Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Get rid of Jim! Get rid of the Treasurer! Thanks to the member for Hume.

We will continue to put Australians first. That's what we'll do, because right now, under this budget, we're not seeing that. Labor's third budget has failed all three tests that the shadow Treasurer outlined for it. It has failed all three tests. But don't worry; since coming to government, they've delivered another 36,000 bureaucrats in Canberra. To put that into perspective, our entire Australian Defence Force, full time, under this government, has fallen below 60,000. We've got some 58½ thousand full-time Army, Air Force and Navy personnel, but in two years this government has added another 36,000 public servants in Canberra. What are they going to do? They're not going to join the ADF. They've allowed for an additional 36,000 full-time public servants in Canberra in two years but, to put that into perspective, they have allowed the ADF to fall below 60,000.

Once again, people in my electorate look at the Queensland public servants. In the last 10 years that Labor have been in up there, they've grown the Public Service by 60,000. That's just in Queensland. They've grown the Public Service by more than the entire ADF, which is here to defend our freedom and to make sure that there's a deterrent here in Australia. The government has absolutely failed on defence in this budget as well. The Deputy Prime Minister talks about all this extra expenditure, but it's all in years seven, eight, nine and 10—in some third term, if they get that. What about right now, today, in the first term? What are they doing there now? We're not seeing the expenditure. As well, we're actually seeing numbers of defence personnel fall.

Labor's decisions are also making inflation worse. For people listening and for people in Petrie, under Labor, as the shadow Treasurer has been drumming up, there will be another $315 billion of spending over the forward estimates. Think of the last coalition budget and the figure there. They've added $315 billion. But the Treasurer says, 'This isn't adding to inflation. Don't worry. Your mortgages have gone up, your rents have gone up and your cost of living has gone up because our inflation is higher than that of most of the rest of the world, including all the European Union, but we're adding another $315 billion in spending.' How can that not add to inflation? How can that not add to rents and mortgages being higher for longer? When people have a shower and cook their food at night with gas, they're paying more for that in the middle of winter. That has all gone up under the Albanese government. When people go to the check-out down at Aldi, the IGA, the Superbarn, Woolworths or Coles, the cost of their groceries has gone up.

These Labor governments try to shift that all onto local businesses. Meanwhile they're increasing regulation, industrial relations and energy costs, and they wonder why people are paying more. It is because this government, the Albanese government, keeps putting more and more costs and more and more red tape onto businesses, and people in my electorate, people in the electorates of the member for Hume and the member for Perth, and people right around Australia are all paying more. That's the reality. Extra spending doesn't take pressure off inflation; in fact, it makes it worse. The RBA governor has said that inflation is now homegrown, and independent economists, as the shadow Treasurer has outlined in a number of speeches, have all said that this budget, the Treasurer's budget, is a flop and adds to inflation.

Labor have trashed the standard of living in this country. They promised a lot two years ago and they'll promise you a lot in May next year, but you cannot believe a word of what they say, because this Prime Minister has been proven to break election promises. He did on the stage 3 tax cuts. He came in here today to talk on the appropriation bills, Deputy Speaker, and he said, 'Everyone's getting more under our tax cuts.' He promised he wouldn't change tax cuts at all. 'My word is my bond,' he said.

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