The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026 and related bills deal with taxes and with trust. When it comes to trust, you cannot rely on Labor. And when it comes to taxes, we know that this government is the highest-taxing government ever. The problem is that we've got businesses going backwards. We have small business in this country in freefall at the moment—30 businesses a day closing their doors. The small business sector is on its knees. Because of Labor's policies, nearly 15,000 small businesses collapsed in 2025. It was the worst year in record and, sadly, this year it's no better.

Labor has introduced thousands—not hundreds, but thousands—of new regulations: more compliance, making it difficult and more expensive to do business. Businesses' electricity bills have surged by about 40 per cent since May 2022. Coffee shops, hairdressers, motor mechanics—all of those small businesses that we all rely on—have to find that money, over and above their running costs, each and every week, just to make ends meet. And they can't keep doing it. There's only so much that you can charge somebody for a cup of coffee. There's only so much that you can charge somebody for a haircut. There's only so much that you can charge somebody when it comes time to fix their motor vehicle. They're doing it so tough, and Labor is only making it harder.

We have put forward a number of sensible amendments, and I hope the government, in good faith, accepts them, agrees with them and votes in favour of them. We know that the government did not take a minimum tax on discretionary trusts to the election last year. Indeed, they promised before that election that they would not raise taxes, yet we know that Labor has done that. Treasury's own impact analysis says that around 350,000 small businesses operate through a discretionary trust. Many of them are farmers. Many of them are those who work the land, who provide the food and fibre our nation relies on—and not just Australia but many other countries as well. Each of those businesses that rely on that discretionary trust is left with some options. They can pay a new 30 per cent tax hike, they can restructure and pay stamp duty, or they can lock in fixed shares for life in a one-off election in 2028-29. Treasury puts the compliance costs at an average of $141.5 million each year.

Labor loves to spend money. On Monday night I went and listened to the Senate estimates environment committee hearing. That's what I did; that's what I spent my Monday night doing. It was really interesting to hear the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and Minister Murray Watt, the senator who has carriage of the water portfolio, answer questions in that important portfolio area.

It was with some disgust last night, in between reading legislation, that I read an article in the Border Mail, the newspaper covering Albury-Wodonga. It said:

Regional NSW Minister Tara Moriarty visited Lavington Sports Ground on Tuesday, October 27, to outline spending across 34 projects covering an area from Wentworth to Goulburn.

This just goes to show the malaise about spending and why communities, and people, are so frustrated with politics, politicians and Labor governments in particular. The article said:

Lavington Football Netball Club received $52,555 for resurfacing and upgrading a court that has been in place since 2023 but unsuitable for hosting matches.

The club's netball administration manager Rhys Winckle said "it's actually essentially just a training facility at the moment, and that's all we can really use it for until this court surface has actually been applied".

Of course, Lavington was pretty happy that they received this funding.

The article went on to talk about AusCycling in Wagga Wagga, my hometown, receiving $99,954 for a mobile cycling centre and the Ganmain sports club—it's a great little community, a wonderful little community; for a little village, Ganmain's sporting history is probably second to none per capita in the nation—receiving $83,524 to 'upgrade an underused area for a community hub'. The article continued:

The bulk of the money, $1.365 million, went to Goulburn's council to upgrade that city's hockey centre with two modern fields to attract major championships.

Good luck to Goulburn. Well done, Ganmain. Congratulations, Wagga Wagga, and half your luck, Lavington.

This is the rub. All that money. All those four centres received part of the windfall of '$6.58 million in funding that was shared across 14 projects as part of the active regional communities program'. Deputy Speaker Chesters, you'll be interested in this because, being from Bendigo, you are in the Murray-Darling Basin. The article reported:

Ms Moriarty said the NSW government did not support the policy of water buybacks pursued by the Commonwealth but would not be rejecting a total of $160 million offered by Canberra to mitigate the impact of more environmental flows.

She was quoted:

There's a lot of other options that are available for repairing our waterways and our environment, which we do support. But we want to make sure that this region, that is so incredibly important for food production not just for this region, but for all of New South Wales and for all of Australia … stays strong into the future while we repair our environment.

Ms Moriarty estimated 624 jobs would be created through the $50 million spending but could not say—

this is the interesting point—

how that figure would tally against the number of positions lost because of buybacks.

I mention all that as part of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026 debate because that article shows how wrongheaded the bureaucracy and Labor governments are at the moment. Whilst those four centres that I mentioned certainly are in the Murray-Darling Basin, they are certainly not—n-o-t; put it in capitals, underline it, put it in red; I don't care—affected, really, by water buybacks. They are not.

When it comes to taxes, when it comes to discretionary trusts, when it comes to government spending money, when it comes to helping communities—I just don't understand why communities that are not affected by something then receive a cash windfall at the expense of other towns which are on their knees. Small businesses in towns such as Leeton, Narrandera, Finley, Deniliquin and Tocumwal and in the city of Griffith have diminished so much because of bad water policy. Those small businesses are on their knees not just because of bad water policy but also because of bad federal Labor policy. They have the double whammy, then they pick up the paper and they read that the towns close by in the same region but not affected at all by water buybacks are receiving a cash windfall for their sporting organisations. It's no wonder that people are angry. It's no wonder that there's grievance. It's no wonder that people are asking why. It's no wonder that people are just saying, 'We are sick of these bad policies.'

Now, people might ask what we will do to fix it. We will put in place a tax-back guarantee. When it comes to Treasury laws amendments, when it comes to reforming the tax system, under a coalition government—hopefully one after 2027 if the Prime Minister goes early or in 2028 when the next general election is due to be held—85 per cent of taxpayers will be fully protected from bracket creep. From 2028-29, every taxpayer will be protected from 2031-32. From 2028-29, the bottom two income tax thresholds will be indexed to inflation, fully protecting 85 per cent of income earners from Labor's higher taxes. That's what's crippling. That, folks, is what is crippling small businesses and taxpayers everywhere.

Labor is fond of talking about real income increasing, but it's a folly. It's a fantasy. It's a Labor Party talking point that just doesn't ring true out in the community, because people know that, every time they fill up their car, it's costing them more. Labor will talk about the Strait of Hormuz. They'll talk about the situation in Iran. They'll talk till they're red in the face about situations overseas affecting Australia markets.