Small businesses are the backbone of regional Australia. They employ our locals, sponsor our footy clubs, give our kids their first jobs and keep our main streets alive. But across my electorate of Mallee, small businesses are being pushed to the wall, and Labor is doing the pushing. Power bills are soaring. Insurance premiums are crippling. Fuel, wages, bank fees and red tape are eating away at every dollar they earn. These businesses aren't asking for handouts. They just want a fighting chance.

Last week I brought Mallee business owners together for a roundtable. They're exhausted, they're angry, and they're running out of money. Clothing retailers are battling online giants on an uneven playing field. One holiday park operator told me they started the year with almost 14 staff. After the fuel crisis, that number fell to just seven after Easter. Some of Australia's biggest retailers are also sounding the alarm. JB Hi-Fi and Bunnings are reporting slowing sales. David Jones has just reported a staggering $95.5 million pre-tax loss. That's after losing $74 million the year before. Sales have fallen nearly nine per cent. Their lender has reportedly provided another $10 million just to help buy Christmas stock. If David Jones is struggling, what chance does a family owned shop in Mildura, Horsham or Swan Hill have?

The warning lights aren't flashing anymore. The economy is screaming for help, but Labor is not listening. Instead, we get more spin, more excuses, more blame shifting. While Labor congratulates itself in Canberra, Australians are struggling to put food on the table. Foodbank's latest hunger report is devastating. One in three Australian households couldn't afford enough food in the past year—one in three households. Let that sink in. These aren't just people on welfare. These are working Australians. Do you remember them, the workers? They can't afford to feed their families. Nearly seven in 10 food-insecure households experienced it for the first time in this past year.

The Treasurer wants Australians to believe inflation is under control. Inflation is back at 4.3 per cent. We should all feel great about that. Let's call inflation what it is. It's the pay cut you never agreed to. It steals the value of your wages. It eats your savings. It drives up your groceries, your insurance, your mortgage and your rent. It's an invisible tax on every Australian. Who could forget Treasurer Chalmers posing two years ago for the AFR power list patting that supposedly tamed inflation dragon on the head? Well, that dragon is alive and breathing destructive fire on Australian household budgets. Australians have endured 16 interest rate rises since Labor came to power. Now, they're facing the prospect of a 17th on cup day. You cannot tax a country into prosperity. You cannot regulate small businesses into success. Small businesses don't have the luxury of running endless deficits. They can't print money. They can't just borrow billions and send the bill to the next generation. When the money runs out, they close their doors. When a small business closes in regional Australia, we lose more than a shop. We lose jobs.

Labor doesn't seem to understand that, but the coalition does. We will cut wasteful government spending. We will lower taxes, we will back small businesses, we will deliver cheaper, more reliable energy, and we will provide relief at the bowser when global oil prices soar, because Australia's prosperity isn't created by bureaucrats sitting behind desks in Canberra. It's created by the farmers, the tradies, the shopkeepers and the family businesses who work hard, take risks and employ Australians. They are the people who keep this country going, and they're the people Labor keeps letting down. Enough is enough.