Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's not mince our words. Labor's budget fails regional Australians. It fails the people of Mallee, my people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised that, if he won government, there would be no-one held back and no-one left behind. But, in Labor's first budget, the 30 per cent of Australians who live in regional and rural areas have been held back and left behind in key areas: the cost of living, child care, small business, agriculture and infrastructure.

The price of groceries is already up eight per cent. It's easy to point the finger at natural disasters, but Labor's scrapping of the ag visa, which I personally fought so hard for, has had a marked effect. We need 172,000 workers now. Supply has been slashed because farmers and processors are limited to just 60 per cent capacity due to workforce shortages, which has ultimately put prices up at the check-out. Does Labor even know what farmers do? Energy prices are already up 20 per cent this year and are predicted to rise a further 30 per cent next year, while the $275 saving promised by Labor to reduce electricity bills is now dead. That was something they promised 97 times pre-election. Interest rates and inflation are up and are predicted to go up further under Labor, ripping hundreds of dollars out of households each month. That's hundreds of dollars that would put food on the table, keep the lights on or safeguard the future of our regional families.

In Mallee, I know child care is a huge issue. We have a childcare desert, with seven towns where there is no child care and long waitlists in others. While Labor has announced $4.7 billion in childcare measures, it will not create one new additional childcare place, leaving regional and rural families no better off. They have gone for subsidies over service. Affordability of child care is not the issue in Mallee; it is accessibility. I have seven towns in dire need of childcare facilities. Parents there are not crying out for a subsidy. They tell me they actually need bricks and mortar and a workforce so that they can go back to work. Birchip needs child care, Boort needs child care and Cohuna needs child care. Murtoa, Pyramid Hill, Rainbow and Wedderburn all need child care. In other towns, there are waitlists as long as my arm. One centre in Mildura has a waitlist of 200. That is 200 families who cannot add their skills to the workforce even though they want to. Labor needs to offer a solution.

Another failure by Labor is the direct cut of vital funding streams for regional Australia. Multibillion-dollar programs have been scrapped, including the Energy Security and Regional Development Plan, the Regional Accelerator Program, the Community Development Grants Program and the Building Better Regions Fund. These programs supported regional councils that do not have the income streams that urban centres have and therefore do not have the capacity to build local infrastructure critical to their communities. Without the funding, there are no new sporting facilities, no regional health education opportunities and no tourism park redevelopments. Labor's solution is to slash that funding, which is now nowhere near enough. Regional Australians deserve better; they deserve a federal government that cares.

While the regions are forgotten, Labor will give $2.2 billion to Dan Andrews for his election campaign in the form of the Suburban Rail Loop. But there is nothing to see here! Labor have perfected pork barrelling while hypocritically pointing the finger at us. Labor have broken the promises they made to all Australians and in particular to regional Australians. They have broken the hearts and will break the bank balances of regional and rural families. Treasurer Chalmers keeps talking about families around the kitchen table, but it has proven to be just that—talk. Labor has abandoned families in regional communities and cast a shadow over their futures.