Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia) (17:15): The motion that we're discussing this afternoon reads: The failure of the Government to categorically rule out changes that limit the use of negative gearing or franking credits, and changing the tax treatment of the family home, demonstrating that the Albanese Labor Government cannot be trusted to not impose more taxes on hard working and aspirational Australians. At the last election Australians went to the ballot voting on many issues, but central to the voting decision of many Australians was a list of promises that had been made by now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: a promise to provide energy relief; a promise not to increase taxes; a promise to deliver greater transparency and integrity; and promises on superannuation. But, as we begin this new parliamentary year in 2024, Australian voters have been reminded in the most graphic of ways that these promises now lie in tatters. It might be the Chinese year of the dragon, but it's the political year of broken promises led by Labor and Prime Minister Albanese. I draw the attention of my coalition senators to the presence of some Labor senators: Senator Polley from Tasmania and Senator Grogan from South Australia. What do we know? We know that the most recent decision to change a position, to break a promise, was unanimously endorsed by the Labor government, by the Labor cabinet, by the full ministry and by the caucus. So this is not just about the broken character of Prime Minister Albanese; this is about the broken character of every member of the Labor Party in federal parliament and, indeed, of the whole Labor Party organisation. A promise to reduce energy prices by $275—abandoned. A promise to deliver a plan to lower interest rates—abandoned. Australians are now having to live with a cumulative effect of 12 interest rate rises. They are living with energy costs. Gas is up by 28 per cent. Electricity is up by 18 per cent in just 15 months. Anthony Albanese gave Australians a clear commitment. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Fawcett ): Order! Senator Smith, use the correct title. Senator DEAN SMITH: Prime Minister Albanese gave Australians a clear commitment that he would also make no changes to franking credits. One of the last things we did last year was to pass a bill in the Senate that carried those broken promises around franking credits. The broken promise of all broken promises is the decision to renege on the legislated stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3 tax cuts. And it's not just a broken promise. The Prime Minister did not wake up one day and break a promise. He went out to Australians over the summer on 12 separate occasions and did not give them a hint or a glimmer of an idea that on 11 December he had already asked the Treasury—through the Treasurer, Dr Chalmers—to begin work on cost-of-living relief measures. What were those cost-of-living relief measures? They were abandoning legislated tax cuts in the form of the third stage of the three-stage tax reform plan. Labor wants to talk about the tax initiative itself, and that's fine. But by the end of this year there'll be only one matter on the minds and the lips of Australian voters, and that will be the catalogue of broken promise upon broken promise upon broken promise. So my challenge this afternoon is to Senator Polley from Tasmania and to Senator Grogan from South Australia to rule out changes to negative gearing, changes to taxes on people's homes, changes to franking credits. This afternoon, in your five-minute contributions, you can stand here and rule it out and you can say to your electors, 'I will challenge Prime Minister Albanese to not break another promise in in 2024'—your challenge. Do you accept it? The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Fawcett ): Order! Senator Smith, address your remarks through the chair. Senator DEAN SMITH: I suspect that the Prime Minister is sitting on a volume of other broken promises. He is just looking for the opportunity to— (Time expired)