'It doesn't have to be this way': Dutton's Budget reply speech must pitch his vision to the everyday Australians pushed to the financial brink under Labor
Peter Dutton must target Labor's wasteful spending, net zero ideology and low-grade Budget stunts in the most important speech of his political life on Thursday night, writes Rocco Loiacono.
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Tonight, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will give his budget reply speech.
It will arguably be the most important speech of his political life, since it will set the tone for the Coalition’s pitch to the electorate as we head to the polls in May.
This is what, in the humble opinion of this columnist, Mr Dutton should say to those Australians who are aching to vote for an alternative but are not yet sure whether they can put their faith in the Liberals:
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Over the course of my parliamentary life, I have served under four prime ministers.
I have often said that the one by whom I have been most inspired was this country’s second longest serving PM, John Howard.
Upon resuming the Liberal Party leadership on 30 January 1995, Mr Howard told Australians:
“I’ve always believed in an Australia built on reward for individual effort, with a special place of honour for small business as the engine room of the economy. I’ve always believed in a safety net for those amongst us who do not make it. I’ve always believed in the family as the stabilising and cohering unit of our society, And, I believe very passionately in an Australia drawn from four corners of the earth, but united behind a common set of Australian values.”
Those principles guided him in government.
Tonight, I want to recommit the Liberal Party to those principles.
They will guide me and my colleagues behind me in government.
As I have travelled around this country, I know there are millions of my fellow Australians aching for a change of government.
This government – and prime minister – have let Australians down.
Figures released earlier this month by the OECD show that Australia has had the worst drop in living standards over the last three years than any other country in the developed world.
Over the last three years, 27,000 small businesses have gone to the wall.
They were businesses run by families and helped provide employment in communities.
How many times did we hear over the last election campaign that power bills under this government would be $275 cheaper?
As we know, the reality is that they have increased by five times that.
This government talks about a future made in Australia yet its ideological crusade to reduce carbon emission by 2030 has seen Australia’s last pulp mill in the Maryvale Valley close, Alcoa close an alumina refinery plant in WA, the country’s biggest plastics manufacturer close, the last glass maker close, and the Whyalla Steel Works on life support.
The budget delivered on Tuesday, Mr Speaker, told another depressing story.
Debt will hit a trillion dollars for the first time ever next financial year - yet for all this exorbitant expenditure, this government provides low-grade stunts such as bribing Australians with their money to provide more energy rebates and a slap in the face tax cut which will be eaten away in less than two years thanks to bracket creep.
Maybe if the government hadn’t burned through half-a-billion dollars on a failed referendum that sought to divide Australians on the basis of ancestry, or wasn’t spending billions on failed “green schemes”, or plunging hard-earned Australians money into “decolonise lactation care” and “anti-racist dentistry”, it could afford to reduce the historically high tax burden on everyday Australians in a meaningful way.
If it feels like government is in every corner of our lives, it is because this government’s spending now is 27 per cent of GDP – the highest it has ever been – and growing.
Last year’s budget forecast that net overseas migration would fall to 260,000 this year.
Yet we now have been told that figure will be more like 335,000.
The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund this government promised hasn’t built a single new house in three years.
Is it any wonder that young Australians despair that they will never be able to afford their own home?
Is it any wonder that social cohesion in this country is falling apart at the seams?
Mr Speaker, it doesn’t have to be this way.
The founder of the Liberal Party and this country’s longest serving prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, was most concerned about “the kind of people I myself represent in Parliament - salary-earners, shopkeepers, skilled artisans, professional men and women, farmers.”
He called them the “backbone of the nation”.
They are the same people I represent in my seat of Dickson, and I speak to them tonight.
I want to reach out to them and give them hope in themselves and in our country.
The only way we are going to have “a future made in Australia” is by making Australia competitive internationally, by having low energy bills and by reducing corporate and income taxes.
A government I lead will eliminate profligate government spending.
We want limited government and unlimited opportunities.
We will give Australians a hand-up, not a hand out.
The best youth policy is a debt-reduction policy, since it does not burden future generations with debt.
The only way we can reduce power bill pressure is by having an energy policy that does not have “net zero” as its holy grail.
It makes no sense to have a weather-dependent energy policy when this country produces a meagre 1.3 per of global carbon emissions. Australians deserve reliable, affordable energy.
We know the maths on a mass-immigration policy do not stack up.
Our immigration policy will ensure those who come here will commit to Australian values and contribute in a meaningful way to this country.
Remember it was the Liberals that drove the post-war migration programme and enacted the Migration Act 1958 which effectively brought an end to the White Australia Policy.
At a time of serious international and domestic challenges, a government led by me will govern, not for noisy sectional interests, but for the backbone of the nation.
Mr Howard often reminded Australians that our best days lay ahead of us.
And I say the same to Australians tonight.
Thank you.
Dr Rocco Loiacono is a legal academic, writer and translator. Earlier in his career, he spent a decade practicing as a lawyer with Clayton Utz, one of Australia’s top law firms. As well as SkyNews.com.au, he regularly contributes opinion pieces, specialising in politics, freedom and the rule of law, to The Daily Telegraph, The Herald Sun and The Australian.