The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Matters of Public Importance: Labor Government
House of Representatives,
Parliament House
Wednesday, 1 July 2026
When the Leader of the Opposition became leader, getting rid of the first woman to head the Liberal Party, he said that his party needed to ‘change or die’. I don't think many Australians thought that they were going to choose door 2, but that's what's happening right now. The modern Liberal Party won't change, and it's choosing to die. They won't change a system that's locked a generation of young Australians out of homeownership. They won't change their natural inclination, in a choice between opportunity and privilege, to back privilege every time. As the Opposition Leader himself might have said: 'Fantastic. Great move. Well done, Angus.'
The fact is that Labor is today introducing measures which are going to benefit millions of Australians, and so many of these measures have been opposed by the shadow treasurer. We are boosting minimum wages and award wages, benefiting more than three million Australians, and yet the shadow treasurer is on the record criticising the Fair Work Commission's decision to deliver a real wage increase to low-income workers. We're increasing wages for care workers, who'll benefit by around $59 a week. A registered nurse will benefit to the tune of about $86 a week. And yet the Shadow Treasurer has criticised better wages for frontline workers as 'borrowing from future generations'.
From today, workers will see payday super. They'll actually see money coming into their super accounts when it should. But the Shadow Treasurer has criticised universal superannuation, labelling it 'a form of economic social engineering' and 'a form of economic insanity'.
From today, Labor is putting in place six months of paid parental leave. But the shadow treasurer has called paid parental leave 'a very bad scheme', saying:
"…that is not my choice that women have children; it's not. It's genetic."
From today, Labor is delivering tax cuts for every working Australian. Yet the shadow treasurer believes that we have to increase taxes on working Australians, having said:
"…we have to move towards a simpler 20 per cent flat personal, company and consumption tax..."
That's right; the Shadow Treasurer wants to double the GST.
From today, Labor is increasing funding to public hospitals by $25 billion. Yet the Shadow Treasurer has championed the privatisation of Medicare so there could be a 'transfer of the health-financing burden shifted from government to individuals'.
Labor is committed to reforms which will boost productivity. From today, we're going to see the $20,000 instant asset write-off become permanent, encouraging small businesses to invest. From today, we're banning price gouging by the big supermarkets, ensuring that those big supermarkets no longer charge excessive prices, as defined by the cost of supply plus a reasonable margin.
We've seen the Coalition backing away from the sources of dynamism that have made Australia so prosperous over past decades. Multiculturalism is backed by 83 per cent of Australians, according to last year's Scanlon survey. Past Liberal leaders, such as Malcolm Turnbull and Malcolm Fraser, and leaders such as Philip Ruddock, Nick Greiner and Jeff Kennett have backed multiculturalism. But when asked the same question, the Leader of the Opposition said things like, 'I don't quite know what you mean by that question,' and, 'Do you want to define it for me?' and, 'There's all these vague words running around.' Asked seven times, he couldn't back in multiculturalism. As the saying goes, if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. Multiculturalism has been a key driver of Australia's success and is supported by four out of five Australians, yet the modern Liberal Party can't bring themselves to back it.
From the beginning of next year, Labor will be getting rid of non-compete clauses for nine out of 10 Australian workers, ensuring that they can move to a better job. Yet there's one kind of non-compete that those opposite are in favour of. The member for Barker, who, thankfully, is here in the House, has said he wants them to have their own ‘non-compete clause’ with One Nation. While John Howard said he would put One Nation last, the modern Liberal Party is a tribute act to One Nation. The modern Liberal Party want to collaborate with One Nation. They want a non-compete with One Nation. They don't believe in standing up against One Nation—well, maybe with one or two exceptions. But, basically, if you put Andrew Hastie off to one side, the modern Liberal Party are in favour of collaborating with One Nation.
And we've seen the scare campaigns being run by those opposite. One news report quoted by those opposite had a business leader saying that they were going to leave Australia because 'China provides a better life than Australia right now, so I was thinking about going back.' But when quizzed by Media Watch as to whether it was really the effect of the Budget, he said:
"No it's not just the Budget. That's just a small thing…The bigger part is…the infrastructure and our cost of living, that's the main thing..."
So is he going to move back? 'Well,' he said, 'I have to let my daughter finish school first.' How old is she? She's nine years old. So he'll go back to China when she finishes year 12? Well, maybe, or when she finishes university, which, according to Media Watch, makes it 2037.
Another critic quoted in the same story, business leader Phillip Wang, said:
"…the government's tax changes would continue to drive capital and innovation out of the country."
Asked how the Telegraph found him, he said:
"I got a phone call from a friend in the Liberal Party…They asked around to see who's willing to take that call."
Oddly, given those opposite have been complaining about the level of net overseas migration, you'd think they might be quite happy about some Liberal Party members saying they're going to move overseas. But, in fact, they're happy to run these scare campaigns on the measures in the Budget which are ensuring that we boost homeownership, which are all about driving productivity.
For small business, we've changed the R&D tax credit so that every dollar of R&D tax credit drives 20 per cent more research and development. For Australians who are looking to afford medicines, the health minister has been putting a record number of drugs through the PBS and driving record funding through our hospital system. We've made Urgent Care Clinics permanent. We are ensuring that the productivity benefits that come from a healthier workforce flow to more Australians. Labor's competition reform agenda will not only make it easier for Australians to move to a better job but also drive competition through the National Competition Policy in a compact with states and territories. We will ensure that reforms such as planning, zoning and growth boosting will be enhanced. We will ensure that it's easier for Australians to work across state and territory borders by getting rid of unnecessary occupational licensing rules. Our negative gearing and capital gains tax changes ensure that all small businesses have access to the capital gains tax exemptions and that 98 per cent of all businesses have access to those exemptions.
We are driving reforms which will see the government contribute to some 420,000 new homes, and the tax changes in the Budget will see another 75,000 Australians own their own home. Labor believes in the same values that once used to be bipartisan. Back in the days of Chifley and Menzies, we had two parties in this country committed to homeownership. But the Liberal Party is now the party which is arguing against tax changes, which, as people like Joe Hockey and Dom Perrottet have pointed out, are necessary if we are to allow young Australians to break into the property market.
So, at the next election, the Coalition will go to the Australian people promising to roll back our changes. To be quite clear about what that means, they will be going to the Australian people calling for the reinstatement of huge tax breaks for investors that will reduce homeownership and will be paid for by higher taxes and worse services. It'll be the last election all over again, when the Member for Hume was the Shadow Treasurer, championing policies that saw the Liberal Party promising to the Australian people to increase their taxes and deliver higher deficits, to fund policies such as taxpayer funded long lunches for bosses. We've seen this movie before. The Liberal Party went to the 1987 election promising to repeal the capital gains tax and fringe benefits tax. They never did it, and they will fail again to roll back Labor's reform agenda, delivered in the interests of all Australians.
Ends