Labor has a real problem with economics. Numbers and percentages don't seem to be their strong point. They think that, if you can't see a cost, it has vanished. They're like babies playing peek-a-boo. With hands over their face, they think you've disappeared. The adults in the room know that, just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean it's not there. These card surcharges don't magically vanish. The banks don't stop charging them. The bills still arrive in the mail. What changes is that consumers lose visibility of the costs. We all know that they're still there. Nothing got cheaper. But Labor still jumped on their social media telling Australians they had just saved them $1.6 billion. The public saw through that. It is no wonder they're trying to censor the internet! They are being absolutely roasted. The real victims here are the small businesses.

I started a business with my brother. I know what it's like to try to comply with mountains of regulations and government imposed costs. It costs precious time. It costs money—not the sort of money that Labor thinks grows on trees; real taxpayer money. It's the sort of money that owners and workers in these businesses had to get up early to earn by providing a service that someone else needed. These businesses take risks, find ways to be more productive and employ workers. Remember those people, Labor? Those costs are absorbed by these businesses until they can't afford it anymore. Then it is paid by the customer. If they can't raise their prices, we lose that business, and their employees lose their jobs. Under Labor, everything is suffering. Cash or card—it is more expensive. Small businesses are getting crushed under Labor. They now have to comply with payday super laws. They have to send in gender equality reports. They need to report on their carbon footprint. Their interest rate payments are soaring thanks to this big-spending government. And, when they go to sell their businesses, this Labor government is waiting to take a huge bite of their retirement with the new capital gains taxes. This ban is just another ridiculous Labor disaster.

When they realised that no-one was buying the spin on these charges, they shifted gear. This morning, Minister McBain was on TV claiming that the Labor government never said they were banning surcharges. Let's check the record on that. Stephen Jones, the then Assistant Treasurer, said in a 2024 ABC interview:

We will introduce a ban by the beginning of 2026 on debit card surcharges.

The Prime Minister told the National Press Club in April this year:

We delivered on our promise to ban surcharges on credit and debit cards.

This lot couldn't lie straight in bed! One Nation will make it easier to do business in this country, and it's time for this incompetent and dishonest Labor government to go.