It was fantastic to host Leader of The Nationals Matt Canavan and Deputy Leader and Agriculture Shadow Minister Darren Chester, with Victorian Nationals leader Danny O’Brien in St Arnaud on Thursday for a meeting with farmers from across Mallee, including Pyrenees residents, concerned about their loss of rights in the face of the reckless renewables rollout.

Labor claimed they were pulling back on ‘climate’ spending but the 12 May federal budget spends a further $18 billion on ‘Net Zero’ in this 2026/7 budget alone, taking Labor’s total Net Zero spending over $80 billion - not including the massively expensive Capacity Investment Scheme and many other off-budget vehicles.

The controversial VNI-West and WRL transmission lines are running billions of dollars over budget, like Suburban Rail Loop and Snowy 2.0 (both at the mercy of the rogue CFMEU).  

Labor’s solution to this so-called ‘cheapest form of energy’ is to pile in ever more taxpayer money, hidden from view –while farmers protest but are steamrolled with draconian Victorian Labor state powers.

The dreadful impacts on food security from Labor’s reckless renewables rollout in Mallee is the primary reason I drafted the Prime Agricultural Land Protection Bill to preserve our best farming land for future generations.

Labor’s lies on Net Zero are just the tip of an iceberg of ideology wrecking our economy.

The standard political convention is that parties take policies to elections, and if elected they have a mandate to deliver those policies.  This Budget’s radical tax changes (think: capital gains, negative gearing, trusts) were not promised at the election, in fact Labor swore off such changes.  Now, Treasurer Chalmers smirks as these promises are utterly broken.

I am proud of Leader of the Opposition, Angus Taylor, who pledged in his Budget in Reply speech on 14 May to scrap Net Zero and to repeal all of Labor’s toxic tax changes.

Small businesses are up in arms, using AI to photoshop the Prime Minister into a promotional memes showing him as their new 47 per cent business partner.  A silent partner who, in fact, doesn’t understand business or lift a finger to assist - but takes a lion’s share of the profits.

Labor simply does not understand small business, markets and the economy.  Like Newton’s third law of motion, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  Businesses will go offshore, or in struggling rural sectors - simply close their doors.

While Labor expects plaudits for giving taxpayers $250 personal income tax back, bracket creep from unchanged tax brackets without indexation from inflationary changes will take, on average, $2,000 from your salary every year.    The Coalition will index bracket creep so you keep more of your money in your pocket with our Tax Back Guarantee.

‍