Julian Leeser
Berowra · Liberal Party · Australia
“Third, the bill gives the minister unilateral power to impose conditions on higher education providers under the new section 36-65 of the HESA, which is introduced by this bill. The current version of section 36-65 of the HESA requires that there be an agreement in place with the provider. The new version does not.”
“Presumably, if you're a university and you get a bad decision, then your only recourse is judicial review, litigation or a constitutional writ. It's not a great option when the target of your litigation will be the minister who will make the future decisions that shape your ongoing financial viability.”
“This bill changes it from capped funding to capped places, but the places cost different amounts depending on the course. The Commonwealth contribution to a history degree is $1,316; agriculture costs $32,400. Could a university which typically teaches history be allocated 100 places and decide to convert them to agriculture?”
“I said very clearly that I understand the value of international students to Australia. I also said: We will want to make changes to the settings around international students, but I want the sector to know that we want to work closely with you to develop these policies and announce them in due course.”
“This so-called system steward, ATEC, can be bypassed at any time by a minister choosing to exercise this power. Again, this means universities are, under this bill, subject to extraordinary control by this minister or any future minister.”
“He said that Australian kids should be taught Australian values, which he defined as democracy, the rule of law, basic freedoms and a fair go.”
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“That's the path forward, not demand-side tinkering that inflates prices for the very buyers it claims to help. Nicole, from Dural, asked a question, and I can't improve on it: how does penalising mum-and-dad investors who own one or two properties help younger people get into the market? And she raised the other side of the equation: fewer investment properties means fewer places for people to rent. This government can't simultaneously claim to be helping renters and have punishing policies that shrink the pool of rental housing available to them.' Our community survey confirmed that this concern is broadly shared. Sixty-five per cent of respondents believe that Labor's proposed changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing will make it harder for Australians to invest, save and build for the future.”
“He said that, for younger Australians trying to buy their first home, non-property investment was one of the few remaining paths to building deposit wealth, but these tax changes have closed the door. Phoebe is a public schoolteacher. She's not wealthy. She doesn't travel overseas for holidays. She's someone who made careful investment decisions under the existing rules. She wrote to me with a concern not for herself but for the next generation. She said that the two strategies so many people who want to save for a house are using—rent-vesting and shares—are no now so highly taxed they're barely worth pursuing. Phoebe made a further point that every housing economist already knows but that this government refuses to act on: We need more supply. We need more apartments genuinely designed for families, not studios and one-bedders.”
“What I heard from the detailed survey of nearly 2,000 in my community should trouble every member in this parliament. The government's own budget papers admit that their tax changes will result in 35,000 fewer homes being built over the next decade. That isn't our number; it's their number. When you tax something, you get less of it. That's not ideology; it's economics 101. The more you tax housing investment the less housing you get, and this government has decided that's the price young Australians should pay. On rents, the government's own budget papers admit that its tax changes will increase rents. An independent economist suggests that rents could rise significantly in our major cities. Shane from Cherrybrook put it clearly.”
“This is the highest taxing government in Australia's history: $50 billion in higher taxes, $273 billion Australians didn't vote for. Debt is heading to $1.25 trillion. Today's debt is tomorrow's taxes, and the next generation is being handed the bill. Strip away the rhetoric and what we have is a death tax, a tax on family savings, a tax on renters, a tax on first home buyers, a tax on small businesses and a tax on entrepreneurs—the engine room of the Australian economy. Labor can't manage money and they're coming after yours. In the weeks since budget night I've listened to people who trusted this government to get the basics right: to ease the cost of living; to support those who plan carefully for the long term; and to provide incentives to take risks, to employ people and to get ahead. Their hopes have been dashed.”
“This prime minister is too scared to do that because he knows he would get the same answer that Labor got in 2019. Instead, he misled the Australian people and is now governing through the deception as if it never happened. The crime is never the problem; it's always the cover up. The Australian people aren't fooled. There's a Billy Joel lyric that captures the mood—and, unlike my friend the shadow Treasurer, I'm not going to sing! He says: 'But I don't want some pretty face to tell me pretty lies. Honesty is such a lonely word and mostly what I need from you.' And that's the message the people of Berowra have for a prime minister who has deliberately deceived them. The coalition opposes schedules 1 and 2, the CGT and negative gearing changes, and will fight these toxic taxes tooth and nail. And a coalition government will repeal them.”
“The people of Berowra are disappointed, deceived and angry about this government's unfair and dishonest tax policy. Let me state the central fact plainly. Labor took these taxes to the 2019 election and was defeated on them. Bill Shorten, the then Labor leader, was so confident of his success in that election he told Arnold Schwarzenegger he was going to be the next prime minister. But then people got a hold of this tax policy, and they saw what a dog of a policy it is. The present prime minister promised repeatedly on the record he would not introduce these taxes. When asked directly, he said: Yes, how hard is it, for the 50th time? More than 50 times he made the promise, and then he turned around and broke every single one of those commitments. When John Howard changed a major tax policy, he took it to the people first.”
“He has immense credibility with the Persian diaspora and among those who study this region. He's a person who Australians—in particular, people in this parliament and in our communities—need to hear. His voice would strengthen our national conversation about what a free Iran could look like and what role we in Australia could play in supporting that vision. I hope that we bring him here to hear his voice.”
“It is those people who I think about every time I speak on this issue. The protests that swept through Iran, from late 2025 into this year, were met with murderous force. More than 60,000 were killed and over 100,000 were arrested. That's bigger than the size of an Australian electorate. The regime shut down the internet and opened fire on the crowds. Those outside the parliament today told those stories of fear because they know what it is, being in Australia, to live in an open society. The concerns they raised about social cohesion, democratic values and community safety are matters of national importance, and they need more attention. That's why I believe it is time that Australia should invite Reza Pahlavi to visit our country. He's spent decades advocating for a free, secular and democratic Iran.”
“It took two regime-coordinated attacks on Australians on our own soil before the government finally acted. That's not leadership; that is being dragged kicking and screaming to do what the situation demands. I'm also ashamed, as an Australian, that even as the human rights abuses mounted, Labor luminaries like Bob Carr were lining up for happy snaps with Iran's ambassador. A values-based foreign policy has to mean something. Iran doesn't deserve any seat at the diplomatic table, and no Australian government should allow diplomatic premises to be used as a base for terror recruitment. I will never forget a constituent bringing a leather-bound phone-book-sized document to my office, once, with the names and photos of people who had been murdered and disappeared by this regime.”
“That's not diplomacy; that is the abuse of every diplomatic privilege this country has extended to that mission. Community representatives have asked the government to direct ASIO and the AFP to investigate the embassy's promotion of this recruitment platform. They have asked for protection for Iranian Australians at risk, and they've asked for accountability over the embassy's operations. I'm putting the government on notice: I will keep pressing these concerns directly. I will not let them rest. It's not a new problem, this inaction; it's a pattern. In February 2023, as the shadow attorney-general at the time, I stood in the parliament and called for the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organisation. I offered coalition support at that time for any legislation needed, and it took two years for the government to act.”
“It's an outrage that goes to the heart of why there are people out the front of our building today. In April this year, the Iranian embassy in Canberra used its official Telegram channel to promote a website called Janfada.net. Janfada means 'sacrificing life'. It's language rooted in jihadist martyrdom ideology. This isn't a cultural platform; it's a recruitment site, operating under the command of the IRGC, targeting men and women as young as 12, urging them to engage in jihad against Australia, the United States and Israel. The IRGC is now a listed terrorist organisation in this country. Involvement with it can carry a 25-year prison sentence, and yet the Iranian embassy—on our soil, in our nation's capital, sheltered by diplomatic status—is using official channels to recruit Australians into that organisation.”
“For a decade I've stood with Persian Australians who've left Iran because a criminal regime has made their lives a living hell. I've called out the regime's abuses of the Baha'i people, its persecution of women and minorities, its human rights violations and its terrorist proxy funding around the world. I called for the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador years before the government took action, and I called for the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organisation long before this government had to do so. At every turn, we've had to drag the government kicking and screaming, and I'm here today because, again, the situation demands action. I want to raise a specific matter that constituents and community representatives have brought to my attention.”
“Today, outside, on the lawns of parliament, Australians gathered—Persian Australians. There were mothers and fathers, students, retired people and professionals, people who love this country and who fear for their family still in Iran. They stood together to demand Australia act, and today I am rising to make sure their voice is heard in this chamber. They came with serious concerns about the promotion of radical Islamist ideology on Australian soil, about the intimidation of the Australian Iranian community, about foreign interference in our democratic institutions and about the threat extremism poses to our social cohesion and our public safety. These aren't fringe concerns. These are people who know what it is for their families to live under authoritarian rule. I'm proud to represent the third-largest Persian community in Australia.”
“Berowra has the third-highest rates of negative gearing in Australia. Labor's changes hurt those people. It drives up rents. It penalises young investors who are building wealth through shares and other assets, and it discourages businesses risk taking and succession planning. We will oppose Labor's taxes in the parliament and repeal them in government. In the past three days, the comments have been flying in. Jyotsna warned that the trust changes feel like 'double tax'. Jocelyn added: I'm very worried about the direction Australia is heading in and it is NOT the wonderful prosperous country that I grew up in. Mike told us: Nowhere in the world has a government managed to tax its way to prosperity. Menny warned: Don't change the rules halfway through the game. And Evan said: Never trust a leftie. Berowra has spoken.”
“Labor is pushing tax hikes on millions of Australians, and we will oppose them. We'll axe Labor's toxic taxes and deliver far bigger tax cuts for all income earners. Nearly 2,000 Berowra residents have responded to my survey on Labor's tax changes, and the message is loud and clear. The vast majority know these measures will worsen Australia's economy and make it harder for families to invest, save and get ahead. Labor's policy was rejected by Australians in 2019. It shifts the goalposts for families and makes it harder for the next generation to accumulate wealth and afford a home. By its own admission, Labor's policy will result in 35,000 fewer homes. Labor's changes add massive complexity, creating a bonanza for accountants and lawyers, and place another heavy regulatory burden on small business.”
“Let me again call on the people in the disability community in my electorate—the participants, the families, the carers and the organisations. Make your submission to this Senate inquiry. This is your scheme, and it's your voice that must shape the future.”
“I've seen what happens when the system works, when a child like Max gets the support he needs and climbs the stairs, guffawing with laughter. I've also seen what happens when it doesn't. The NDIS was built on the idea that Australians with significant and permanent disability deserve to live with dignity, independence and genuine choice. That's a noble idea, and our responsibility is to protect a scheme like this from those who'd seek to exploit it. The coalition will support this bill through this House. We do so not as a blank cheque to government but as a commitment to the principle of a sustainable and well-governed scheme. We will scrutinise the rules framework carefully. We will push for proper consultation. We will call out broken promises.”
“Eleanor asks that I not support any bill that weakens the rights of NDIS participants, reduces essential supports or places further burden on ageing carers. I hear that, and I share that concern. The coalition's position isn't to weaken rights; it's to ensure the scheme is strong enough, honest enough and well funded enough to actually deliver those rights. That means cracking down hard on fraudsters and the bad actors who are bleeding the scheme dry. It means ensuring rules are being developed and consulted on properly and designed with human dignity at their centre. It means holding the government to account every step of the way. I've spent time as a parliamentarian fighting for constituents who have disability. I've sat across the table from parents who are exhausted, frightened and desperate for someone to listen.”
“The digital payments platform will help. Mandatory record retention will help. But determined fraudsters won't be stopped by paperwork requirements alone. The government needs to bring genuine prosecutorial energy to this problem, not just regulatory machinery. I want to close by speaking directly to constituents like Eleanor, who wrote to my office this week about her son Benjamin, an adult with significant permanent disability whose supports were confirmed by the Administrative Review Tribunal. Eleanor is nearly 60 years old. She's carried Benjamin's care responsibilities for many years. Her own sister, who had significant disability, died in respite care. She has seen what happens when the safety net fails.”
“Every single one of those dollars have been taken from a participant who needed it, and the Albanese government, with more than 10,000 public servants working on the NDIS, hasn't been able to get on top of it. We hear every day about providers quoting one price to a customer and then quadrupling it the moment the customer mentions the NDIS. We hear about organised criminal networks deliberately targeting the scheme. We hear about services that were billed but were never delivered. This is unacceptable. It's a betrayal of every genuine participant in the system. The bill goes some way to addressing this: improved provider registration requirements, civil penalties, new information-gathering powers and a 90-day claims window. These steps are steps in the right direction, but they're not nearly enough.”
“Let me be direct about something that I believe is at the heart of this debate and hasn't received enough attention. That's the question of fraud and waste in the NDIS. This isn't a minor administrative problem. This is a systemic failure that is stealing money from our taxpayers and our most deserving people. Around 94 per cent of NDIS providers are currently unregistered. The ANAO has reported that the NDIA's own assessment is that between six and 10 per cent of claim outlays may not be compliant. They might be fraudulent. They might be incorrect. Of the $48.83 billion spent on paid supports in 2025, that equates to between $2.9 billion and $4.8 billion per year. By the end of the decade, if current growth continues, that figure could reach $8 billion annually.”
“Of all the changes in the bill, the ones causing the greatest anxiety in the disability community are the support determinations—the changes that will enable the minister to reset budgets in existing plans for social, civic and community participation supports and capacity building activities supports from 1 October 2026. The government says critical supports, daily living assistance, personal care, mobility equipment and home modifications will be protected. We will hold them to that commitment, and we will be watching closely to ensure that that commitment is honoured. But I want the government to be honest with the community about what these changes will mean in practice. Vague reassurances are not enough. People deserve specifics.”
“The government must apply genuine common sense and genuine compassion to this process. And then there's Thriving Kids. As the shadow education minister, I want to say to Minister Butler and Minister Clare: families need to be able to trust a system, but how can they trust a system whose eligibility rules haven't been written yet? You've made an announcement that a group of people with disability will be moved from the NDIS and will end up being part of the education system. What will this mean for the education system? There are so many questions to answer. What's the expectation on schools? What's the impact on schools? The ministers need to explain this. They have left families and school communities worried, and, as the shadow education minister, I share their concerns.”
“I should note that all existing participants will be progressively reassessed between 1 January 2028 and 31 December 2030. That's more than 760,000 reassessments. Our health system is already stretched to breaking point. People are being turned away from emergency departments. Wait times for specialists are months long. If people are exited from the NDIS and pushed into a health system that can't absorb them, we will have solved a budget problem while creating a human catastrophe. The government must be clear about where these people will go. I'm also deeply concerned about the burden being placed on participants to prove and re-prove their disability—costly new medical reports, new assessments and new processes for people who have in many cases spent decades navigating this system already.”
“This bill creates the legislative mechanism for the new assessment without actually telling us what the assessment will look like. The government hasn't developed it yet. The details will come through the rules and regulations—disallowable category A rules requiring unanimous agreement from states and territories. That's a significant amount of policy still to be written and a significant amount of anxiety being created right now in communities like mine. Right now, there are thousands of parents across Australia who don't know whether their child will still be eligible for the NDIS under the new rules. There are adults with lifelong disabilities who don't know if their plans will survive reassessment. That uncertainty is cruel and unnecessary. The government owes people answers, not just a promise that the details will come later.”
“The minister then announced a target of five to six per cent. They failed again. Growth is currently sitting at 10.3 per cent. The government's now proposing a two per cent growth target. It's an enormous reduction, and, without a clear, detailed, properly consulted implementation plan, it won't be a savings target; it will be a harm target. The bill establishes a new framework for determining access to the NDIS, shifting from a diagnosis based model to an assessment of functional capacity. In principle, a more consistent and objective assessment process is quite sensible. The current system has produced real inconsistencies, and participants with similar needs have received vastly different support packages depending on who's assessed them and when. But here's the problem.”
“It was estimated to cost $13.6 billion, and now it costs around $50 billion. By the end of this decade, on the current trajectory, it will reach $70 billion. On that trajectory, the scheme is unsustainable. Sustainability isn't the enemy of compassion. It is its prerequisite. In the coalition, we reaffirm our bipartisan support for the NDIS, and, to the extent that this government is genuinely pursuing sustainability and integrity, we are broadly supportive. We'll support this bill through the House, but we will also hold the government to account, because this is the Albanese government's third attempt to slow the growth of the scheme, and their track record of broken promises in this space doesn't inspire confidence. In April 2023, the government committed to reducing annual growth to eight per cent, and they failed.”
“There's a Senate inquiry into this bill, and if you're an NDIS participant, a family member, a carer, a support worker or a disability organisation, this is your chance to shape the scheme's future. Your lived experience isn't just relevant; it's essential. It's the most important evidence that the inquiry will hear. I'm urging all the organisations I name today and every family I've had the privilege of serving and those I haven't met because the scheme works for them to make a submission. The Senate inquiry is open now. Don't leave this to others. Tell your story. Your voice will shape what this scheme looks like for the next generation. Let me now turn to the bill and our position on it. The NDIS was originally established to support around 410,000 Australians, and it now supports over 760,000.”
“That's why every dollar that leaks out of this scheme through fraud, gaming and waste is not an abstraction. It's a dollar that could have gone to a child like Max and didn't. Gemma has asked me not to use her story to fuel division between the parties, and I respect that. She saw Labor and the Liberals working together to help her son, and she values that. So do I. But I want this parliament to understand concretely and humanely what's at stake in this debate. It's not a budget line. It's about children like Max. I want to make the most important call I can make in this speech today, and that is to call directly to the disability community of Berowra and across Australia.”
“Together, we were able to ensure that a much more experienced team at the NDIA was put in charge of Max's plan review. The difference was immediate and profound. When the new plan came through, Gemma told me she cried with relief. There were more support worker hours to help with his care and improved allied health therapy hours, and critical pieces of equipment were approved. What happened next? Max pulled himself up the stairs using just the handrail. He guffawed with laughter at the top. He started moving around the kitchen, exploring what was accessible to him. He's making progress in his receptive language. He seems, as Gemma says, so much happier. That's what the NDIS is supposed to do. That's the investment that's worth making.”
“Around 4½ hours a week for a non-verbal, non-walking four-year-old with two rare genetic conditions and epilepsy was not enough. The NDIA had suggested that childcare educators could deliver physiotherapy and speech therapy strategies for Max in a one-to-three ratio environment. For a 21-kilo hypotonic child with high-support needs—I want to be direct about this—that is not a solution. That is a risk, and it reflects the kind of decision-making that happens when people making choices about a child's plan have never met the child, never read his 30-plus clinical reports and are working under pressure to cut costs rather than apply clinical judgement. I took up Max's case. I particularly want to acknowledge Senator Jenny McAllister, who I went to see. She handled this matter with particular care and genuine human decency across party lines.”
“He has multiple severe and lifelong disabilities, two rare genetic conditions and epilepsy. He's non-verbal, he can't walk and he can't stand independently. He requires high-level support for virtually every activity of daily living. He's a bright, curious, determined, wonderful little boy, and he's exactly the kind of child that this scheme was created to support. Max came with his mother, Gemma, to my office. Gemma was in the depths of one of the hardest periods of her life. She hadn't been sleeping, she was managing Max's complex needs largely on her own and she had sustained serious chronic injuries to her arms and wrists from the physical demands of caring for him. Then the NDIS, the system that was supposed to be there for her son, had cut his therapy hours by approximately 40 per cent, down from 396 hours a year to 234.”
“No female swimmer, Paralympic or non-Paralympic, has ever won so many medals, and no female Australian Paralympian has ever won so many medals either, so she deserves the recognition of our community. She's a proud resident of the Berowra electorate, she's a wonderful Australian and I look forward to seeing Hornsby council eventually listen to the Australian people, listen to the people of Berowra and rename the pool in honour of a great Australian and a great Australian who's been such a wonderful advocate for people with disability. Turning to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, I want to talk about the story of a constituent of mine, a child called Max. If the NDIS is about anyone, it's about a child like Max. Max is four years old. He lives in Berowra.”
“I also think of the wonderful Clarke Road special school, which transforms the lives of so many young people and families in our community, families that trust the school with their most precious people every single day. These organisations don't just provide services. They provide dignity and community. They provide the daily proof that people with disability are human beings with gifts to offer and lives worth living fully. Speaking of lives worth living fully, I want to note that I have been proud to stand up for the recognition of Australians with disability who are extraordinary achievers. It is my honour to be running a campaign in the Berowra electorate at the moment to rename Hornsby pool after not only our most capped female Paralympian but our most capped female swimmer ever, Ellie Cole. She has 17 Paralympic medals.”
“I want to start my contribution to this debate today by acknowledging the extraordinary disability organisations in my electorate. These are organisations I've worked alongside, people I've advocated for and people I've seen serve our community well and transform people's lives. I think of places like Warrah school at Dural; Inala at Cherrybrook; Studio ARTES—which is an organisation, in my view, of national significance; CNS Precision Assembly at Hornsby; and Northcott, which specialises in disability employment and whose participants I've seen firsthand bring skill and dedication to the real workplace. I had the privilege of having Cain Noble Davies, who came to me from Northcott, in my office.”
“on indulgence—I associate the opposition with the Prime Minister's sentiments about the importance of reconciliation to our country. All of us are committed to reconciliation with our First Nations people. From time to time, we may disagree on the best path to get there, but all of us are committed to seeing better outcomes for Indigenous people. I was pleased, as the Prime Minister has acknowledged, to go to the vigil for Kumanjayi Little Baby, to see the local member, the member for Lingiari, there, to go there with Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the other place, from our side, and to meet members of the family. We've all got to do better. We've all got to take more responsibility. We've all got to improve outcomes.”
“We will fight these toxic taxes every step of the way. If they get through, we will repeal them. Debate adjourned. Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:30”
“But it compounds, year after year, quietly eroding the purchasing power of working families who thought they were getting ahead. The coalition's tax-back guarantee is our answer. From 2028-29, we will index the bottom two income tax thresholds to inflation, protecting 85 per cent of income earners, including every teacher, nurse, paramedic and police officer in Berowra, with relief of $250 in year 1, growing to more than $1,000 a year by year 4. From 2031-32, all thresholds will be indexed. When a nurse gets a pay rise at Hornsby hospital, she, not the taxman, will actually keep it. That's what fairness really looks like. We oppose this budget and its tax increases. I can't support a budget that taxes and disadvantages my community as much as this budget does. This is a bad Labor budget. It deserves to be opposed.”
“Think about what this means for the workers of Berowra—a teacher at Normanhurst Boys or Pennant Hills High, a nurse at Hornsby hospital, a police officer at Castle Hill or Hornsby or a paramedic or a firefighter stationed across the electorate. All of them work hard. They earn their pay rises through years of service. Every time inflation pushes their salary up, the government quietly takes a larger share. They're not richer. The government is just extracting more from the wages they've worked for. Darren from Mount Colah named it directly, saying that Labor kept the 37 per cent bracket when it was meant to be abolished. That's another broken promise making it harder for ordinary Australians to get ahead. It's not a dramatic headline. It doesn't appear in the Treasurer's budget speech as a line item.”
“We will not destroy the negative gearing and CGT settings that mum-and-dad investors and first-time rentvesters depend on. We will work on supply, planning reform, construction capacity and energy affordability because that is what will actually help young people buy a home. Let me discuss the tax that this budget ignores entirely, and that is bracket creep. When wages rise just to keep up with inflation, workers are no longer better off in real terms. If that rise pushes them into the next bracket, the government takes more. It's a stealth raid, and it happens every year. This budget does nothing about it.”
“Jonathan from Hornsby made the supply point plainly, saying that young people invest in shares to build capital for a deposit and now they'll be taxed too heavily on those gains. Labor's measures won't result in more first home buyers getting into a house when the real issue is supply. The government's own modelling indicates that there will be 35,000 fewer homes built as a result of this. That's not a housing solution; that's a housing problem. The answer is to build more through planning reform, reduced red tape and energy policies that don't inflate the cost of every new home. This budget offers none of that. The contrast with our approach in the coalition is clear. We will fight these trust tax changes and, if they pass, we will repeal them.”
“Nicholas from Beecroft made the point with precision that the minimum 30 per cent tax on capital gains literally punishes the lowest of low-income earners, including young people who need to sell shares to produce a home deposit. The government tells young Australians it's opening the door to homeownership, and yet it's blocked that door with a tax collector. Anton from West Pennant Hills invested in small ASX listed biotech companies that do research and development, exactly the kind of productive investment that creates jobs of the future. Under the new CGT rules, the after-tax return no longer justifies the risk. He may as well invest in stable dividend companies. That's not good for Australian innovation.”
“Mark from Berowra is a young Australian who invests in shares and property and works hard. He told me this budget has struck a hard nerve with him and his fellow young Australians. He asked: 'What's the point of getting an education? What's the point of working hard and innovating if 47 per cent just goes to the government?' Shane from Cherrybrook identified a critical design failure—for younger Australians who can't afford property, non-property investment—shares, ETFs and managed funds—has been one of the few remaining ways to build the wealth needed to eventually buy a home. The CGT changes don't distinguish between a landlord with five investment properties and a 28-year-old putting aside $200 a month into an index fund. They are hit the same.”
“He told me simply: I trusted this was something that wouldn't change. Sovereign risk isn't just an abstract concept for economists; it's what happens when a small-business owner in Galston realises that planning for his future is futile because the government can change the rules after the fact, with no consequences. It erodes confidence and it erodes trust, and once that trust is gone it takes years to rebuild. This government has made young Australians the stated justification for this budget, and I want to test that claim against what the young people of Berowra have told me. Of the 2,000 responses, more than 10 per cent were under 45. Fifty-nine per cent of those under 45 said the budget would worsen the economy and 52 per cent opposed the trust tax.”
“It causes investment to stop and it causes planning to become impossible. Ross, a Hornsby resident, drew the sharpest historical comparison. When John Howard changed his position on the GST, he took it to the election and won a mandate. This government campaigned for these exact changes in 2019 and were defeated. They promised not to implement them in 2025, won the election and then implemented them. His conclusion was absolutely right. This is a government that cannot tell the truth. Philip, a Dural resident, said the most fundamental concern, even beyond the toxic nature of these changes, was the utter dishonesty of a government that refuses even to acknowledge that it has broken promises. Craig from Westleigh is approaching retirement, having structured his finances around a discretionary trust in good faith.”
“Every dollar spent on electricity is a dollar not spent on wages or investment. John from Normanhurst works in the building industry and he was blunt: nothing in this budget will improve the housing supply or stimulate development, and the energy policy settings embedded in construction requirements add significant cost to every new build. The coalition will pursue a technology-neutral energy policy that prioritises affordability and reliability, not a $150 quarterly rebate that runs out in December. That rebate is a bandaid on a wound that requires surgery. It doesn't lower wholesale prices, it doesn't improve grid reliability and it disappears before the summer is over. When a government changes fundamental rules without warning, without mandate and without grandfathering, it creates sovereign risk.”
“The cost of that shift won't disappear. It'll simply be transferred from private insurers to the public purse and to every Australian who waits longer in a public hospital queue because the system is absorbing many more patients than it planned for. No account of this budget's impact on small business is complete without addressing energy costs, because the budget does nothing in a structural way to address them. Angus Taylor has made this case consistently. Labor's ideological commitment to an all-renewables grid, the closure of baseload power and the failure to develop more gas supply have driven electricity prices higher for every small business in Australia. The cafe, the gym, the print shop and the medical practice in Berowra are all paying more for power than they should.”
“Pamela from Berowra has been a private health member since she was 17. She's now 84 years old and wonders whether she can continue to afford $600 a month. Rowena, a retiree from Normanhurst, wrote something that should trouble every single member of this parliament. Labor says we can earn more and keep more of what we earn, but she can't earn more and now she has to spend more of what she's already earned. She has to choose between her health cover and being able to afford to hire someone to help her take a shower. Norm from Westleigh called it a slap in the face for the people who've paid their taxes all their working lives, and he's right. The consequences are entirely foreseeable. People will drop private health cover and enter the public hospital system at the moment their healthcare needs are the greatest.”
“The CGT changes have made rentvesting virtually impossible. Young people who couldn't afford to buy near where they work now have lost that stepping stone too. This wasn't a loophole. It was a legitimate and widely used strategy that allowed ordinary Australians to enter the property market on their own terms. The government has slammed that door without offering any alternative. The reduction in the private health insurance rebate for Australians over 65 has not received the attention it deserves. Peter from Westleigh and his wife are on full age pensions and are desperately trying to maintain health cover that costs them $5,000 a year. Helen from Hornsby, a self-funded retiree, faces an additional $3,000 a year and told me she'll be forced onto the age pension sooner as a result.”
“Multiply that decision across hundreds of thousands of small landlords running the same numbers, and you understand why housing economists are forecasting rental pressure and why the government's claim to be helping renters is so dishonest. Toni from Pennant Hills made decisions based on this government's guarantees. Those guarantees have been broken. Andrew from Mount Colah spent his entire working life planning carefully for self-funded retirement through superannuation and shares. He retired last month at 65. The month he got there, the goalposts moved. His careful planning to provide a cash pension for himself has been scuttled at the finish line by this federal budget. The rentvesting pathway—renting near work while investing elsewhere to build equity—has also been destroyed. Nathan from North Epping named this explicitly.”