Jamie Chaffey (Parkes, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Today we're here in this place once again to talk about adding yet more money to a budget that is already weighing our nation down like a lead anchor. This isn't 20 bucks in a jar to put towards a bit of home maintenance; this is $12.7 billion that our nation can ill afford. This money is to fund the Albanese Labor government's last budget—a budget Australians rely on to be fiscally responsible, a budget Australians rely on to be carefully crafted to make the most of their hard-earned dollars and a budget that must take every cent into account.

This is not a matter of objecting to the specific policies and programs that will be funded under this extra money; this is an objection to the carefree, last-minute, devil-may-care attitude to spending Australians' money. That is the real problem here. The coalition has taken the Labor government to task over this recently, with the Reserve Bank of Australia increasing interest rates to 3.85 per cent to deal with the rising tide of inflation. That rise will knock some first homeowners out of the running for their first home. It will add to the financial pressure so many Australian families are already feeling when they look at their rising power bills, their rising food bills, their water bills and all the many other expenses that are starting to pile up. What is Labor's response? 'It's not our fault.' The Reserve Bank governor begs to differ. She confirmed government spending had contributed to the latest interest rate hike—a truth that is cold comfort to a young couple in Broken Hill, Narrabri or Parkes who can no longer afford to buy their first home. We are already looking at the highest-spending government in 40 years outside of the pandemic.

Thanks to the Albanese Labor government, Australia will soon hit $1 trillion in debt, with $100 billion added since they came to government. We are looking at an interest amount on that debt of $50,000 a minute. That's the equivalent of a possible house deposit in regional Australia going up in smoke every single minute. This is spending at a level most Australians simply can't comprehend.

What could this $12.7 billion do in regional Australia? It could change lives in the electorate of Parkes, where parents remain on the waiting list for child care. Older Australians can't access aged care, and our underresourced police stations are struggling to deal with the rise of crime. What could $12.7 billion do in communities still waiting for progress on the Inland Rail? What could $12.7 billion do for Narrabri, which lost $7.5 million when the inland port was shelved as soon as those on that side of the House formed government? What could it do in Dubbo, which has had $20.6 million to fix damaged roads knocked back? The Lachlan Shire Council was denied $29 million for its roads, the Narrabri Shire Council was denied $21.5 million, and the Burke Shire Council was denied $14.9 million to maintain its road network.

The hits just keep on coming for the electorate of Parkes and for regional Australia—and here we are again with the Labor government holding out their hands for more of your money. Where is the promise of caring for Australians, the promise for making things cheaper and—as promised at the last two elections—the promise to leave no Australians behind? My office has dealt consistently with troubled carers, parents and people with disabilities who no longer can receive that at-home visit that's needed from carers because this government has cut funding for travel for our most vulnerable people.

Communications in the bush have gone backwards. We have heard over and over again of the increased problems with the coverage since the 3G network was shut down in October 2024 under Labor's watch. Many of those across the vast tracts of land in my own electorate of Parkes who have been lucky enough to get a bar or two of coverage have now lost it. The simple ability to get hold of someone during a time of emergency or for business purposes or simply to have a chat with one of your neighbours, for some of those who were fortunate to have it, now no longer exists. There are many more who are still waiting for certainty that their triple zero calls will be heard. I've heard from farmers, from travellers, from businesspeople and from parents of students that their telecommunications is not only substandard but non-existent. Once upon a time, you could stand out in a paddock and ring triple zero in an emergency. Now we have business owners in regional towns that need to walk out into their street just to access internet banking. What's happened to the Mobile Black Spot Program? It stalled under the Albanese Labor government.

Where is our health care, where is our child care, and where is our aged care? In amongst all this spending, a person suffering a suspected heart attack in Broken Hill might not be able to get their local emergency department. I know this because I've heard from them. Red tape and lack of assistance for councils might be preventing someone in urgent need in Cobar from accessing aged care. I know this because I've heard from them. I've heard from the community, such as Coonamble, Narrabri, Bourke, Nyngan and Broken Hill, that regional Australia has a childcare desert. This is not rhetoric; it is the lived experience of many people in the Parkes electorate. Where are our urgent care clinics in the Parkes electorate, which covers more than half of New South Wales? There are none, zero, not one. There are problems with the urgent care clinic model. The model is making it tough for existing clinics. But in my electorate we have neither urgent care clinics nor any assistance for healthcare providers trying to find professionals to work in our remote areas.

What about the much hype around fee-free TAFE? It fails to take into account the people in my electorate and regional Australia that may be required to travel up to four hours or even more to get to a TAFE building where there's a qualified teacher.

Let's sum it up. Inflation is up. Interest rates are up. Big projects are at a standstill. We have problems with health care, child care, aged care, education, road funding, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, telecommunications and so much more.

Now some of the areas of the Parkes electorate are heading into drought, and some of them are actually flooding as well at the moment. What assistance can our primary producers expect from the Labor government? Where is the support for our food and fibre producers who feed our country and many other nations through our exports, and where is the support for our struggling councils? The latest local government audit by the Audit Office of New South Wales reported problems with financial sustainability in a number of councils in my electorate. It said that Central Darling Shire had low availability of cash and was highly dependent on government grants that aren't there under Labor, Cobar Shire had insufficient revenue and was highly dependent on government grants that again are not there under Labor, and Walgett Shire had insufficient revenue and was highly dependent on government grants. They're still waiting. Local government in regional areas right across Australia are struggling due to our smaller populations, escalating costs and more and more demands on them to do the job previously done by other tiers of government. I don't see them here with their hand out for $12.7 billion.

Some of that $12.7 billion, more than $2.9 billion, is for the cheaper home battery project. That adds up to about $7.2 billion in total over a four-year period. This cheaper at-home battery program was not in Labor's energy policy they took to the last election. There's no mandate for this program, yet $7.2 billion of taxpayer dollars will be spent over a four-year period.

How many billions have already been ploughed into renewable energy? The Climate Energy Finance think tank says the Albanese Labor government and the Minns state government have committed about $76 billion of taxpayer money to climate and green energy spending over the past three years. That includes $19 billion on Rewiring the Nation, $7 billion on critical minerals production tax credits and $6.7 billion on hydrogen production tax credits. The Institute of Public Affairs has reported that, in 2024, out of Australia's 50 largest solar farms, only 28 per cent were entirely owned by Australians. Of the total subsidy paid, $1.2 billion was given to solar and wind projects that were foreign owned. These billions of dollars are going straight out of our country.

The rationale seems to be that, if we sink enough funding into alternate energy, eventually something's going to go right. With all of that spending, you'd think we would be looking at cheaper power bills, but no—more spending, higher bills, spiralling costs and no energy certainty. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is a cheaper way, there is a better way and there is a fairer way.

Let's take a look at the events that followed in this place after that horrific Bondi terrorist attack. This was a heartbreaking day in our history and one that requires a response from cool heads. Instead, we got a panicked reaction that kicked out at Australia's legitimate gun owners. Labor estimated $1 billion for a gun buyback program would be enough. However, experts in this field say this cost could be more like $5 billion to $10 billion. This decision has been pushed through by the Albanese government with the support of the Greens without consideration of the massive cost to all Australians. I couldn't see that funding for the gun buyback program in the plea for more money within this bill.

Not only is there a staggering upfront financial cost to this rushed decision-making; I'm hearing of the devastating impacts on small businesses in my electorate. These reforms could mean the ends of their small businesses. I've heard from struggling gun owners in Walgett, in Dubbo, in Moree and in Broken Hill. I quote from one of these family business owners:

None of these changes stop or will ever stop what happened, but the government will never admit its own faults. It will only ever pass them on to people like me.

We know the loss of any small business in a regional community can have serious impacts. The potential loss of these businesses has huge consequences not only to the suppliers but also to their consumers—another blow for regional Australia.

Spending is needed—spending is needed in all of the areas that I've outlined—but this appropriation bill is a clear indication of poor planning, of spiralling spending in all the wrong places and of an out-of-control budget that continues to fuel the rocket of inflation.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned 19:24

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