Anne Webster
Mallee · National Party · Australia
“The government's first duty is to protect its citizens and, arguably, its most vulnerable citizens—in this case, children. Today that duty extends into a digital world, where the playground has actually moved online and where too often it is unpoliced and unsafe.”
“We know that, despite the ban, large numbers of children are still accessing these platforms because enforcement has been weak and the regulator has not been given the tools it needs.”
“They worry about exposure to violent content; harmful algorithms; cyberbullying; scams; predatory, paedophilic behaviour; and the relentless pressure that social media can place on young people's mental health. These concerns are real, and they deserve to be taken seriously.”
“For many young Australians, social media is where they access news, educational content and creative learning. It's where they stay connected with friends and family. It is where they participate in their communities and engage in public debate.”
“My constituent asks that there be some sort of agency or protocol where these accounts can be collated, investigated and closed where applicable.”
“Labor rejected it and then, in the 2024 budget, accepted it. We pledged in June 2024 that we would deliver the under-16s social media ban, which Labor, thankfully, copied.”
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“On budget night, the Treasurer repeatedly pointed to an oil shock as the explanation, but managing economic uncertainty is the fundamental responsibility of the government. Labor was simply not prepared, and the consequences are now evident. The situation resembles a ship heading straight for disaster, just like the Titanic. Labor had previously promised to act on fuel security, but only moved when the Strait of Hormuz closed. In this budget, the government has reverted to deflection, echoing its earlier response to global conflicts by blaming external factors, instead of accepting responsibility. If this were a school assignment, the Treasurer would receive a failing grade. This budget reflects a clear agenda of wealth redistribution.”
“I am very pleased for the member for Swan that she has been able to have all of that funding through Thriving Suburbs. I just want to point out that it has actually been taken out of the Growing Regions funding and the Building Better Regions Fund that we installed in our period of time in government, likewise through local communities and infrastructure funding. These are devastating facts for our regional communities. It's nice to see the suburbs are getting that funding. After four years of inflation under Labor, Australians are still waiting for the $275 energy savings that were promised 97 times. That promise has clearly not been delivered. Instead, energy bills have risen by thousands of dollars. Now Australians are facing what can only be described as budget shock, defined by broken promises and shifting excuses.”
“This is a system so out of touch it cannot even deliver appropriate assessment. Wendy Shelton is caring for her husband Serge, who lives with dementia. She is battling delays, rising costs and restrictions on funds while trying to keep her husband safe at home. This is a government that is out of touch. Julie Lewis—these people are all from my electorate—has been assessed as high needs. She has contacted every provider within 250 kilometres for services. No-one can help her. Everybody's books are closed. She's been told the waitlist for services is 12 months. Older Australians deserve transparency. The Albanese Labor government is failing them, and the minister must do better.”
“I want to thank Jonathan Lea and Sky News for sharing Mallee constituent stories in his excellent investigative report. The minister tried to head it off with a snap media release, but, like Labor's budget, his spin fell flat. Steve Willman is a physiotherapist in Mildura who has raised serious concerns about patients who are being consistently charged $215 for one-hour consultations through their home care package, despite the consultation being charged at $75 by Steve. He is outraged, and with very good reason, because people's packages are running dry and services are running out. Elderly Australians are being slugged with hidden, inflated costs, eroding the very funding intended for their care. Brent Janetzski shared the story of his father Ian, a deaf man assessed for functionality on the phone. Why does Labor think this is okay?”
“Is the Albanese Labor government waiting for older Australians to die so they don't have to provide them with Support at Home? Right now more than 230,000 Australians are waiting for aged-care services. The average wait time is 12 months, and 5,000 people have died while on that waiting list. This is a national disgrace, which the Prime Minister might recall he actually called the coalition government when the numbers were nowhere near this. The government has been secretive about data on wait times, dumping update data in the Senate on budget night—hidden, apparently. Labor has kicked critical price protections down the road and it clearly cannot manage the system. As usual, Labor is good with the spin and shocking at governing.”
“As I said earlier today in the House, Labor's tax changes have no mandate, no permission, from the Australian people. It's not like John Howard's goods and services tax. Labor's— (Time expired)”
“Despite what the government claimed in question time today, based on historical returns, our farmers face an increase in their capital gains tax rate from 23 per cent to 36 per cent under the government's changes. Arguably, Labor's capital gains tax plans will give us some of the highest such taxes in the world, behind only Denmark and Chile. I have said a few times in this place that some of Labor's bills create a lawyer's picnic. Well, in the case of Labor's tax changes for business, accountants and lawyers will both be cracking open the bubbly. During Labor's cost-of-living crisis and their power bill price spikes, Labor are hiking compliance costs, because so many small businesses will now need legal and/or financial advice on what to do with their assets and with their businesses.”
“I am really saddened by this text from Fiona. She speaks the truth that Labor's politics of envy does not want to hear, does not care about, in its war on aspiration. I invited the Leader of the Nationals, Matt Canavan, and Deputy Leader of the Nationals and member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, to Mallee on Thursday and Friday last week. It was a tremendous visit with great turnouts and a strong message that the Nationals are the party for regional Australians and that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our farmers. Farming is not a high-income game. Farm returns tend to be capital gains, like increases in farmland values, so capital gains tax changes will hit farmers the hardest.”
“It is difficult not to feel as though people who have worked hard, created employment, taken business risks, and contributed positively to their communities are being penalised for doing exactly what governments encourage Australians to do—build businesses, create jobs, invest prudently, and become self-sufficient in retirement. She continues: At some point, there must be recognition that these are not speculative gains made overnight. They represent decades of sacrifice, responsibility, taxation, and contribution to Australia's economy and regional communities. I want to state that this couple have not only built a very successful business; they have been huge community contributors. They volunteer; they encourage others to volunteer. They are on boards. They are very invested in their community.”
“Through decades of hard work, reinvestment, long hours, financial pressure, and commitment to our region, we have grown that business to now employ over 75 people while delivering an essential service to our community. We have created jobs, supported families, trained apprentices, paid substantial company and personal taxes, and continually reinvested back into the economy. Now, the proposed Federal Government CGT changes threaten to significantly erode the very assets and retirement savings we have spent a lifetime building.”
“I want to commend the member for Page for this very, very important matter of public importance, and I want to start today with the voice of my constituents Peter and Fiona Devilee. They are business owners in Mildura, in my electorate of Mallee. They are very well known. They have an incredible reputation. Fiona has told me this today: For 35 years, we have worked hard, taken risks, employed local people, paid our taxes, and responsibly built "off-farm" assets to secure our future, our retirement and the opportunity for the next generation of our family. Every investment we have made has been funded with after-tax income—money that was already taxed before being taken out of our business. We purchased our business from my father-in-law when it employed just 17 people.”
“He's actually referring to the electorate of Melbourne, which is full of high-rise apartments and rentals—households with little to no ability to install solar or batteries. The minister is comparing apples with cucumbers. Yet again, Labor's energy policies do not deliver energy bills savings for regional Australians. Rather, they deliver pain. Australians have worked out this part-time minister for energy for the snake oil salesman that he is, and I say to him—through you, Deputy Speaker Claydon: keep it coming.”
“The jet-setting part-time Minister for Climate Change and Energy came into this House on 14 May, blustering that my electorate of Mallee had 1,466 batteries—six times that of Melbourne. On the data I can obtain—because the minister likes to play secret squirrels on this stuff, including batteries and fuel, and keeps the data to himself—Mallee actually ranks 33rd out of 38 Victorian electorates for battery installations and Melbourne is 38th, at the bottom. Not only are Mallee residents unable to afford a battery; their taxes are helping people in the leafy green suburbs of Melbourne install theirs. The minister claimed Mallee had installations six times that of Melbourne.”
“If government is serious about securing the NDIS, it should not only stop the rorts and register providers; it should also strengthen the earlier, community based supports that stop families from reaching deeper crisis in the first place. If we identify developmental concerns earlier, support parents earlier and build stronger referral pathways earlier, we can improve outcomes for children and reduce pressure on the NDIS later.”
“Miracle Babies say that the NurtureGroup program may alleviate future demand for the NDIS by providing early, preventative and family centred support to children with increased developmental risk—including children with a history of prematurity, neonatal illness or a long-term medical condition diagnosis in the first five years of life. After all, the title of this bill is 'Securing the NDIS for Future Generations'. Doesn't that sound sensible? The Miracle Babies NurtureGroup program delivered more than 33,000 parent-support interactions in 2025 and is embedded in more than 65 neonatal units around the country. I'd like to see more of this program in regional Australia. The NDIS review itself called for more support for children with developmental delays both inside and outside the NDIS.”
“I turn now to a practical reform suggestion from the Miracle Babies Foundation and their prebudget proposal to expand their programs NurtureGroup and NurtureLine, including into regional areas. Miracle Babies proposed establishing 20 new NurtureGroups nationally, taking the total to 40 groups across Australia, and said those groups would provide play based, postdischarge support; access to allied health professionals; stronger early intervention referral pathways; reduced wait times; and better access to timely supports.”
“Murdoch Children's Research Institute said the indirect impacts of the pandemic on children and adolescents were as substantial, if not more substantial, than the direct effects of COVID-19 infection and reported: … mental health difficulties, and physical health problems … increased across the 2020-2021 lockdown period in Victoria. The Royal Children's Hospital National Child Health Poll found: Compared to before the pandemic, overall mental health was more of a problem for 41 per cent of children, anxiety more of a problem for 36 per cent, and connections and relationships more of a problem for 43 per cent of children. It also found that 49 per cent of children had difficulty adjusting back to school onsite and 52 per cent needed extra help with learning.”
“Research shows that introduction of the NDIS led to a 32 per cent increase in reported autism prevalence and accounted for 47 per cent of new diagnoses since the scheme began. Autism is now the fastest growing cohort in the scheme, and nearly four in five new entrants are on the autism spectrum. We also cannot ignore the impact of the pandemic, particularly in Daniel Andrews's lockdown capital of the world, Victoria. The pandemic's period worsened developmental vulnerability, mental health and support needs in many children, and that added pressure to already stretched systems. The Australian Early Development Census said: … the pandemic … had profoundly disruptive indirect effects on children's lives— and the 2021 data showed higher developmental vulnerability on some domains in the previous years.”
“We cannot design a system that breaks those things in the name of reform. We cannot answer fraud by punishing participants. One constituent from Cohuna warned that people with disability must not become 'collateral damage for the failures of the system'. That is exactly right. If support is taken away from those who genuinely need it, those needs do not disappear. They shift to hospitals, to emergency departments, to mental health services and to families already stretched to breaking point. Raymond's parents, from Swan Hill, wrote to me that many people with disability cannot speak up for themselves and rely on others to defend their dignity and quality of care. They asked whether we are returning to the days of people being out of sight and out of mind. I certainly trust not. So why are we in this NDIS mess of skyrocketing demand?”
“Chris told me some of his current carers are not registered providers, and he's concerned that the system will take them away from him. Chris says the registration process needs to be simpler and more affordable so that good providers can stay in the system while the poor ones are pushed out. We need to eliminate low-value, inappropriate and exploitative services while keeping the people who are doing the right thing, because, for participants, continuity of care matters, trust matters and relationships matter. We cannot design a system that breaks those things in the name of reform. I want to give a shout-out to Chris because he is an extraordinary man bound to a wheelchair. He's in his 50s, he has worked all of his life and he even owns his own home. He is an amazing person who is very popular around Mildura. Hello, Chris.”
“She said clearly that all providers should be registered and audited regularly. Let me say this clearly. I believe every provider should be registered. If public money is being spent and if vulnerable Australians are involved, there must be proper oversight and proper accountability. This cannot be done in a way that disrupts the current and excellent care providers are delivering. One Mildura constituent who I think is watching right now, Chris Riordan, who has lived with cerebral palsy all his life, told me he is feeling very stressed about Labor's NDIS plans. Chris understands that changes need to happen, but he's worried about losing his carers, his regular daily visits and personal care—the life he has established through the NDIS.”
“Kerry's sister's health deteriorated, and this included a hospitalisation following a stroke presentation. What followed was a cycle of hospital stays, assessments and meetings with no clear resolution. She said she felt she had exhausted every avenue. There is also a second major issue we must face: rorting and lack of oversight. Ninety-four per cent of providers currently in the NDIS are not registered. That is not sustainable. Local workers tell me some providers inflate costs, some charge excessive travel and some deliver services that simply do not justify the price. An experienced local plan manager wrote to me saying her team manages around 820 participants, carefully scrutinises invoices, reports dodgy providers and often sees little visible action after those reports are made.”
“This same mother told me that the NDIA's approach feels like a step backwards towards the kind of institutional models the disability sector has worked so hard to leave behind. That should concern every member of this House, and I'm sure that it does. Choice and control must mean something real for people with the highest needs. It must be co-designed with them, not just those with the simplest plans or the strongest voices. There is also another crossover problem that families in Western Victoria are confronting: the clash between disability support and aged care. Kerry wrote about her sister, who had been trying to transition into aged-care accommodation in Stawell. Due to delays in NDIS assessment, the transition window was missed.”
“A Sunraysia mother recently approached me about her 18-year-old son with significant intellectual disability, hearing impairment, severe epilepsy, complex medical needs and behaviours of concern. He is non-verbal. He cannot advocate for himself. His mother is terrified after an NDIA decision which requires him to move into a supported independent living arrangement where, for much of the day, support would be delivered at a one-to-three ratio. But her son requires one-to-one support. He is an absconding risk, with unpredictable seizures and falls, and relies on people who know him well enough to detect subtle signs of distress or deterioration. This mother rightly fears that, in a shared arrangement of one to three, those signs will be missed.”
“If the funding model does not reflect that reality, the workforce will not hold, and if the workforce does not hold, participants will absolutely pay the price. I have already raised in this House the case of Noreen, a constituent in her mid 80s whose adult son lives in supported independent living accommodation in my electorate. I've said publicly that Noreen's son Peter, who is in his late 50s, faces eviction because short-term Victorian funding the Andrews government hoped was transitional is now ending and the NDIS isn't picking up the bill for his care in a supported independent living home. This is a serious human consequence of politicking—ageing parents are wondering what happens when they are no longer there. I cannot even imagine the stress.”
“Tony Dunne, a local disability manager, has been clear that the NDIS is not yet mature enough to fully replace the funding previously provided by the Victorian government. He warned that, as that funding disappears, those clients with often severe disability who share a home are left homeless. Providers are left exposed, workers begin to leave, and the whole system drifts towards instability. Tony also says that, if staff cannot maintain their income, they will leave the sector and take skill and experience with them. In many SIL, supported independent living, settings, especially in regional areas, staff are delivering high-intensity support, medical support, behavioural support and complex daily care.”
“People come to my office in desperation because the system is hard, with delays, contradictory advice and decisions that lack transparency and/or are regularly overturned on appeal. For regional Australians there is an added reality. Even when an NDIS plan exists, there may be no provider available locally to deliver it. As shadow minister for regional health, I know that one of the most serious issues facing the NDIS today across all forms of health care in the regions is workforce. In regional Australia, workforce shortages are real. Recruitment is difficult. Retention is difficult. Distances are large. Workers in sometimes complex situations are doing work far beyond what the system properly recognises or funds. This is particularly true in supported independent living.”
“We know there is fraud. We know money is being wasted. We know some providers are gaming the system. Yet people living with severe disability are still missing out. Families are still battling the system and participants are still left anxious about whether the supports they rely on now will continue. Let me be clear: the spending must be reined in. But fixing the NDIS cannot mean making genuine and vulnerable participants pay for the failures of the system and the government in charge. Broad, blunt measures must not hurt the innocent while the guilty continue to exploit the gaps. In regional Australia, people are anxious because the workforce is already thin and they still do not know who loses and who stays, and whether regional Australians will once again be left behind.”
“I commend the member for Cunningham on her speech and intent. We all, no matter which side of the chamber we are on, want to see better outcomes for those who are living with disability and significant disability. The coalition supports the NDIS. We support its original intent. We support Australians living with significant and permanent disability having dignity, independence and choice. But if the scheme is to survive it must be sustainable, be accountable and work for the people it was created to serve. Right now, it does not. There are 5,962 NDIS participants in Mallee—thousands of people across Mildura, Swan Hill, Kerang, Cohuna, Horsham and Stawell whose daily lives rely on this parliament getting it right. As I have said publicly, the NDIS must support those who truly need it, but right now it is not working as it should.”
“I want to give a very fast shout-out to some of the leaders of these farmers: Ben Duxson, Andrew Weiderman, Marcia McIntyre, Gerald Feeny, James and Emma Burke, Barry Batters, Bill Baldwin, Jason Barratt, Will and Rachel McIntyre, Spud Hepworth and Kelvin Clark. These people are heroes. (Time expired)”
“I rise with some great news. On Thursday, I met with over 200 farmers down in St Arnaud at the town hall there. Matt Canavan, the Leader of the Nationals; Darren Chester, the Deputy Leader of the Nationals; and Danny O'Brien, the Leader of the Nationals in Victoria, were there to hear from farmers. The very exciting thing that occurred was that Matt Canavan announced that we would be scrapping net zero and stopping VNI West and WRL. The joy in the room from the farmers who are impacted by these projects and also the renewable energy zones was palpable. We made the formal announcement the next morning in Maryborough, and I've got to say that the farmers present, who have been fighting for years for this to take place, have felt so threatened. Even at the state conference on Saturday, those announcements were made.”
“I urge the government to work constructively with regional MPs, health professionals and communities to design and fund truly accessible models. Only then will we turn clinic numbers on a map into real health outcomes for the women who need it most.”
“Teila's experience, like those of other women who have bravely come forward, must be formally acknowledged. The alleged circumstances must be fully investigated in a timely fashion by the appropriate national bodies. The Australian government must work with state governments to ensure systemic and institutional issues within the hospital system are investigated and dealt with. Patient safety, informed consent and transparency must be paramount. Women in rural and remote Australia deserve more than this government is offering them. They deserve a health system that meets them where they live and delivers the high-quality, best-practice multidisciplinary care that clinical guidelines recommend. They must be protected by a strong regulatory and transparency mechanism.”
“Teila has recently found out, as a result of investigations by the media, that the gynaecologist she had put her trust in, Dr Simon Gordon—now infamous—had treated hundreds of women like her, who have now come forward with strikingly similar experiences of harm, including unnecessary or inappropriate medical procedures, failures in informed consent, dismissal of symptoms and significant physical and psychological injury. Many of these women are now living with permanent health consequences—loss of fertility, chronic pain, trauma and profound disruption to their lives and families. Teila has experienced psychological harm due to what she now understands was unwarranted and inappropriate surgical treatment. She lives with ongoing, debilitating pain. She is a nurse and feels let down by the very system she works in.”
“There is no specialist GP clinic with multidisciplinary care, something I will continue to fight hard for in every regional town to manage this kind of condition. Women deserve better and regional women deserve better, and I will continue to call out the Labor government for not funding the health care in the regions that it should. When these clinics are set up and have specialists providing care, of course it's important that the doctors and specialists concerned are actually worthy of their titles. Unfortunately, the example of Teila in my electorate in Merbein is a case that I have to tell you about because it's beyond sad. She had to travel to Melbourne to see a specialist gynaecologist on numerous occasions because she couldn't access care close to home, as I said.”
“I commend the member for Lalor for bringing this private member's motion to the Federation Chamber. Endometriosis and pelvic pain are something that many, many, many women suffer with and often in silence—certainly in my era, it was in silence. Under the coalition government, under the fabulous work of Nicolle Flint and Nola Marino from Western Australia, these clinics were put forward and agreed to under the former coalition government. It was great news at that point in time, and I commend the Albanese government for continuing with that work. On the surface it sounds really fabulous to have an endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic near where you live. But where I live in Mildura, women have to travel 4½ hours by car, and we know what all that bumping and jolting actually does when you are in that state.”
“In point of fact, it is a socialist dystopia that Bill Shorten tried to bring in—capital gains tax and attacks on negative gearing and trusts. What else do they want to do? There was nothing honest—”
“This budget from the Labor Party is a Trojan Horse. It looks okay on the outside, but dig a little deeper and you find out that, for regional Australians in particular, it is a shocker. We already bear the brunt and the cost of the renewable fantasy that this government has stuck to like glue. The cost to our communities is division. The cost to our communities is that we cannot get on with the jobs that already should be happening in our electorates. Our farming land is being taken over by renewable enterprises funded by this government. Do we know where the funding comes from for these projects? No. We don't know, because they're hidden in clever entities such as the CIS, the CEFC and the National Reconstruction Fund. The list goes on. Australians are kept in the dark, and they don't know what is coming for them.”
“This is a bill that needs a lot more work and a lot of scrutiny in the Senate. I commend the shadow minister, the member for Page, and the coalition ministry team for the important work they have done on holding this government accountable for a badly drafted law that imposes crippling costs on businesses, particularly small businesses, when they can least afford it.”
“Another piece from the Labor playbook here is the very thin veneer of public consultation. The exposure draft of this bill went out for consultation for only two weeks. That's why this bill should go to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee. A Senate inquiry should test whether the general prohibition is too broad, whether the definition of 'detriment' is too wide and whether small businesses should be exempted or given more time. It should give stakeholders more than two weeks to make their views on this law known. Nobody has a problem with protecting consumers, but the pathway there isn't a lawyers picnic—unless, like Labor, you have some business mates you want to look after by obliterating small business. Where are the exemptions or delayed phase-ins for small businesses?”
“We can't afford to lose more small businesses in regional Australia. Huge numbers—over half, in one recent survey—were already considering closing their doors. The big businesses that can afford to pay for the big law firms to advise them on this new law—will they wear it? No, I don't think so. Red-tape costs are passed down to customers. In an attempt to protect consumers, compliance costs will be fed down in increased prices for consumers during Labor's homegrown cost-of-living crisis. Will small businesses be able to use this general prohibition in their dealings with larger businesses, as the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman called for in the consultation phase back in December 2024? I am just trying to get a sense of how wide and hardhitting this general prohibition will actually be.”
“At that time, incidentally, 43 per cent of small businesses were failing to make a profit. Now these same small-business owners will lose more sleep at night wondering if they will be taken to the ACCC or to court for causing an emotional detriment to their customers. More small businesses will fold, and big business will muscle in. Maybe that's Labor's agenda: collapse small business and the big boys will move in. Well, that's how it plays out usually in the cities—franchises and the like. But in regional Australia what happens is the small business closes, landlords can't rent out the commercial premises, and the town becomes a ghost town. That's the real impact of adding yet another straw of regulation during terrible business conditions. Small-business owners will throw up their hands and simply give up.”
“I get that the Treasury would want a broadly drafted law. But forgive me for not accepting the Labor government position to just trust them to apply a broadly drafted law narrowly and responsibly. A question a Senate inquiry might ask stakeholders is whether they specifically wanted a broad general prohibition, as this government has put forward. Consumer stakeholders may have wanted action taken, but did they want a government sledgehammer to smash small businesses with? Make no mistake, small business will suffer under this bill. At last check, 75 per cent of small-business owners were taking home less than the average wage. That's $1,000 a week or $52,000 a year. That was according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman in 2023.”
“How would the 'nobody worse off, nobody held back' slogan stand up on the unfair trade practices test? This is a government that cannot practise what it preaches. Courts have held that detriment can include feelings of distress or embarrassment. So a business acting in a way that causes distress in the eye of the beholder, the consumer, could breach these laws. Seriously? If your spicy McChicken burger is a little spicier than you expected, is that a detriment? Well—not for some. But—really? This will be a lawyers' picnic. It will play through the courts for decades to come and create great uncertainty for business and consumers alike. A clear winner of the uncertainty this general provision creates will be the biggest businesses that can afford the biggest legal and compliance teams or advice from big law firms.”
“Supposedly, according to the explanatory memorandum, 'detriment' could include wasted time, frustration or diminished consumer choice. Do Labor waste our time? Do they cause frustration? Have they diminished consumer choice? This Labor government is imposing on small business thresholds on manipulation, distortion and adverse impacts that they themselves cannot uphold. This Labor government can go out into the marketplace 97 times saying, 'You'll get a $275 energy bill discount,' and not deliver—and that's okay, apparently. This is a prime minister who says 'nobody worse off, nobody held back', yet last night's budget picked winners. And some Australians will be worse off— particularly those in the regions, those with savings and older Australians.”
“Proposed section 28B provides that a person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct in connection with the supply or possible supply of goods or services to a consumer that manipulates the consumer or unreasonably distorts the environment in which the consumer makes or is likely to make a decision and causes or is likely to cause detriment, whether financial or otherwise, to the consumer. On face value, this government's salesman-in-chief, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and gaslighter-in-chief, the Prime Minister, would fail that test alone. Manipulating Australians? Tick. Unreasonably distorting the environment in which they make decisions? Tick. Causing detriment, financial or otherwise? Tick. But it gets worse.”
“It's little wonder we are struggling to build more homes. In this witches' brew of Labor's homegrown crises for small business, what is the Albanese government's solution? You guessed it—more red tape in more consumer laws. Let's be up front about what this will cost small business. Treasury estimates the bill will impose $123.2 million a year in regulatory costs. The general prohibition measure alone, which I will talk about in a moment, accounts for $93.82 million a year in extra compliance costs. More than 1.5 million small businesses are expected to be affected by the general prohibition alone. This bill creates a broad new general prohibition, which I referred to earlier, with $93 million extra cost on small business, Treasury estimates, from this single provision on unfair trading. So what is it?”
“Small businesses are struggling under Labor's homegrown inflation crisis and their energy crisis where $275 in energy savings never materialised. Now add to that the fuel supply crisis, which isn't just hitting direct fuel purchases but also hitting small businesses and farmers who struggle with the knock-on effect on fuel as part of their business inputs. We are also seeing eye-watering increases in the cost of trade goods, like PVC pipe, which is up 35 per cent in the last month alone. Copper is up seven per cent in the last month and up 37 per cent over the last year. We have record insolvencies in small business—40,000 on Labor's watch since taking office and 15,000 in the last 12 months alone. About 27 per cent of insolvencies are in the construction sector, the largest single sector for insolvencies.”
“Rather than talking about those things and making sure that more funding is available—guess what? They're coming after the over-65-year-olds to take their private health insurance so they theoretically can pay for the aged-care debacle.”
“Numbers matter. When the government brings down a budget, the numbers matter even more—$50 billion in more taxes on the Australian people. The disgrace from the budget last night is who the government has decided to tax more: our elderly. Surprisingly, the government has decided to go after our elderly, and that is while the aged-care system is failing them dreadfully. At the moment, as I said, numbers matter. There are 200,000 elderly Australians waiting to get assessed or to receive home-care support, Support at Home. Commonwealth home-care support—I really don't care what the name is. The fact is our elderly are being ignored, and their dignity is at stake under this government. Last time we checked, 5,000 people had died waiting to get onto aged-care support. This is an absolute shame on this government.”