Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

This is actually a budget for billionaires. It's a budget that gives billions of dollars in tax subsidies to billionaires like Twiggy Forrest and Clive Palmer but overlooks the battlers who live and work across our regional communities. What a sad indictment on the Australian Labor Party, which once prided itself on being the party for workers, that the big winner out of last night's budget is actually Andrew Forrest.

Labor's third budget—and most probably the last before the next election—does three things. Firstly, it throws any hint of fiscal discipline from Labor out the window, with budget deficits as far as the eye can see and $122 billion being added to our national debt, which is rapidly ratcheting up towards the trillion-dollar mark. As I look up at the gallery, I see some young students. It is those young students who will end up having to pay off Labor's debt and deficits that were announced and showcased in the budget last night.

Secondly, it also embarks on a risky and reckless government-knows-best investment strategy that discards decades of bipartisan economics that Keating and Hawke championed in favour of a picking-winners policy. Yes, picking winners is back in vogue, and the main criterion for eligibility is having mates in the Australian Labor Party who can get you swiftly, quietly and secretly through the vetting process.

Finally, this is a budget that once again, in a most calculated and cruel way, disregards and disrespects the future prosperity of regional Australians. Thirty per cent of this country doesn't live in a capital city, and once again our communities, our projects, our future have been put on the chopping block to meet Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese's political desires. This budget continues the funding drought that the regional communities have been subjected to since Labor came to power. But, worse, it dashes hopes of any regional assistance beyond the next election. This is an unprecedented and targeted attack on the prosperity and sustainability of regional Australia, as we continue to suffer through an Albanese Labor government. They were very happy to come up to Beef Week in Rockhampton last week, with their shiny new akubras, only to jump on a plane and, within the next 24 hours, dash the hopes of Western Australian live sheep exporters, thinking regional Australians wouldn't notice.

The suffering commenced on 22 May 2022 and was given full effect in the October budget of that year when more than $10 billion was axed from regional programs by Labor. By the time of that budget, we were well and truly in the funding drought. The two-year funding drought for regional communities continues with confirmation that not one cent of money for regional economic development or community infrastructure will be delivered this year. Not one new program to support regional economic development was announced in last night's budget. Despite claiming that $1 billion would be made available to strengthen regional communities, commencing from 1 July last year, it has now been confirmed that no money will be paid out this year under either the Growing Regions Program or the Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program. There are councils and community organisations right across Australia who made applications for funding under one or other of those programs, way back in the middle of last year, who are still waiting for feedback on the projects. It's not just the immigration ministers who are incompetent. These ministers cannot run a chook raffle. You've got councils and community organisations who have done the hard work and put the application in, and no-one has bothered to get back to them since the middle of last year. 'How's the application going? When can we expect to get through the decision-making process? When do you think we'll be getting up to signing contracts? When do you think our community is actually going to see this new piece of infrastructure?'

Organisations have had to go out and obtain quotes from contractors and suppliers on the basis of those funding guidelines that were supposed to have commenced—wait for it—by 15 May at the latest. The guidelines for these programs stated that you had to be ready to start the project by—guess what, Senator Lambie—today. But we haven't heard back from the government as to whether they've even been successful. These quotes and the reputations of our local councils and community organisations are now at risk simply because Minister Catherine King cannot get her or her department's act together.

The reality is that many applicants will now face higher costs than the original quotes would have led them to believe. This is because of Labor's own homegrown inflation problem. These organisations will be left out of pocket, because you can guarantee the government won't be paying for the shortfall between the quote they obtained and the new price. Is it any wonder that the Australian National Audit Office is investigating the Growing Regions Program? I encourage any council or local organisation who has applied for funding under that program to make a submission to the ANAO.

In total, our regions have been robbed of $130 million worth of investment that was meant to be delivered this financial year. That's what the budget actually says. The government is supposed to be establishing new programs for our heavily congested suburbs. That was supposed to commence on 1 July this year. Every council and community or sporting organisation in the suburbs of our capital cities should look hard at the experience of the regional grant programs. Don't look at the budget papers, because they suggest money will be paid in the 2024-25 year, but in the experience of the regional programs that hasn't been the case.

All of this could have been avoided had the government not chosen to axe the Building Better Regions program, where community organisations and councils put in applications that had been assessed by the department and were sitting there ready for the funding to be delivered. That was axed by the Labor Party on their coming into power. The government and the Prime Minister and the minister need to apologise to these communities.

Of course, not only have this government and this budget been disastrous for the regions; they have also been shocking for the infrastructure rollout. There have been more cuts and delays to infrastructure in the 2024-25 budget. After the government cancelled or cut over $25 billion worth of projects across the country since coming to power, this budget last night reveals another $2.1 billion of cuts. It just beggars belief, as we have seen record immigration flowing into our already congested cities, exacerbating the housing crisis. And now we have the government continuing to cut the road and rail infrastructure funding that our congested suburbs and cities need to deal with their own influx of people. It takes a lot of front—more front than Myers, shall we say—to think that you can get away with that type of joke.

The result of these cuts has been that Labor has cut more than $906 million from road investment in 2024-25 and more than half a billion dollars from rail infrastructure investment in the same timeframe. That means Australians are driving on potholed and crumbling roads and the road toll continues to rise right across the country. Whether I'm speaking to a truckie or to other road users in our suburbs or around the regions, the failure to invest in road maintenance across this country is an indictment. Once again this government is not listening to the Australian people. They are much more interested in achieving political results than actually servicing the communities that produce the wealth.

Labor is all talk and no action. The budget paper show that only $2.86 billion has been allocated towards new infrastructure projects across the entire forward estimates. Catherine King talked a big game—