Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to talk about the budget and Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2024-2025, although it is a tough conversation to have because we need to be realistic and understand that, despite the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and those opposite talking about how Australians have never had it better and about how lucky they are, the reality is the Australian people are struggling through the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory. All the data's showing this, whether it's insolvencies being up for small businesses or retail numbers being down. Everything is getting harder for the Australian people. Your bills are up 12 per cent for energy and 10-plus per cent for food. Rents are up by double digits. Everything's going up. Real wages over the two years of this government have gone backwards. The Australian people are struggling every day. They know it every time they put petrol in their car. They know it every time a bill comes in or they go to the supermarket.

In the biggest cost-of-living crisis in Australia's history, at a time when families are stretched as never before, what is the solution that this Prime Minister, this government and this Treasurer come up with? Fifteen dollars a week, starting on 1 July. Fifteen dollars a week for the Australian people was their big announcement in February this year, which they've talked about for four or five months, to solve all the problems the Australian people had.

They then worked out, after four or five months, that that wasn't enough and that they needed to do more. It took them six months to work this out. So what was the other solution they had to the challenges the Australian people have? Energy bill relief: $75 a quarter for 12 months, or $300 over 12 months. That's the second solution to the challenges the Australian people have that this government has proposed. Could you have a more out-of-touch prime minister, treasurer and government? It shows.

The Treasurer is happy in question time to talk with pride about how he's been in 18 budget lock-ups. He thinks it's a good thing that he's been in this place in budget lock-ups for 18 years. The Prime Minister's been here since 1996. Having tenure here is nothing against the Prime Minister, but it shows that the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the economics team combined have not spent one day in business. They have not spent one day having to look at their cash flow and work out how they're going to pay their workers. They have not had the challenge of looking at their personal budget and working out how they're going to make ends meet—how they're going to feed their kids and take them to sport—and that makes a difference when people are struggling. When you don't have that understanding, that's when you think $15 a week and $75 a quarter are going to solve the challenges for the Australian people.

But it's even worse than that. They're so out of touch. If you're a single mum living in a rental, you'll get $300 from the government. If you're fortunate enough to own and live in five properties, you'll get a $1,500 rebate from this government. So $1,500 of taxpayer money will go to a person that owns and lives in five homes, but, if you're a single mum struggling in one home, you get $300. Yet this government thinks that's fair. They think that's equitable. It's just another example of how out of touch this government is.

What they're looking to do—and they're doing it poorly—is to treat the symptoms of the cost-of-living crisis. They're not treating the cause, and the cause of this crisis is inflation. We saw yesterday that the monthly number for inflation has gone up to 3.6 per cent. It's two years into this government's term, and inflation is over a percentage point above the midpoint of the target band. The Prime Minister, the Treasurer and those opposite will try to spin it and talk about global factors, but two years in—as the Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, said herself—this inflation is homegrown. This inflation is a result of the decisions of this Prime Minister and this Treasurer. They're making decisions that make inflation worse.

They're also not actively working to bring inflation down. At best, this Treasurer talks about a neutral budget. Economist Warren Hogan said today:

Now we are at a point where we are living in hope that inflation will go away, rather than making serious policy decisions to get rid of it.

So that's what the Australian people have: a Prime Minister and a Treasurer who are crossing their fingers and hoping that inflation will go down, because they don't have any answers to the economic challenges we face. We know they don't have any answers to the national security challenges we face. This is an out-of-touch government that's continuing to make poor decisions and is not prepared to make tough decisions.

The sad part—the worst part about this—is that it's the Australian people that suffer. It's the Australian people that are paying the price every week, and you know it. You know it when you go to the supermarket. You know it when you get petrol from the bowser. This Prime Minister when he was the opposition leader had the gall to criticise the then Prime Minister when petrol was at $1.70. It is now consistently over $2 and sometimes as high as $2.30, and you don't hear a word about it from this Prime Minister. That one example sums up the hypocrisy, the lack of authenticity of this Prime Minister. He's happy to talk about petrol and blame the Prime Minister when it's $1.70, but when it's $2.30 a litre and he's in charge and has the ability to make changes there's silence, nothing, because he doesn't have answers to the challenges we face.

This Prime Minister is a creature of politics. He loves politics. He loves spin. But politics and spin don't help the Australian people. Let's use that example of the former government and the increase in petrol prices. What did the former government do? They cut the excise in half in a temporary and targeted measure to provide relief to the Australian people. So the Prime Minister is very quick to criticise others, but he doesn't have any solutions to the challenges we face.

It's not only on a national level that he's failing many communities. He's failing my community on a localised level as well. Phone communications is one of the most important issues in my electorate. We have a beautiful combination of suburban areas, National Parks and farmland going out into regional areas, but phone communications can be tough. This government in the budget has announced the conclusion of the Mobile Blackspot Program. The budget papers confirm that funding for the Mobile Blackspot Program ceases in 2026-27, with zero dollars allocated for 2027-28. The government has also allocated no funding in the 2027-28 budget for the Better Connectivity Program for regional and rural Australia or the Peri-Urban Mobile Program.

These programs were put in place by the former coalition government. This government was happy to use the program to make sure that 80 per cent of funding from the last round went to Labor-held or marginal seats. They were happy to use that round of funding for political needs. But they're now going to cut that program for my community and many other regional and peri-urban communities. Let's understand what we're talking about. It's not an abstract concept. This program delivered phone towers for my community in East Warburton, Steeles Creek, McMahons Creek, Mount Evelyn, Reefton, Menzies Creek and Silvan and two towers in Chum Creek. This is making a difference to our community every day, but also, most importantly, it's a vital lifeline in emergencies. The Yarra Ranges council area that I represent, the electorate of Casey, is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the country, whether it's the Black Saturday bushfires, floods or storms. Disasters and emergencies, unfortunately, are a way of life for our community, but we know that reliable communications are a crucial part of our plan for survival. This government has ripped that funding from our community.

They've also ripped funding from the Stronger Communities Program, which has been axed. This is a program that delivers for sporting clubs and for communities all across the Yarra Ranges and electorate of Casey. Over $1 million has been delivered to community groups over eight years to help them do what they need to do across sporting clubs, community groups and CFAs. I have two examples of how important this program is, but this government have decided to cut this program.

The Yarra Glen Fire Brigade were able to purchase three new thermal-imaging cameras through this grants program. I had the opportunity to visit Bill Boyd, the captain, and some of the volunteers at the CFA to discuss what the cameras were going to do and the difference they were going to make. These thermal-imaging cameras are going to keep our volunteers safe. They allow them, from well away, to have a look at a dangerous area, to identify the hotspots that can't be seen by the naked eye and to make sure they're prepared to mitigate those circumstances. They also allow them to identify bodies, if required, in some situations. This funding has been ripped from our community by this government.

Here is another example. The Kallista Village Market, unfortunately, had to close down during COVID. But a group of volunteers, led by Dr Miki and others, rallied around to get the Kallista township group back up and running and bring the village market back to life, and I had the honour of being there for its reopening. They were able to purchase marquees, audiovisual equipment—microphones, speakers—that they wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise to get the market back up and going. It builds community spirit, it supports small businesses that come to the market to sell their wares, and it brings tourists into Kallista to continue to strengthen that community. This is another community group that won't have access to this program moving forward because of the decisions of this government.

This government talk a lot about community, but they just don't understand the regional and rural communities of Casey, of Victoria, of the country. It's a government that continues to make poor decisions at a national level and at a local level. It's a government that is prepared to politicise mobile blackspot towers.

Of the towers that the government announced for Victoria in the last round, 100 per cent went to Labor held seats. Eighty per cent of them across the country went to Labor or marginal seats during the last election. The hypocrisy of this government is staggering. As I've said throughout this speech, it is the poor decisions and the weak leadership of this Prime Minister that is leaving the communities of Casey and the communities of Australia abandoned. The government do not have any answers to the challenges we face, and they have left the Australian people abandoned.

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