Senator McDONALD (Queensland) (17:10): I rise with great pleasure to speak on the MPI as proposed by Senator Smith, because this budget is truly a fabrication—a papier-mache collection of lies and mistruths. The Labor Party, the now government, went to the last election with a whole series of commitments and promises which they have, one by one, broken, whether it be the Rockhampton ring road funding, the capital of Israel or the funding for various projects where they led Australians on and made the commitment that they would particularly support regional Australia. This budget actually has more income than the last budget. It's up by $50 billion, thanks to commodity prices. But what has the government done with that increased income? Well, they've spent it. They've spent it. So spending is up from $628 billion to $651 billion. And that's not talking about the balance sheet items: the $20 billion for the power grid expenditure, $15 billion for reconstruction funding and another $10 billion. This budget is based on inflation increasing, effectively, to 7.75 per cent by the end of this year, but the government projects that by next year it will have fallen to 3.5 per cent. This seems to be a very bold statement to make. Real wages will continue going backwards. Wages will increase by 3.75 per cent, but that is not going to meet the inflation figures. People will lose jobs in 2023 according to Labor, based on the predicted unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent. That's 140,000 people out of work. I think this is a budget that is misleading in the extreme. What has happened is that money has been ripped out of productive projects—projects that you would invest in if you were building a nation and if you were looking to the future. What this is is a Robin Hood budget that steals jobs from the future, but I just don't know who they're giving them to. Families will be $2,000 worse off under Labor by Christmas. We already pay more in the regions, but this is going to increase. We pay more for fuel, for groceries, for insurance, for electricity and for airfares. To Labor's eternal shame, they looked Australians in the eye, they begged for their votes and promised, in exchange for them, a reduction of electricity prices by $275 per year. Now, Minister Gallagher has told us that that $275 reduction is in the budget. She said that today in question time, that it's in the budget. Senator Gallagher: Don't verbal me; read the Hansard! Senator McDONALD: I look forward to having that explained further to me. Labor is telling regional people and businesses here that a war 12,000 kilometres away is why they have to break a key election promise made 97 times. Regional people have a nose for political spin, and these excuses stink. Power prices are going up by more than 50 per cent, gas prices are going up by more than 40 per cent, taxes up, employment up, interest rates up and inflation up. But there's one thing that's not going up: under Labor, real wages are not going up. Labor wants to cut Australia's methane emissions, but this will be impossible if they continue with these excuses and lies. On the upside, at least our meat herds won't need culling; we'll just need Labor to stop talking! The regions have smaller populations— Senator Gallagher: A decade of insecure wages! Senator McDONALD: I'm wondering if those opposite would like the opportunity to speak, because they're certainly speaking a lot now. No? Thank you. The regions have smaller populations; businesses have static customer numbers, and an increase in costs will push them to the wall. A 50 per cent increase on power prices will result in business closures, jobs losses and increasingly difficult circumstances, thanks to the headlong rush to emissions reductions without a plan to genuinely transition the economy. Local butchers and pubs will have to charge people more and put off staff. Why do regions matter? Well, for Labor, a small town is just a photo opportunity. But it is so much more for the people, businesses and councils that live and operate there.