Change is not the easy path, but we’re not here to do what’s easy

Mr Wilson (9:45am) – Deputy Speaker, my community shares what I think is Australia’s defining national characteristic, namely the value we place on shared wellbeing and our preparedness to take on the difficult task of making change in the cause of greater fairness, inclusion, and sustainability. Now that’s a nice thing to say, but what does it mean in reality?

It means we are prepared to change arrangements that are skewed away from people trying to make a go of it and skewed towards those of us who are already doing reasonably well. It means we do not accept the situation where home ownership is drifting out of the reach of younger Australians. It means we do not accept the situation where the tax treatment of income from wages is less generous than the tax treatment of income from investments, and what it requires is the courage to change. It requires strength of character in all of us to deliver on our values, because if we say about ourselves that we support change for the greater good, then we need to make that true in our conduct.

Now, there’s no question that our tax system has elements that aren’t as effective or as fair as they could be. The only question is whether we’re prepared to do something about it, or not.

And, Deputy Speaker, in a period of substantial global turmoil, the Albanese Government has shown from the start that we accept the responsibility given to us by the Australian community to deliver sensible and necessary reform. We’ve done that with the Stage 3 tax cuts, we’ve done that with changes to increase superannuation overall, and to make sure that super tax concessions are shifted to benefit people with low super balances. We’ve done that with reform to the PRRT and the introduction of a Gas Reservation Scheme to make sure that Australian households and businesses can get fair-priced Australian gas, while we drive the clean energy transition, but we know there’s more to do, and in this budget we’re seeking to make further change in a careful and consultative fashion.

Since the Howard Government decided to change the Capital Gains Tax arrangements in 1999 house prices have grown twice as fast as wages, that has fed into the housing crisis. It has created an investment distortion that is making housing less and less affordable, while contributing to broader intergenerational inequity. And if this distortion isn’t fixed, then house ownership will drift further and further away from younger Australians. If we are not prepared to make sensible change, then the position of working people, which is the significant majority of Australians, will deteriorate further.

Deputy Speaker, we are prepared to make the case for positive reform, and I have heard from so many people over the years who rightly expect their government to take responsibility for tackling problems that are embedded in the status quo, that’s what they expect, that’s what they should expect, that’s what we are responding to. That is not the easy path. Change is not the easy path, but we’re not here to do what’s easy. We are here, we are charged with a responsibility to shift the dial in the direction of fairness, which is better for all of us, which is what Australian governments should deliver, which is what the Albanese Government is delivering.