STANDING UP FOR AUSTRALIA AT HOME AND ABROAD

Dear Liberal friends,

It was an honour to be appointed the Coalition’s Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, and I am very much looking forward to the role.

Australia occupies a vitally important place in the world, strategically placed at the heart of the Indo-Pacific, with strong relationships across the region and the rest of the globe.

Our strong and proud democracy plays a leading role in all global affairs promoting a robust international rules-based order.

We contribute in many areas including international development, world economic growth, security and peacekeeping and have been a strong advocate of human rights.

It is vital that Australia remains vigilant during these uncertain times and continues to advocate for the stability of our region and the rest of the world.

Our cornerstone alliance, the ANZUS treaty remains strong and has been built upon by the AUKUS submarine security pact entered into by the former Coalition Government.

These alliances coupled with our Five Eyes partnership and the growing role of the Quad will remain of vital importance to Australia for many years to come.

Regionally we play a leading role as ASEAN’s oldest Dialogue Partner, as well as being a member of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Indian Ocean Rim Association.

Australia should never forget the contribution we continue to make to setting international rules and norms.

I will always promote and defend Australia’s values and work hard to ensure the safety and security of all Australians while pursuing peace and prosperity.

While we continue to face a challenging global environment, it is important Australia retains a confident outward looking attitude, unafraid to promote our best interests around the world.

The sitting calendar for the rest of the year has been released and we will return to Canberra for the first sitting day on 22 July 2025.

We know this Labor Government makes a mockery of transparency, with only seven sitting weeks between 22 July 2025 and the end of the year.

But that will not stop us from holding them to account, starting with Jim Chalmer’s disgraceful tax on your superannuation.

Labor have introduced a bill to double the tax on Australians with superannuation balances over $3 million from 15% to 30%.

The $3 million threshold is deliberately not indexed, so more and more Australians over time will be captured by this insidious tax.

We will oppose this unfair super tax every step of the way. It is grossly unfair and it flies in the face of everything we believe in as a Coalition.

We believe in lower, simpler, fairer taxes and as Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien has said, Labor’s super tax fails on all three criteria. 

The worst part of Labor’s super tax is taxing unrealised capital gains or paper profits - so people will pay a tax on theoretical profits which haven’t entered their bank account. 

As we all know, when Labor runs out of money it comes after yours.

This is a slippery slope. Where will Labor apply this next? The family home?

The National Accounts were released earlier this week, and they confirm what Australians already know – the economy under Labor is stalling and households are going backwards.

The economy grew by just 0.2% in the March quarter.

Annual growth is stuck at 1.3%, less than half the long-run average of 2.7%.

Labor’s pre-election claim that the economy had “turned a corner” has been exposed as nothing more than an empty election slogan.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ response to the figures was to argue “any growth is a good outcome” – a clear sign of how low Labor’s ambition is for the Australian economy.

Households are in recession, business investment is falling, and productivity has flatlined – there’s nothing optimistic in this data.

Per capita GDP fell again this quarter – that’s 8 out of the last 9 quarters under Labor that it has gone backwards.

Real net disposable income per capita is down 6.3% since Labor came to office.

Australians are working harder under Labor but are earning less.

Labor promised a better life for families.

Instead, Australians are being squeezed, living standards are declining, and the economy is going nowhere fast.

This is reflected by the OECD’s decision to downgrade its growth forecast for Australia this year from 1.9% to 1.8%, while also lowering its forecast for 2026 from 2.6% to 2.5%. 

When the OECD is warning that Australia’s regulatory complexity is holding back growth, it should serve as a wake-up call for the Albanese Government.

You can’t deliver productivity by layering on more red tape.

We want to have the most productive workforce possible.

The Coalition also notes that the United Kingdom has been able to secure an exemption from the latest American steel tariffs.

It is in our national interest for Australia to also secure an exemption and we stand ready to work with the Albanese Government to achieve this.

President Trump’s tariffs on our steelmakers are not in the spirit of our century-old partnership and we urge the Americans to give Australia a fair go and remove them.

We expect the United States to honour its obligations under the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), just as Australia has always done. 

The strength of our economic partnership has been built on trust and mutual benefit, and any deviation from this agreement undermines the principles of free trade. 

It is imperative for the Prime Minister to personally meet with President Trump to find a resolution to this.