Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. Minister, Labor's budget entrenches economic inequality and exacerbates the climate crisis. It does little to help people getting smashed by cost-of-living pressures but lines the pockets of Labor's corporate donors—property developers, banks, coal and gas corporations and supermarket giants. Why have you locked in obscene levels of expenditure on things like AUKUS, tax cuts for the rich and subsidies for burning fossil fuels, rather than raising the rate of JobSeeker and youth allowance, capping rents, wiping student debt or putting dental and mental health into Medicare? How can you justify a budget that so clearly prioritises corporate greed over people doing it tough and the health of our planet's climate and ecosystems?