourth, during the pandemic, many Australians were reliant on government.
07:48But that crisis fed the mistaken belief that bigger government is the solution to every problem.
07:56Anthony Albanese promised that you would be better off under a big Labor government.
08:02But big government hasn't led to better government or Australians being better off.
08:09Government-led housing programs have seen 30,000 fewer homes built each year, 30,000 fewer
08:17each year.
08:19Government-led industry policy has seen billions wasted on pie-in-the-sky schemes like green hydrogen.
08:26Government-led childcare for all has caused costs to rise by 14 per cent.
08:32And government-led energy policy and pushing out gas and coal generation has caused power
08:38prices to surge by 40 per cent.
08:42Labor's reckless spending has caused inflation to soar.
08:47Contrary to Labor's spin, inflation was rising long before the conflict in Iran.
08:55Under Labor, interest rates have gone up 15 times.
09:00And Australia has experienced the worst collapse in living standards in the developed world.
09:07Moreover, under Labor, economic growth is an illusion.
09:12Every single dollar of growth has been due to population growth, mostly immigration.
09:19Every single dollar.
09:20Labor remains committed to the follies of mass migration, net zero, locking up our resources,
09:26businesses and big government.
09:28We need to reject these bad ideas to bring about a fairer, freer and better Australia.
09:37Now my life has taken me from the family farm, sheep yards and shearing shed, to small business,
09:43shops, to factory floors, to boardrooms, to this parliament.
09:49I have seen everyday Aussie men and women who make, build, fix, create, contribute and care.
09:58And I have seen big government, big unions and big business who direct, influence, accumulate
10:06power and seek to control the lives of others.
10:11Our nation is at its very best when everyday Aussies are empowered.
10:18My ambition for this country is to revive the freedom that Australians have lost under Labor.
10:26Not a government directed economy, a free enterprise economy.
10:31Not bigger government, but better government.
10:35Better government that gets the big things right.
10:38Gets off Australians' backs and puts its faith back in you.
10:46To that end, a coalition government under my leadership will axe Labor's toxic taxes,
10:52end Labor's mass immigration and scrap Labor's net zero policies.
10:59When we restore and expand our choices, we can begin to restore our standard of living and
11:06protect our way of life.
11:10Now, Mr Speaker, to lower inflation, interest rates and the cost of living, we must reduce
11:17government spending.
11:19Labor has driven it to a 40-year high outside of the pandemic.
11:25We will work with the government to make its national disability insurance scheme sustainable.
11:31Yet Labor lacks any real resolve to rein in its reckless ways.
11:37And unlike Labor, the coalition will get spending under control and save billions.
11:43We will abolish Labor's climate bureaucracy, its net zero agency, its power lines to nowhere,
11:50and its tax on the family, car and ute.
11:54We will end tax breaks for electric vehicles, which are overwhelmingly going to high income
12:00Australians.
12:02We will terminate Labor's corporate welfare, like sending money to foreign tech companies
12:08companies that don't deliver.
12:12We will remove Labor's handouts for non-citizens.
12:16Many Australians will be surprised to learn that non-citizens are eligible for welfare in
12:22this country.
12:24We have already announced that the First Home Buyer 5% Deposit Scheme will be reserved for
12:30Australian citizens only.
12:32That's because Labor has allowed some 50,000 non-citizens to access this scheme.
12:39Moreover, this government is funding welfare for non-citizens as soon as they arrive on our
12:47soil.
12:48Yet it has cut the private health insurance rebate for Australians over 65 and slashed $600
12:57million for our veterans.
13:01Labor puts Australians second, whereas the Coalition will always put Australians first.
13:10Tonight, I announce that a Coalition Government will reserve the NDIS and 17 different welfare
13:17programs, including JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and the Family Tax Benefit, for Australian citizens
13:25only, and save taxpayers billions.
13:30My message is this.
13:33If you commit to Australia, Australia will commit to you.
13:39After all, the taxes paid by hard-working Australians should support Australians.
13:48Australians know that revenue from booming iron ore, gas and coal prices go a long way.
13:56For instance, revenues can help to build more houses and stronger communities.
14:03As well as the long-term infrastructure in cities and regions that we need, like the inland rail,
14:10that has been axed by Labor.
14:14Revenues can help to pay down debt too.
14:17Since Labor came to office, they have received almost half a trillion dollars in commodity revenue
14:24upgrades, mostly driven by higher resource prices.
14:28This year alone, iron ore prices have averaged more than $100 a tonne US, but this Budget assumes
14:37they return just $60 a tonne.
14:40Instead of paying down debt and building our nation, Labor has squandered resource profits
14:45with its self-indulgent spending.
14:48In contrast, the Coalition will not neglect our responsibility to our children and grandchildren.
14:55Where resource tax revenues are higher than forecast, we will bank 80 cents in every dollar into
15:04a future generation fund.
15:07This fund will help to pay down Labor's trillion dollars of debt.
15:13It will help to invest in nation-building infrastructure.
15:1925 per cent of funding will be for our regions that have been neglected by Labor.
15:25Regions that are home to the natural resources we all benefit from.
15:32Mr Speaker, in my career I have worked across agriculture, energy, resources and infrastructure sectors.
15:41I have helped small and large businesses to grow.
15:46I know what makes an economy tick and what Australia needs to grow and to thrive.
15:55Government doesn't grow the economy, private enterprise does.
15:58Government.
15:59I am your leader.
16:00Tonight I begin to outline how the Coalition will restore Australian prosperity.
16:07It starts with driving investment.
16:12Investment lifts the economy's speed limit.
16:16It drives up jobs, real wages and real income.
16:21And it strengthens the budget to pay for the safety net and to pay down debt.
16:28Investment is a vote of confidence in our country with compounding benefits.
16:34For example, when a builder invests in a ute, he can do more jobs, take on a new apprentice,
16:42grow his business and service more of his community.
16:46To lift confidence in our country and encourage business investment, tonight I announce an
16:53important down payment, the first of many.
16:57We will allow any business with a turnover of less than $10 million to immediately deduct
17:03assets of up to $50,000 on a permanent basis.
17:11To boost investment, we also need to free the economy from the government's chains.
17:17Laws are too complex and obstruct enterprise.
17:23A coalition government will rewrite and simplify the legislative rulebook including the Corporations
17:29Act, Tax Act, Competition Act, National Construction Code and Environment Protection and Biodiversity
17:37Conservation Act.
17:39Take the construction code as one example.
17:43Labor has expanded it to more than 2,000 pages.
17:49The code's thousands of rules add tens of thousands of dollars to new housing bills.
17:56We want the code to be closer to 200 pages.
18:00And we will go further.
18:03Regulatory bodies created by government set rules and enforce laws and that's important.
18:11But under Labor, these regulators have become bigger, more powerful and overbearing.
18:19They're regulating for regulation's sake.
18:21They need to get out of the way.
18:25A coalition government will impose new responsibilities on regulators by law.
18:32We'll require regulators to act in a way that encourages competition, nurtures investment,
18:38increases productivity, boosts wages and grows the economy.
18:45The coalition will also abolish Labor's great big carbon tax, the so-called safeguard mechanism.
18:52This tax jacks up the price on essential building materials like steel, cement and glass, driving
18:59up the cost of a new home.
19:02It also undermines investment in key industries and hastens them going offshore.
19:09Indeed, we'll abolish Labor's crippling net zero carbon taxes wherever we find them.
19:15On mining, manufacturing, electricity, vehicles and imports.
19:24Just as I want more investment in Australia, I want Australians to keep more of their income.
19:34If you're feeling poorer under this government, it's because you are.
19:40Labor is stealing from you with inflation.
19:43Inflation.
19:44The Treasurer says inflation will reach 5 per cent next month.
19:49People see Labor's inflation steal from them in higher grocery prices, power bills, mortgage
19:56repayments and other cost of living expenses.
20:01But Labor is stealing from Australians in another way.
20:05Year after year, year after year, without new laws, without an election and without you
20:12even noticing until you look at your bank account.
20:16When your wages rise, just to keep up with inflation, you're no better off.
20:22But you pay higher taxes as though you are better off.
20:27More of your income goes into a higher tax bracket.
20:31This is bracket creep.
20:34And it's why you feel poorer.
20:37The higher Labor's inflation goes and the longer it lasts, the more the government takes from you.
20:45This is a stealth raid on Australians working hard to get ahead.
20:51Labor is promising that your real wages will finally go up.
20:55Labor's plan is to tax away all of workers' real wage gains.
21:01Living standards go nowhere.
21:04A typical worker on $70,000 a year will see their entire real wage gains taxed away.
21:12The worst thing about this tax is that it keeps going up and keeps taking more each year forever.
21:21Under a coalition government I lead, this will end.
21:27Tonight I announce our tax-back guarantee.
21:32From 2028-29 we will index the bottom two income tax thresholds to inflation.
21:41That will fully protect 85 per cent of income earners with relief of around $2.50 in year
21:48one for a typical worker, growing to more than $1,000 a year in year four.
21:54From 2031-32 we will index the top two tax thresholds as well.
22:02That will fully protect all income earners from inflation.
22:07This is generational tax reform.
22:11It is fair, it is simple and it is honest.
22:16It will back Australians to work hard, take risks, invest in their future and invest in
22:22our country's future.
22:24It will force government to respect your money.
22:28Any government that wants to tax Australians more should have the courage to front up and
22:35take that tax increase to an election.
22:39Under Labor, Australians work harder, pay more and fall behind.
22:46Under the coalition, Australians will be rewarded, keep more and get ahead.
22:55From my first day as Opposition Leader, I said I wanted to re-establish home ownership
22:59as the centrepiece of the Australian dream.
23:04My goal is more houses for Australians and a fairer go for young Australians.
23:10A coalition government will get stalled housing projects moving again.
23:16We will invest $5 billion in supporting infrastructure like roads, water, power and sewerage.
23:25With this support, we will unlock 400,000 new homes for Australians.
23:35As I said, we will cut red tape which will take up to $70,000 off the cost of a
23:42new home.
23:44But the biggest problem with access to housing is that under Labor, immigration numbers are
23:50too high.
23:50Anyway, with Labor having opened the migration floodgates, the dream of home ownership has
23:57become a nightmare for so many Australians.
24:01Since Labor was elected, it has brought in a record 1.4 million people, about the population
24:07of Adelaide.
24:10That number accounts for 80 per cent of our population growth over the same period.
24:14That is why there is a shortfall of homes for about 400,000 people.
24:22Australians are deeply concerned about the scale and pace of immigration on housing, infrastructure
24:29and services.
24:31And that includes migrants themselves, who have become Australians.
24:35Tonight, I announce a far-reaching and unprecedented housing policy.
24:42It is also an immigration policy that puts Australians first.
24:47A coalition will cap immigration numbers based on the number of homes constructed each year.
24:55Never again will a government be able to bring in more people than our housing can support.
25:02That is our commitment.
25:07I also stress this point.
25:10Given the magnitude of people coming in under Labor, immigration will need to be significantly
25:15below our cap in the first few years of a coalition government.
25:20We must allow the housing market to catch up.
25:24Only closer to the election can we provide a precise immigration number.
25:29It would be rash to do so now because Labor always exceeds its immigration targets.
25:37And it will do so again, Mr Speaker.
25:41By the next election, the situation could be even worse than it is today.
25:48But this much I promise.
25:51The coalition will deliver one of the biggest cuts to immigration in the history of this country.
25:58Our immigration cut will complement our plan to lift immigration standards.
26:04We will make the existing Australian value statement an enforceable visa condition.
26:09We will make it an obligation, not an option, for permanent visa holders to learn English.
26:16We will enhance screening to stop radicals from entering our borders.
26:22We will curtail frivolous protection claims by restoring temporary protection visas and establishing
26:29a list of safe countries deemed free from persecution.
26:34And we will process and deport 70,000 overstayers who have no legal right to stay.
26:43Those who criticise the law being enforced must explain why their sympathies lie with illegal overstayers, instead of with migrants
26:53and Australians who abide by the law.
26:58In a dangerous world of coercion, crises and conflict, we need to address threats and risk comprehensively and get serious
27:09about our self-reliance.
27:11Tonight, I announce that a coalition government will develop a national security strategy
27:17and appoint a dedicated national security adviser.
27:22Central to that strategy will be defence.
27:26Unlike Labor, with its accounting trickery, the coalition will commit to spending at least 3 per cent of GDP on
27:33defence.
27:35That is what is needed to bolster our ranks of warfighters in this country, to harden our bases, to deliver
27:42AUKUS, to build offensive and defensive drones and missiles at speed and scale in an age where such weapons are
27:50essential to deter a larger adversary.
27:56Energy security will also be a priority in this new strategy.
28:00While renewables have a role in our energy mix, especially rooftop solar and home batteries, they aren't a rapid replacement
28:08for fossil fuels.
28:10Fossil fuels still deliver most of our energy needs.
28:14Australia isn't undergoing a rapid pain-free energy transition as Labor pretends.
28:21Australia's energy security requires energy abundance.
28:26That's the coalition's goal.
28:28So tonight, I announce that a coalition government will work with coal-fired power plant owners to keep them running
28:35as long and as hard as possible.
28:39To get electricity prices down.
28:43On fuel, the coalition has said we will double our minimum reserves of petrol, diesel and jet fuel to put
28:51our total reserves within reach of 90 days.
28:54We will also invest $800 million for new fuel storage to give us 1 billion litres of additional capacity.
29:03To incentivise more refining capacity, we will make the fuel security services payment available to companies who can build new
29:11refineries.
29:12This includes refining of non-conventional fuels like biofuels and coal-to-liquids.
29:21Ultimately, we want decades of fuel reserves and much more energy.
29:26We can achieve that by getting Australian resources out of the ground.
29:32More Australian gas working hard for Australians.
29:35More Australian oil working hard for Australians.
29:39To dig and drill, the coalition will remove obstacles.
29:44As I said earlier, we will abolish Labor's hidden carbon taxes like the safeguard mechanism.
29:48And we will rewrite Labor's anti-development environmental laws to speed up approvals.
29:56We are also going to unlock critical gas and oil projects.
30:00We will create, under law, national strategic priority projects.
30:06Two-nation building projects will be immediately designated by a coalition government.
30:12The Browse Basin offshore gas field in Western Australia.
30:17And the Taroom oil field in Queensland.
30:22The Commonwealth will get out of the way so the states can get projects going.
30:27The coalition will also put an end to the green energy rent-seeking.
30:32We will back any technologies that can deliver affordable and reliable energy in this country.
30:39That includes coal, gas, hydro, batteries and renewables in the right places.
30:45And it will include nuclear power too.
30:48We will lift the ban.
30:51To Australians watching tonight.
30:56I know you are struggling on many fronts.
31:00I know you are apprehensive about yours and your children's future.
31:07I know you are worried about the state of our cherished country.
31:14But decline isn't inevitable.
31:19Damage isn't irreparable.
31:24Difficulty isn't insurmountable.
31:29We can restore our standard of living.
31:32We can protect our way of life.
31:37I am not under any misapprehension.
31:39There is much work the coalition must do to win your confidence.
31:45But with the policies I have announced tonight and the vision I have outlined,
31:49I hope you can begin to believe again.
31:54Believe in our promise of better government.
31:57Believe in the prospect of a fairer, freer and better Australia.
32:05That Australia is worth fighting for.
32:09Now more than ever.
32:11And the fight starts tonight.
32:14Speed!