Scott Buchholz
Wright · Liberal Party · Australia
“Scotty, you've got to get rid of this bad government so that our business can survive.' The last one was: 'Scotty, it's like a perfect storm of despair for us—continued interest rate rises with more to come, government policy designed specifically to devalue the family home and crippled consumer confidence.”
“Yesterday, during question time, the Prime Minister was twice asked directly to guarantee that the housing market in Australia wouldn't tank, and twice he refused to do so. I rang a number of real estate agents in my electorate this morning, and I spoke with them. I'm going to record into Hansard what three of their comments were.”
“My electorate is predominantly agriculture; the largest contributor to GDP is agriculture. I live in an electorate where men and women who work on farms often get up before the sun gets up. Their faces are tanned, and their hands are cracked and blackened with earth and soil.”
“We proudly welcome every one of those families that choose to relocate to Wright purely because of the level of representation at federal government. There can be no other reason.”
“It would not surprise anyone within these rooms that, when I take a snapshot of these boards and bring them to the House, the cost of living is far and away the most predominant. I did, however, change my lists of issues that they could raise with me.”
“I also want to acknowledge young Hugh. Over dinner last night, Hugh told me that in his spare time after school he works with his brother who's a couple of years into his diesel mechanic trade apprenticeship. They go out harvesting, and he drives tractors, but he can only just see over the steering wheel.”
The complete record
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“My phone was ringing hot in the morning, with constituents in the electorate of Wright letting me know their disappointment with the trail of broken promises from Labor as a result of the budget last night. I said, 'Where are the broken promises?' They said: 'We were promised $275 to reduce our electricity some time back, and that never happened. We were told that electricity prices were going to go down, and they've actually increased 43 per cent, and we were told that, if Labor spent $43 billion on housing, it would supercharge the economy and more houses would be built and that it would be easier for young Australians to get access to the market.' The reality is, when we left government, we were building 220,000 homes a year. Under these guys, it's 40,000 fewer.”
“That's sobering. So, if this continues and you're doing three basis points a year, that's close to four per cent, with some ebbs and flows, over three or four years. Can you imagine the effect that that will have on the Australian public? It is incumbent on us as a government to not be doing everything possible but to be acting now. A wise man once said, 'The smartest time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, to be able to sit in the shade of it.' The smartest time now to be building the infrastructure that we need to be able to manufacture our fertiliser and to manufacture and be independent of our own AdBlue supplies and our fuel sovereignty is now. I want to work with the government on bringing solutions that protect every single Australian.”
“If we're still having this conversation in two, three or four years, as I said to my growers, 'The inputs that you're worried about today, like fuel, will fall into insignificance when the inflationary effects of fuel, fertiliser, adBlue and all the other costs are felt.' Remember, when you go to a shop and buy something that's packaged in plastic, your fruit and vegetables, all that plastic and packaging is a by-product of fuel. So, when fuel goes up, you won't just feel it at the bowser; you'll feel it across every commodity when you go to the checkout. That inflationary effect that will flow through has the potential, on our current trajectory—and Westpac are making these projections already for the short term, for the next 12 months—for interest rates in Australia alone to move three basis points by the end of the year.”
“Can I assure those farmers who, as I said at the beginning of my speech, were ringing and telling me about their problems with a lack of fuel that fuel is going to be the least of their problems if this is going on for two or three or four years. Fuel is going to be the least of their problems if they've got fuel in the trucks but they don't have fertiliser, which is another fuel-based commodity, a petroleum by-product that comes predominantly from gas through the urea that we need for nitrogen—a component which has revolutionised the agricultural sector with its yields. Fertiliser now is the single most valuable commodity when we're doing our inputs into a crop. The other concern we have is adBlue.”
“We as a country have little or no influence over that geopolitical landscape. As a result, we then take a look at what the mid-term risk looks like: troops on the ground and a 12-month insurgence. And the worst-case scenario that the risk assessors are genuinely making provisions around is a four-year conflict. When they make predictions of a four-year conflict, they're doing that around previous conflict timeframes, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. We all remember Russian President Putin's words that he'd be in and out of Ukraine in eight days. Three years later, they are still heavily entrenched with each other's conflict. So there's a real possibility that this could last for years. The risk assessments are being done now, so let's take that as our starting point.”
“We've all heard the phrase that without trucks, without the transport sector, our nation stops. That is a dire situation, and it's incumbent on us to find solutions to keep our transport sector moving and to keep our truckers rolling. I also have had conversations in this place with risk assessors, those who will make assessments on this current conflict and assess how this affects their business, the financial markets and the insurance markets into the future. Take, for example, bond rates and what they look like into the future. Assessors will make short-term, mid-term and long-term risk assessments. God willing, the short-term risk assessment is that this is over and done in a matter of weeks, if not months, the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East is reopened, and we see some return to normality.”
“The second part of the bill that came through the House concurrently allowed the transport sector to pass on the fuel levy. Some seven out of 10 transport operators may have entered into long-term contracts with suppliers. I know, when I was a transport operator, I had rise-and-fall provisions in my contracts that allowed me, when fuel went up, to pass that through and subsequently, when fuel went down, to make sure that those savings would go back to head contractors, multinationals. I do understand that there's a whole swathe of independent operators that don't have that complexity and that level of sophistication in their contract agreements and that are taking the opportunity now that fuel has near on doubled just to simply park their trucks up.”
“We got some type of idea of what an essential service looked like during COVID. If those farmers don't have the diesel that they require to plant the food to put on the plates of Australians in a month's time—the crisis that we face now of not having diesel falls into insignificance when we don't have food to put on the shelves. I just make that point I make these points to outline what we need to be doing as a government to make sure that we are trying to inoculate ourselves from every scenario. Last week, there were two bills that were introduced into the House. One was to deal with the fuel crisis. One was a bill to deal with increasing the fines for the ACCC on regulators or fuel suppliers who may be taking the opportunity to gouge.”
“In the last 48 hours, I have spoken with a number of constituents in my electorate who are reaching out to voice their concerns, and there is no better place than a grievance debate to raise those concerns and share them with the Australian public. I'm sure those on the other side of the chamber are receiving exactly the same calls. I have a fuel distributor who sends nine B-doubles to the fuel terminal a week. He supplies 450 farmers. He supplies two shire councils. He supplies six service stations and three bus companies. Last week, he was down to two B-double loads, and the distributors have told him that there's no fuel this week. Can you imagine what his business model looks like when it comes to clients ringing him right in the middle of a harvest time—those growers that I said that he represents.”
“I start by offering my comments to my fellow Australians about the current crisis that finds itself at the feet of every Australian at the moment, with reference to those that are exposed to fuel prices and those that are exposed to the lack of fuel. I think, at the last count, there were over 900 service stations without fuel. Perplexing for some to think as to how this could happen when we are being told that we have the storage capacity in hand and that this is nothing other than panic buying by the Australian public—my task here with this grievance debate is not to come in here and join a conga line of tit-for-tat, blaming one or the other for the perilous situation that we find ourselves in, but to have a sobering conversation with the Australian public about what the coming months and potentially the coming years look like.”
“The Australian public just want us to fix a problem that they know was not brought about by any debate in this chamber. It's been brought about by factors across the seas in the Middle East. But what we do need to get our act together on is making sure that as a country we are resilient into the future—that we are resilient when it comes to being able to keep fuel in the bowsers for our farmers to create the food we need and to being able to keep open our manufacturing plants, particularly for fertiliser and for AdBlue. And, if those plants don't exist, we need to enter into crisis talks immediately to make sure that our country gets the service it deserves from both of us.”
“People are going to be paying less for their fuel because this opposition brought into the chamber and started the debate on having a look at the reduction in fuel excise. I'm proud to be part of an opposition that started the debate, that led that debate and that brought it into the chamber, and now the government has acted on it. I think Australians are sick of us having our conversations across the chamber. We come in and we talk about how many fuel bowsers are empty around the country. They come in and talk about: 'Nothing to see here. We're doing an excellent job, and the Australian public should be proud of the Australian Labor Party.' I think the frustration at the bowser is them blaming both of us—they want resolutions.”
“I'm suggesting the fuel excise has got far more ramification, far more of a sense of instant relief at the bowser—instant relief for my growers. I've got a distributor up in my electorate. He normally picks up about nine B-double loads from the terminal in Brisbane every week—450 farmers, two shire councils, three bus companies, six servos. Last week, he had two B-double loads. This week, he's been told there's none. The flow-on effects into our community are horrendous. And, if you think we've got problems today, come back in a month's time, when we don't have fuel. They're going to be a lot worse then. I invite the Prime Minister, the energy minister, anyone who's got carriage of these bills. I will talk to you about a genuine conversation around fuel excise which helps the punter this afternoon.”
“Now, I don't say that anything other than the conflict in the Middle East is to blame. I'm not here to play the politics. Like I said, I'm not good at that. But I am good at fixing problems. I'm good at getting stuff from A to B. I made a lot of money out of it. And I reckon I could fix this. I invite the parliament to engage with us, either on the floor of parliament or behind the scenes. I don't care where we have the conversation, but let's start having a conversation about what fuel excise looks like, because we heard member after member on the other side come into this parliament and say, 'We step in when people need help.' Well, that's not help. Doubling the penalties is not help. It won't change the price at all. We need to do something.”
“If we've committed to road infrastructure and that money was earmarked to pay for it, what would the unintended consequences be of having to halt road construction as a result of that fuel excise money not flowing? I don't know what the answer is, but let's have that conversation. Let's have the conversation about maybe even halving the excise and staging it over a period of time. None of us know how long this conflict is going to go on for. The only thing I know is that no-one on the other side is going to bring a solution. And I can assure you that the doubling of penalties will do little or nothing to change the bowser price of fuel in this country—if you can get a litre of fuel! Yesterday, here in the chamber, we heard the Minister for Climate Change and Energy unashamedly say how many service stations are out of fuel.”
“In the time remaining on this bill, what we should be talking about—as a government, as an opposition—is fuel excise. We should be talking about the levers that we can pull now. For every litre of fuel, there's 52.6c in fuel excise. We should be discussing what we should be doing with that. We should be having that conversation as mature politicians, but they won't come to the party on it. They won't have that discussion. We should be discussing fuel excise—whether or not we trim it or freeze it all together and give an instant 52.6c off the bowser price as of this afternoon. And, if we're going to have that conversation, then we need to be asking the next responsible question: what's the opportunity cost?”
“To those in the gallery and my fellow Australians, I say: be wary of a bill that comes to this House rushed and be wary of a bill that comes here at the pace that this has. Before being elected and being given the privilege to represent the people of Wright, I was a transport operator. I had 14 transport depots around the state of Queensland. I employed over 100 people, so it galls me when those on the other side come in here and say no-one understands transport, and that the Liberal Party and the LNP despise unions and despise the transport sector. That gets under my gut. I don't profess to be a good politician, but I do represent my people well, and I know that what we are debating here at the moment does little to affect my farmers, my transport operators and my growers.”
“Excellence in Retail went to My Country Escape, at Canungra—a very popular winner. Excellence in Agriculture, Trade and Construction went to Franklin Plumbing and Gas, also up at Tamborine Mountain. The boys are doing an amazing job. Most Outstanding New Business went to Canungra Beauty. Of course we have to promote the next wave of businesspeople coming through, and the Trainee/Apprentice of the Year went to Rose Heggie from Boonah State High School; she's doing an apprenticeship with HairShine Hair Fashions. We had over 60 nominees. Please, if you haven't been to the Scenic Rim, do yourself a favour and come and enjoy the beauties that are on offer.”
“The Scenic Rim Business Excellence Awards were hosted the other night, and it was a great evening. These were some of the category winners. Excellence in Hospitality, Food, Beverage and Dining went to Roast Beef & the Frog, at the Overflow at Wyaralong. The reason they call it the 'frog' is because the chef is a Frenchman. Excellence in Accommodation went to Clandulla Cottages and Farmstay, at Boyland, and Excellence in Tourism went to the Kalbar Sunflower Festival, at which they actually have to cap the numbers at 5,000 because it's so popular. Excellence in Education went to Boonah State High School, who edged out McAuley College, from Beaudesert. Excellence in Health and Wellbeing went to Tamborine Mountain Psychology, and Excellence in Sustainability and Innovation went to Edge Hairdressing at Tamborine Mountain.”
“In the last two weeks they've gone from eight or nine B-double loads, out of the Brisbane terminal, to two B-double loads. The text that Jimmy McDonald received said that, as of this week, there is nothing scheduled. I want to share with the parliament my concerns: if my growers—the 450 farmers—can't start their tractors up to plant the food, the crisis we have today is going to look like child's play.”
“I want to acknowledge one of my state members, Jimmy McDonald, who reached out to me on the weekend. We have a number of fuel suppliers and distributors in our region, and he received a text from one of them—I have also had conversations with many other suppliers. To put it in terms as simple as possible, the text outlined the fact that this supplier would normally receive between eight and nine B-doubles a week from the Brisbane terminal. They service 450 farmers across the region. They supply six independent service stations. They provide the fuel for the bus companies that get the kids to and from school, and they supply to councils. So that's all the vehicles and the machinery that go with making sure that our community is functional.”
“We don't have to look at all the other underlying problems that the government has created.' The Reserve Bank governor clearly said that the inflation issues in this country are homegrown. That means they can be fixed. TAFE is an institution that needs our support. TAFE is an institution that I want to see returned to an institution held in high regard, but we need to change the completion rates. Having a cert II in bushwalking skills or a certificate in guiding is not going to help build the infrastructure that our country requires. It's only this side of the House that will put a broom through the TAFE system and make it great again.”
“With an ageing population, we need to be making sure that we've got the training skills to be able to look after the requirements we have into the future. But it's not just about focusing on fee-free TAFE. When you have a look at why we've got less than 10 per cent completions in the construction sector, you only have to look at the construction sector's record insolvencies under this government's regulation and red tape on business. The cost is spiralling out. We have amazing inflation data which puts upward pressure on interest rates, and they, rather than addressing all the other underlying core problems and why we've got record insolvency problems in the construction sector, come into the House and say: 'Oh, we've got the answer.”
“Would you be surprised to hear—it beggars belief that they would bring this motion into the House when they were armed with this data—that the completion rate in the construction sector at TAFE colleges right across the country is 8.37 per cent? That is shameful. We want to fix this. We need to fix this. Our country needs both sides of this House to work together to fix it, and fee-free TAFE is something that, when in office, we will need to adjust because these figures are not sustainable. Where they are, where the TAFE system is excelling—and I want to throw a bouquet to them—is in the care sector. Just under 30 per cent of people in the system studying care have completed their courses. Bravo, we need those people.”
“There are fewer apprenticeships and trainees today. My family attended TAFE. I was fortunate enough to have a tertiary education, but, for the boilermaker and tradie relatives of mine that went to TAFE, I remember it being an institution that was held in high regard. I'm going to ask the people in the gallery a question about the completion rates for the trades that we need to build this country—the electricians, the carpenters, the boilermakers or any trade that you can think of in the TAFE system as it stands today. What do you think are the completion rates for construction sector apprenticeships in Australia at the moment? What's the percentage? Is it 80 per cent? Is it 50 per cent?”
“It's a great privilege to be able to make a contribution to this, because I have a number of children and I am a supporter of TAFE. Yes, you heard it. I'm a supporter of TAFE, but the system is broken. I do agree that, as a nation, we need to be training the tradespeople, the apprentices and the trainees to build the infrastructure that our country needs, and, at the moment, this government is failing. When we left office, four years ago, there were 412,000 apprenticeship trainees in the system. Today, under this government's management, do you think the numbers have gone up with fee-free TAFE, or have they dropped? I can report to the House they are down by 100,000—that's over 100,000 fewer. It's great to bring motions into the House and espouse fee-free TAFE, but you need to be able to back it up with outcomes. We are not in dispute.”
“If we remove the panic by getting the terminals to release the fuel that they've got, the problem disappears. It's not complicated, and I'm going to the minister now to have this conversation with him.”
“Ask him what's going on because, when I'm here in the parliament, I'm being reliably told by the energy minister that the boats are arriving on time and that the fuel is coming into the terminals.' So he rang his supplier, an independent who buys on the spot market, and said, 'Can I get my thousand litres today?' and he said, 'No, you can't.' But he was offered 300 litres. The supplier who gives him the fuel said he had been in the industry for 45 years and had never seen it this bad. So my question to the parliament is: why is it that we've got this panic buying on? There's no doubt that there is panic buying. I think the optics of having the first five independent service stations—there have been many across my electorate: Aratula, Walloon, Forest Hill, Boonah, Beaudesert—where you go to fill up and there is no fuel creates the panic.”
“On the distances that we have to travel, normally it's a full fill. I want to share with you a story about a farmer by the name of Tim Russell. Tim's a very good farmer. He used to farm in Victoria. He grows lucerne. He'll do a couple of rotations with barley. He's an exceptionally disciplined grower. Tim has been disciplined because he's got a planting window for him to be able to get his crop in the ground. He ordered fuel a week ago—a thousand litres, just his normal top-up—and he hasn't been able to get that for the last five days. Today he rang me, and I said: 'Mate, ring your supplier again.”
“Across my electorate, the largest contributor to GDP is certainly agriculture. I just wanted to give a shout-out to those farmers, graziers, service station people, fuel supply wholesalers and distributors who have taken the time to reach out to me personally and to share the level of despair that they are experiencing at the moment as a result of the fuel shortages. It's a real issue in regional Australia, and they're frustrated. They feel that this government is not aware of the problems that are existing out beyond the 60-kilometre zones of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. These are real problems confronting regional Australia and regional Queensland. We don't get the opportunity, when we go to a service station, to make a decision as to whether or not we put $10 or $15 in.”
“They're saying, 'Oh, the reason there are shortages is that there's panic buying.' Yes, because you've got to drive past four service stations that have got no fuel to find one that has got fuel. I'll tell you why.”
“Well, I'm glad I'm making a small contribution to this debate, because I didn't know what the answer was, but it's all been made clear to us! People in regional Queensland now can just pick up public transport—they can get the bus; they can get the train!—though they'll drive past five service stations that don't have fuel in them to get to the bus station. And it's only Labor that could come up with that solution—only Labor! Last week, here in the parliament, we saw a contribution from the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, who said that we had 34 days of diesel, 32 days of jet fuel and 36 days of unleaded petrol. Five days later, service stations in my electorate, in regional Queensland, are struggling to get fuel. And that's diabolical.”
“This is all in an environment where we've got record immigration to this country, with nowhere for them to stay. Can I suggest to the Australian Labor Party that it spend less time trying to bring ISIS brides home and more time focusing on the economy.”
“Are you finding it harder under this terrible Labor government? Are you finding it harder to make ends meet? Is the cost-of-living pressure biting you? If it is, there's a good reason for it. Insurance costs are up around 40 per cent. Energy prices under this terrible government are up 40 per cent. Rents are up 22 per cent. Health costs are up around 20 per cent, and there's going to be more of that coming in the health sector very soon. Educating your kids is up 17 per cent. Food—just to put food on the table—is up 16 per cent. To make matters worse, when we left office there were 412,000 trainees and apprentices in the system. Today, under this terrible government, there are 100,000 less. We were building 200,000 to 220,000 homes in this country every single year. Today, under this government, 30,000 fewer homes are being built.”
“To tickle my fellow Australians' interests as to how much interest we're serving on debt at the moment, it's just under $30 billion a year. As that debt gets higher, that interest component gets higher. When you say, 'Well, that debt doesn't mean anything to me,' it may not mean anything to you until you're not getting that hospital or until you're not getting that road. This is a government who has lost its way when it comes to bringing fairer legislation to this House. I'd ask this government to rethink.”
“Well, fellow Australians, can I say that there are choppy times in front of us in the international geopolitical space in the Middle East, and we should have a management that has got that capacity to deal with the buffer. Instead, we have a very poor government whose economic rationalism is to provide the Australian public with deficits as far as the eye can see. That doesn't mean a lot to people who don't think they're going to have to pay the money back, but I'll tell you how it affects you when you're backing a government that has got deficits as far as the eye can see. There's an inconvenient truth that one day the people that we borrow our money from want that money back. The interest rates also get higher and higher and higher.”
“Let's call it a robin hood tax and take from the wealthy and give to others.' It's disguised as that, but really it's a revenue raiser. We have a government that can't be trusted. We were promised by Labor—by this treasurer—that they'd beaten inflation and high interest rates. Well, that's not the case. The inflation dragon is breathing down their necks. Normally, from a business perspective and for most on this side, we have buffers in our businesses. We have retained earnings. When things get tough and when economic choppy waters present themselves, as they do through the economic cycle—whether it's every five years, seven years or whatever it might be, you can predict when you're going to have those choppy waters—prudent businesses make sure they've got capacity to deal with those choppy times.”
“It was a sneaky trick to make more money and to capture hardworking Australians. At the last election, Australians were not presented with a policy to tax unrealised capital gains in super. They were not told that longstanding superannuation settings would be fundamentally altered. They were not warned that indexation would be stripped. Promises matter in a democracy. Major structural changes should be put clearly and transparently to the Australian people. Instead, this proposal appeared out of nowhere, with limited consultation and a rushed legislative timetable. I remember, early on, Labor had a round table. The best and brightest minds were brought. I don't remember this being an outcome of those best and brightest minds, where we say: 'Let's raid super. Let's raid the wealthy.”
“This was a structural shift that would have set a dangerous precedent across the entire tax base. This was a desperate government, running out of money, looking for ways to create new revenue streams. In an inflationary environment being made worse by this Treasurer, and his willingness to pour debt petrol on the inflation fire, failing to index households was a straight-out silent tax hike. Over time, more Australians would have been captured, not because they were wealthier in real terms but because inflation eroded the value of the threshold and the bracket crept by design. It's flawed policy. Basically, we made sure, with the support of some Labor luminaries, in the way of Bill Kelty, Paul Keating and Sally McManus—none of them suggested that the indexation on that $3 million should not be adjusted. It wasn't a flawed policy.”
“This is a government that's been found out and is now retreating under the pressure, thanks to sustained scrutiny from our opposition, from the superannuation sector, from the small-business sector and from everyday Australians. We forced Labor to step back from the most outrageous elements of this proposal. This was not a proposal that was just aimed at hurting retirees. This was aimed at hurting future generations, stealing the future of a young Australian away from them without their knowledge or even their understanding. The original design to tax unrealised gains represented a fundamental break with longstanding principles of the Australian tax system. To propose taxing paper gains, particularly in volatile asset classes, was not a minor tweak.”
“The spending happening under their watch is what economists would refer to as spending that is being baked into our system. That cannot be unpicked. That's spending on things like the National Disability Insurance Scheme, health costs and interest costs. They continue to outpace the revenue that we are bringing in in the form of receipts. So, it is incumbent on them to bring bills to this House that raid your superannuation to compensate for their incompetent spending, and they're disguising it as being fair. The coalition and the community pressure forced Labor to abandon the taxation of unrealised capital gains. That's something that we're extremely proud of.”
“The original poem was penned almost a hundred years ago, but it's still very salient today when we look at the fairness test of what this government is building. They're running out of money. It's a revenue-raising bill. It creates $2 billion over the forward estimates. At face value, they're saying, 'Only the wealthy are going to pay for this, and we call that fair.' At the same time, they're spending. My advice to the Labor Party is don't bring to this place bills that cost people money. Bring to this place spending reductions. Spending has expanded under this government to around 26.4% of GDP. That's over $727 billion in total payments, well above the long-run average. That means they are spending at a rate much greater than previous governments. And what's happening? There's a thing called structural spending.”
“She's not eligible for any Centrelink payments or any government support because she doesn't meet the asset test, so the only thing she can do is sell the farm. 'But it's only half a per cent; wave it through. Don't worry, because we're doing it under the auspices of fairness.' It reminds me a poem, 'First They Came' by the Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller. This is an adaptation of his very famous poem: First they came for the rich, and I didn't speak out—because I wasn't rich. Then they came for the self-funded retirees, and I never reached out—because I wasn't a self-funded retiree. Then they came for the trusts, and I never spoke out—because I didn't own a trust. Then they came for the working class, and I never spoke out—because I wasn't working class. Then they came for me—and there was no-one left.”
“They have an asset in their self-managed super fund which is $3 million. If your place used to be worth $1 million but is now worth $3 million, that's $2 million in unrealised capital gain. Under this bill, these guys are saying: 'Let's clip your ticket, and we're going to do it under the presumption of fairness, because it's fair for us to take your money. In fact, we're going to take that capital gain. We're going to tax it at the rate proposed in this bill, which is 30 per cent—$2 million at 30 per cent is $600,000. Write out a cheque to the tax office.' Labor is calling that fair! Where does Joan get the $600,000 from? She doesn't have it; she earns $50,000 a year. She's flat out putting food on the table.”
“Back in the late eighties, there was an accounting practice in the district where the accountants dealt with succession planning for farms and transferring family assets. They put stuff into self-managed super funds. Joan was going to get caught out here; this was an unintended consequence of this bill until we made sure that it was retracted. They farm their 100 acres. They grow potatoes; they grow carrots—it's very labour-intensive. They've got high input costs with fuel, fertiliser, water and irrigation licensing. They drive old machinery because there is not enough money, after they pay their expenses, to update the machinery they have on the place. It's ageing, as the margins from the retailers become less and less. They have a net profit of about $50,000 a year after expenses, but they're asset rich.”
“They're humble people—sophisticated with technology use, but humble people. I'm going to give you an example of what would have happened if it weren't for us intervening. I'm going to give you an example of a simple farmer, Joan, whose husband, Ron, passed away. She's got a couple of boys and they have a small 100-acre farm. The farm was handed down to them from Joan's husband and, before that, it was Ron's parents' farm. There are many stories like this across my electorate. Those opposite will have you believe that it only touches half a percent, that it's only the rich and the extravagant that are going to be affected. A couple of years ago that farm was worth about $1 million. Today it's worth over $3 million.”
“Superannuation is one of those little buckets that is just too tempting to those on the other side for them to keep their hands off it. You were promised, with the creation of super—your wealth, your money—that it would stay with you and it would never be raided. What you are not hearing from those on the other side during this debate is that this bill is a revenue raiser, and its intention is to raise over $2 billion in the forward estimates. They are snipping at your superannuation and they are masking it as being fair. 'It's fair to take your money. It's fair to raid the superannuation system. It's just fair.' I tell you this is anything but fair. A good opposition is vital because, if they had had their way, it would have been much, much worse. The largest contributor to GDP in my electorate is agriculture.”
“To my fellow Australians: in speaking on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Superannuation System) Bill 2026—for those in the gallery, I want to draw your attention to the very carefully crafted title of this bill, and I want you to focus on the word 'fairer'. I'm going to make a contribution, and I'm going to ask you to adjudicate from the gallery as to whether or not, at the completion of my small contribution, you think that you can make a judgement—let's pretend you're going to be down here voting on this bill—that this is in any way fairer. That's what I'm going to ask you to consider. I know from a business perspective, having been a business owner before coming to this place, that only too often, when the Australian Labor Party run out of their money, they'll come looking for yours.”
“But they've got a list from here to Bourke of people to blame so they don't have to take responsibility themselves. It's always somebody else's fault. This Labor government is appalling, and it's only a coalition government that can get this country back on track. Tomorrow, our party will be having a leadership spill. I come from a regional seat. I come from a regional community. It's mostly farmers. Agriculture is our largest contributor to GDP. When I shake the hand of my leader and say, 'You have my support,' you can take that to the bank. So, when the deal is on tomorrow, Australia needs to know I won't shirk from my responsibilities to support my leader. It's how I was bred. They are my principles and they will always guide me.”
“What power is it that the unions have that stops these people being on the skills list?' It's only a Liberal government, it's only a coalition government, that will adjust the immigration numbers and have skilled migration targeted to address the housing shortages and the skills that we need. And God help! You know, there's a reason that we did not support some of Labor's housing plans and, in particular, the five per cent boost-up. It has just gone straight to making it five per cent dearer for people to get into homes, because we've seen the inflationary pressure in housing prices adjust accordingly. And it happens every single time. But I tell you what: if politics were an Olympic sport, the Australian Labor Party would be gold medallists in taking credit for stuff when stuff's going well!”