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

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2025-2026, the Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2025-2026 and the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026. The Albanese government has made history as the highest spending government outside of the pandemic in 40 years. In coming years, it is projected, they will break their own record. I've said it many times, and I'll keep saying it: this Labor government is run by politics, not by policy, and they have no respect for the taxpayer. They answer only to their union boss. They have no respect for the small-business owner. The national accounts show this. The government debt shows this. Our inflation shows this—it's the highest in the OECD. Spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, and then, one day, the next Liberal-National government will fix it.

Spending as a percentage of GDP is predicted to reach 26.9 per cent at the end of this financial year. More than a quarter of all dollars in our economy is spent by this government. That is ridiculous, and it is not good enough. This is big government territory. This government is running deficits because record levels of revenue are being outstripped by record levels of spending and record levels of spending growth. This socialist Labor government is breaking records all around at the cost of Australians.

These spending habits do not reflect the restraint that the Treasurer so often speaks about. This restraint is setting up the next generation to pay off even more Labor debt—$1.2 trillion of debt. That's $1,200 billion. It's $1,200,000 million. That's how much money this is.

That's a lot of money, but it's hard to comprehend what that means on a per-worker basis. If I combine the South Australian Labor government debt and the Australian Labor government debt and I divide it by the workforce, we reached a milestone in 2025 in South Australia. There is over $100,000 per worker on their individual government debt credit card. Every South Australian worker now owes their government more than $100,000 in debt. That is significant, and that will be paid off by their children and their children's children.

Until Pyro Jim gets spending under control, Australians will keep paying through higher prices, higher mortgages and weaker living standards. This is the first generation in Australian history where your children will be poorer than you, and that is unacceptable.

Labor's reckless spending habits are also part of the reason the RBA have raised interest rates again. The Treasurer has got his foot on the gas of government spending. The RBA have their foot on the brake, raising interest rates. If you press the gas and the brake too hard, what do you do? You do a burnout. Maybe we should start calling our Treasurer Burnout Jim.

The RBA raised interest rates in February by 25 basis points, making it now sit at 3.85 per cent. Pundits predict the RBA will increase rates again when they next meet and even again when they next meet after that, putting more pressure on your mortgage repayments and more pressure on the cost of everything.

At the House Economics Committee on 6 February, the RBA governor said:

… to the extent that aggregate demand is above aggregate supply, which we think it is, that's contributing to inflationary pressures.

She also said:

Mathematically, you're right; public demand expenditure and private sector—all of that—adds to demand.

The government cannot escape the laws of economics. Higher government spending always results in higher inflation. Higher inflation demands higher interest rates.

I always come back to my high school economics teacher—economics 101; thank you, Mr Maguire—who said that governments act in a countercyclical fashion to the private sector. When the private sector is doing poorly, government spends more. When the private sector is doing well, government restrains itself. What have we seen with this government? We've seen it spend, spend, spend, spend, spend. We've seen inflation and debt go through the roof. It is as simple as that.

After nearly four years of Labor, Australians are paying more for everything because of Labor's reckless spending, which is fuelling the inflation fire. Insurance is up 39 per cent. Energy is up 40 per cent. Mind you, the $275 reduction in our power bills never came. Rent is up 22 per cent. Health is up 18 per cent. Education is up 17 per cent. Food is up 16 per cent. Throw in the recent floods in outback South Australia, which is causing some councils to estimate $10 million in damages, with no support announced at the state or federal level. Or how about the recent fuel shortages, which are causing transport operators to pay more than $1,350 on fuel? That is a 38 per cent increase on what they were paying just last week.

These figures add up when Australians are being forced to pay more for essentials because of this government's spending habits. You only have to look at Labor's upgrade to the BOM website to see how they manage their money. That was $96.5 million for a website upgrade. My fiance builds websites. The cheapest website is about $2,000. A Rolls-Royce website is about $40,000. How on earth did the Bureau of Meteorology spend $96.5 million on a website that no-one asked for? Indeed, there was clearly no user acceptance testing, because the farmers that I speak to don't use it. They don't like it. We've had to reinstate the old one and share that link with all of my community. This waste of taxpayer money has resulted in our primary producers, the backbone of our economy, having an important resource taken away. That mistake was a completely unacceptable use of taxpayer money by Labor, and it's just one example. I've been fighting for a Doppler radar on the lower Eyre Peninsula. Minister Watt told me there is 'no capacity'. To be frank, 'no capacity' is political speak for 'no cash'. How is it that this government can spend so much money yet not spend any of it where it is actually needed on physical infrastructure like Doppler radar as opposed to an expensive website?

Labor's out-of-control spending is hurting all Australians by fuelling higher inflation and higher interest rates. Australia's inflation rate is now higher than the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany and so many other countries. This is a problem specific to Australia, fuelled by government spending being the highest in 40 years outside of a recession. Why is it that we are the only country with this problem? The worst part is that Labor have been warned by industry experts. This is not new news. AMP chief economist Diana Mousina confirmed it when she said:

So it appears that directly, the government has been adding to inflation in recent years, as you would expect in an environment of public spending lifting to a record high.

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver only last week said, 'A lot of factors driving (inflation) relate to government spending.' IFM Investors' chief economist Alex Joiner said:

We already have fiscal policy getting looser, but it could be even looser than we expect. The fiscal guard rails have come off.

And HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said:

… the primary driver of the pick-up in inflation is not strong demand. To the extent that demand is playing much of a role, it is that public demand growth has been strong, due to government spending.

The government has lost support from its friends in the industry super sector.

Spending growth is running at four times the rate of growth in the economy, and debt under the Albanese government is set to reach $1.2 trillion. Spending is now $160 billion higher than when this government came to office. That is $16,000 for every household in Australia. Since coming to office, the Albanese government has added $100 billion to the national debt. That is impacting Australians. We saw some news come out last week that Australia has the highest rates of bureaucrats per capita—another interesting point. Australians are spending $50,000 a minute on the interest of Labor's debt alone—$50,000 a minute—and I'm sure that's increasing as well.

Under Labor, Australians are worse off. Under Labor, living standards have declined. Australia has the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world. As Liberals, we stand for lower inflation, lower interest rates and lower taxes. You will always get that from the Liberal Party. It is clear Labor's reckless spending is keeping inflation higher for longer. We will fight for lower costs and for disciplined economic management. We must unapologetic, unapologetic—I can't even say it, Deputy Speaker Freelander.

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