Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak on the grave matter of fairness and fiscal responsibility. The reality is that everyday, ordinary Australians pay the price for a government that has decided to spend money as if it grows on trees. It doesn't take an economics degree to see that this government is addicted to spending taxpayers' money. That addiction has a price, and you—the police officer, the schoolteacher, the farmer, the retailer—are picking up the tab. Let me say it plainly. We are borrowing from our children's future, paying the interest today so that the debt will fall on our children tomorrow. The cost of living is soaring. Rent is up by 21 per cent, food costs are up by 16 per cent, mortgages are up by $1,800 a month on average, and power prices are up by 46 per cent and increasing.

You cannot separate the borrowing and the spending from the environment in which jobs become harder to find, wage growth stagnates and regional families feel left behind. In regional South Australia, farmers reel under generational drought—fishers destroyed by the algal bloom, and manufacturing on life support. Yet we see a city focused government pouring money down the drain for inner-city handouts and vanity projects. So when you look at your tax bill, your power bill, your mortgage statement or the difficulty you're having to find a secure job, it's not just the market, it's not just inflation, it's not just the cost of living; it's also a government that chooses to borrow and spend big rather than live within its means.

Let me walk you through the arithmetic of work debt servicing means in everyday terms, because regional Australians understand numbers. We are paying $50,000 every minute in interest on the debt. That's roughly $72 million per day—money that could have been spent on upgrades to regional hospitals, fixing the roads we rely on, supporting community housing in towns like Port Pirie and helping businesses hit by the algal bloom, drought and unaffordable housing prices.

So what do we see for regional South Australia? We see a government that is focused on inner-city spending and confusing tax grabs, while regions again miss out. We see schools that still need upgrades. We see roads that still need repairs. We see the government promising regional investment, but then redirecting the money to bailouts, handouts and vanity projects. And we see workers with only $30 left each week.

It is not just a policy failure; it is a broken promise for families in the regions saving for a home, paying off a mortgage or running a small business. The message they get is the government can't manage its own money, so it comes after yours. We must return to a government that believes in lower, simpler taxes; that lives within its means; that does not mortgage the future of regional Australians so that inner-city votes can be changed. We need fiscal discipline, not fiscal drag. We need spending that genuinely invests in a productive economy, in regions, in small business, in primary industries—not wasteful spending that piles up debt.

I return to the shadow government's matter of public importance. The government's spending spree is being paid for by everyday Australians in their tax returns, their electricity bills, in their mortgage repayments and in their struggle for jobs. Let me be clear: it is not the government who pays off the debt, it is not the bureaucrats who pay off the debt; it is the farmer, the teacher, the tradie, the small business operator, the regional family. That is who is carrying this government's burden.

I call on this government to stop the reckless spending, stop the endless tax fest and hollow promises. Give Australians the respect of knowing you will live within your means like everyone else has to. If government spending is a tool, spend it on value-adding initiatives, like hospitals, roads, schools and energy resilience in towns like Port Lincoln and Port Parham. Let it help our small businesses recover. Let it support jobs and growth in regional Australia. Let's do it in a way that does not leave our children paying the interest, because, simply, this big-spending, tax happy government seems incapable of making the hard decisions needed.

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