It might have been me!—for acting quickly to release the funds which would provide much-needed upgrades to every regional rail line through the Regional Rail Revival program. Tick! That was under a coalition federal government. And we know, when there's a coalition federal government in Canberra, the split between federal and state is 80-20. And when Labor gets to power, gets to office in Canberra, it's fifty-fifty. And so, therefore, the states hold off on building infrastructure. They hold off on building anything. And this minister for infrastructure is now the minister for no structure, because the only thing she's building is complaints in her in-tray. And they are coming, rest assured, under the Rescue our Rail commitment that we're making to ensure that Inland Rail is actually delivered—not just half baked, under this mob; not just Parkes to Melbourne, but indeed Melbourne to Brisbane. And Minister Allan said: 'I'm also pleased that, in addition to the $1.57 billion Regional Rail Revival package, the Commonwealth will increase its contribution by $135 million to upgrade the north-east rail line to a class 2 standard to allow faster modern trains and give communities along the north-east line the services they expect and deserve.' See, there's a minister saying how pleased she is with what a federal government will do. The only thing that Premier Allan is now banking on is the Suburban Rail Loop. Do you know what the reason is? I made a mistake when I was the Deputy Prime Minister. I did, and I'm happy to fess up right here, right now. You know what I did?

A government member interjecting

Go on. I'm being goaded now by the minister. I enlisted the services of the ARTC to build the Inland Rail. I should have got the CFMEU on board. Had I got the CFMEU on board, the Comancheros, the Bandidos and all of those bikie gangs that benefit from the CFMEU, Inland Rail would continue. It would be continuing right now, and it would continue from Melbourne to Brisbane. Unfortunately, I erred. I mucked up. I apologise to the Australian public. I apologise to regional Australia for not getting the CFMEU on board. Anyway, there we go.

Jacinta Allan was right. I have to say Mark Bailey, another Labor minister, was right, because he also signed the intergovernmental agreement for inland rail. They recognised the importance of Commonwealth-state relations in building infrastructure. I'll tell you what, there are a lot of Labor infrastructure ministers and roads ministers who are now not so sure that they've got the right team, the right colour, in Canberra, because they're unable to build anything because they've got to stump up a whole lot more money. Certainly, tonight's budget will not bring the relief or the resilience or restore the funding that they so desperately need.

Our roads in regional Australia are crumbling. The National Stronger Regions Fund, which became the Building Better Regions Fund, has been axed by this mob, and, when they came to power, the member for Ballarat, the minister for infrastructure, said that they were going to pause and they were going to review and that there was going to be a 90-day review of all the infrastructure spending. It then became a 206-day review, but we haven't seen any programs or projects built since then. Regional Australia and certainly our councils on low rate bases are crying out for infrastructure. Their roads are deteriorating. They can't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Certainly, the Inland Rail has caused so many businesses so much heartache in the last 48 hours since Labor axed the program and said it was going to only become a Melbourne to Parkes line—less than half the distance of the total 1,700-kilometre corridor of commerce, which was first talked about in the 1890s and which was funded and started under a coalition government in 2018.

I remember when the first lot of steel was dropped off at Peak Hill on 15 January in that year, 2018, and it took a Labor government in 2026 to shelve it, to axe it, to bring the sledgehammer to it, and that is typical Labor, because typical Labor brings the sledgehammer to anything that's aspirational in this country. The Treasurer and every infrastructure minister and regional development minister stand condemned for doing this. It is just not right. What they should be doing is picking up the phone and talking to some of those hardworking businesses—such as AusRock Quarries at Parkes, such as Calvani Crushing at Forbes, and such as KB Concrete, which has offices in Dubbo, Wellington, Narromine, Coonabarabran and Gilgandra—who were left high and dry by axing the Inland Rail, not to mention Austrak at Wagga, which was going to build the sleepers for the Parkes and Narromine section through to Brisbane. It's simply not good enough, and Labor needs to explain why it is not delivering this nation-building piece of infrastructure.

More than that, it's in defence, it's in housing, it's in the capital gains, and it's in the whacking pensioners who need that rebate for the private health insurance that Labor said that they wouldn't touch and are now bringing the sledgehammer to. This budget will not bring the resilience or the restoration or the recovery or the relief to Australians right throughout this country. It's only going to bring more heartache, and Labor stands condemned because of that. Every single item tonight—you're not going to see the hope and confidence, the cost-of-living measures that the people of Australia are so desperately seeking. They want a government to succeed. They want a government to have their backs. And this government is doing nothing but bring more heartache and less hope to Australians—Mr and Mrs Average, farmers, small businesses, people right across particularly regional Australia, regional Australians who keep the lights on, who keep the exports going and who produce the food and fibre. They've been neglected by this shameful government. (Time expired)