Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The test for the federal budget handed down last night was whether Labor was going to build on the strength of the economy and the improving budget position they inherited to deal with the challenges that Australians face. Sadly, the budget failed the test. Just before the election the Prime Minister told Australians that they will be better off under a Labor government. But, in fact, what we've seen from the budget is that by Christmas the typical Australian family will be $2,000 worse off than before the election.

There's no credible plan in the budget to deal with those challenges Australians are facing. Indeed, what we see is a 50 per cent increase in electricity prices, cost of living going up more generally, tax payments and tax rates going up, employment going down and real wages not going up—in fact, going backwards, despite promises that were made by Labor to the contrary before the election.

In addition, last night what we saw was critical regional programs being slashed and right at the heart of that was the Building Better Regions Fund. Programs like this are the lifeblood of regional communities—regional communities like my electorate of Hume. They provide funding to critical infrastructure at a time when regional Australia is seeing a real renaissance—an extraordinary position. We're exporting to the world at a pace and a rate we've never done before. We're powering the Australian economy. People have rediscovered regional Australia through the pandemic, and good on them. More people are wanting to live in places like where I live in Goulburn. The Building Better Regions Fund has supported so many critical projects in Goulburn that supported that growth: $4.4 million for an irrigation scheme, $2.7 which is greening the parks and playing fields around Goulburn, $2.7 million for a new accommodation facility for people with disabilities, $2.5 million to reseal the Wombeyan Caves Road—opening up a whole tourist opportunity in the electorate—$487,000 to expand recycling operations. These are the sorts of projects that have been slashed in this budget, and that is just a few of them.

I'm also calling on the Labor government to clarify what has happened to a critical project to my electorate, the Picton Road and Picton bypass upgrade. This was locked in in the March budget but there is no mention of it in this budget. We want a commitment from the Labor government that this project will proceed. We'll be working to make sure the state government makes its fair share and contribution, but we need it from this government. It was locked into the budget. People in my community, in the communities of Hume, deserve to know whether or not the investments and commitments that were made in the previous budget have been slashed by this government.