Mr TAYLOR (Hume) (15:21): The budget was an opportunity for the government to lay out how it is dealing with the great strengths it inherited in the economy and in the budget and with the great challenges that we face as a nation. But instead, after only a few short days, it sank without a trace. That is because all we got in this budget was gloom, doom, forecasting and commentary. What we didn't get was a plan. The Treasurer said before the budget he was going to paint a picture, and I was looking forward to perhaps an oil painting or a water colour, but we know that all we got was a self-portrait, because in the lead-up to the Budget we saw puff piece after puff piece, not about the budget but about the Treasurer. The Treasurer was more obsessed with himself than he was with the great people of this great nation who wanted to see a plan. They wanted to see a plan. The test for this budget was simple. It was to deliver a comprehensive plan that builds on the great strengths that have been inherited and deals with the challenges that we face: to put downward pressure on inflation and interest rates without increasing taxes, to relieve the supply side pressures we see in the economy by increasing participation rates and productivity, and to deliver on the key promises that Labor made in their election campaign—unambiguous promises. In the shorter term, Australians do want to see lower interest rate. They do want to see lower inflation. In the longer term, they want to be in a position where they're empowered, where their aspirations can be realised, where they know they're going to have a lower tax environment, an environment where if they put in effort, if they make investments and if they take risks, they're going to be rewarded for it but they saw none of that. They saw absolutely none of that. All they saw was a missed opportunity. Instead of delivering a comprehensive plan to deal with interest rates and inflation, we know now that what we've seen is a plan, or a lack of a plan, which will leave the Reserve Bank doing all the work to deal with the interest rates and inflation that we are seeing with such strength. Instead of delivering economic growth and ensuring that spending is less than economic growth, we've seen $115 billion of extra spending in this budget. A Reserve Bank that wants to be able to take the pressure off Australian families, to not raise interest rates as much as it otherwise would have, doesn't want to see an extra $115 billion of spending but that's exactly what it saw in this budget. When it comes to broken promises, the list is long. I only have seven minutes left, so I have to focus on a short list of broken promises because there are many. There is the $275 reduction in power prices. The Treasurer misheard the question on this but the truth is it is gone. That promise is absolutely gone, replaced with a 56 per cent increase in the next two years. They promised no change in franking credits. Gone. There's $550 million of additional taxes on franking credits. I remember 2019 well. Maybe the Treasurer was mishearing during the 2019 election campaign. The Australian people said very clearly in 2019 that they don't want to see more tax on franking credits. They promised, prior to the election, an improvement and increase in real wages. In fact, what we saw in the budget, in black and white, was no increase in real wages in this term of government. We saw—we heard it today—in their campaign launch, a few weeks before the election, a promise of cheaper mortgages. There are no asterisks or footnotes in that one. I went through and checked very carefully. It's gone! Cheaper mortgages? They've given up the ghost and put up the white flag. This is what we've seen of this budget. More than anything else, it's Labor putting up the white flag to the challenges Australians are facing, with a whole series of broken promises. It's not surprising that some gave the Treasurer the label 'Snake Chalmers' soon after the budget was handed down. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Member for Hume, I might remind you to temper your remarks when referring to other members and use their proper titles. Mr TAYLOR: Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Stephen Koukoulas, who was an adviser to Julia Gillard, was making commentary on the budget, particularly in relation to the impact that the budget might have on interest rates. Every good economist knows that a good budget, a budget that lays out a clear plan, can take pressure off the Reserve Bank, which means Australians face fewer interest rate increases than would otherwise be the case. Every Australian wants to see that mortgages are payable, that they have cheaper mortgages. It's something that was promised by those opposite. Stephen Koukoulas, in commenting on the budget, said that the budget puts no downward pressure on inflation, leaving 'the Reserve Bank with all of the work, in carrying the can, in getting the inflation rate lower'. There was no plan in this budget. There was just leaving the Reserve Bank to carry the can. If the Reserve Bank carries the can, Australians pay the price—every Australian, particularly every hardworking Australian with a mortgage. The Treasurer is running around saying that the budget was responsible. I've already said that there was an extra $115 billion of spending in the budget. When you take the March budget and look at the four years over the forwards—add up the spending there, and then compare that with this budget—there's an extra $115 billion of spending in this budget. That is not a responsible budget. I don't think anyone could call an extra $115 billion of loose change a responsible budget. It gets worse. When you look across— Honourable members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Enough of the interjections from both sides of the House. Mr TAYLOR: The government is clocking up deficits to the tune of $181 billion. The truth is, what you normally expect of a Treasurer coming into a new job like this is that they'll try to improve the situation. So I looked at the budget ,when I was in the lock-up, thinking, 'Okay, he's going to reduce the deficit; the deficit's going to come down.' But, no! It goes from $32 billion up to $51 billion in 2024-25. How does anyone expect the Reserve Bank to manage interest rates down in an environment where the government is blowing out its spending and blowing out the budget deficits? That is exactly what is going on in this budget. But they've done something else—very tricky, very sneaky. It took us a little while to find this. They've given up on the notion of budget balance. It's gone. Since 1996, every budget, Labor or Liberal, has always committed in the fiscal strategy to budget balance. Mr Ted O'Brien: Even Swannie tried! Mr TAYLOR: Even Swannie had a go! He at least notionally committed to it. It was in his budget. You could read through the fiscal strategy, and there it was: budget balance. In this budget, it was gone—struck out. How on earth can the Reserve Bank and every Australian who is borrowing money have any confidence, in that environment, that we can manage down interest rates and avoid a blowout in interest rates in the coming months and years? We know, because we heard it today, that the Goldman Sachs chief economist has pointed out that the cash rate is expected to go to over four per cent and, of course, that means a much higher rate for mortgages in the coming months. As we approach Christmas, every Australian with a mortgage knows they are going to be paying a lot more. A whole host of economists have pointed this out. Steven Hamilton from the ANU's tax and transfer policy unit has said this budget delivers the weakest economic and fiscal strategy of any government since the Charter of Budget Honesty was established—the weakest economic and fiscal strategy—and the exact opposite of a responsible economic manager. This is so disappointing. Hamilton goes on to point out that the government is 'actively driving the budget deeper into structural deficit'. There is nothing in there that can give Australians any confidence that there's a plan that will take pressure off inflation or take pressure off interest rates, and that is incredibly disappointing. This was a great missed opportunity.