TRANSCRIPT: PRIME 7 WITH EMILY FRANCIS, 26 March 2025
Subjects: Federal Budget 2025/26
E&OE
STARTS: 9:49am
EMILY FRANCIS
So I saw you listening there intently last night at 7:30, what were your initial reactions?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
This Budget is an attack on regional Australia. All of the regional grants programs have been stripped out of the Budget. The Local Roads Community and Infrastructure Program, which I put in place as Deputy Prime Minister. No new funding for it and that gave councils, local councils such as Wagga Wagga, Temora, Coolamon, Junee, the autonomy to decide where they were going to spend the Federal funding on their local issues – on the halls and the roads and the projects that their local people were telling them are important to their local needs and yet all that money is now gone and it's such a shame because it was regional Australia that carried this nation through Covid, it's been regional Australia that has carried this nation ever since and it's regional Australia which puts food on the table and grows the fibre which puts the clothes on people's back and yet its regional Australia who has been ignored by Federal Labor in this Budget. There's only one way to get rid of this, and that is to vote Nationals at the next election to get Australia back on track, and to send this Government packing because they have ignored regional Australia in this Budget. They've ignored small businesses. Small business which is 97% of Australian businesses, employ more than five million people and plays such a critical role across the Riverina. There's no instant asset write-off. There's no funding whatsoever. Now under the Coalition, we had it as an unlimited amount, so that gave tradies the opportunity to buy a ute and fill it with tools, it gave cafe owner the opportunity to buy a new barista machine to make the best coffee in town, gave farmers the opportunity to buy a new harvester or header or whatever the case might be. That's all gone. There's no instant asset write-off, and yet we've got 41,000 new public servants, yet 29,000 small businesses have gone to the wall. One of the areas where I am disappointed there is 22 less Bureau of Meteorology people. Now you could just imagine they’re probably the front liners, they’re probably the most experienced. Well they've been axed and our farmers do rely on the Bureau of Meteorology, to know when it's going to rain, to want to know when it's not going to rain and yet we've got 41,000 new public servants, many of whom won't be offering those frontline services that are needed in NDIS and are needed in Veterans, I grant that. But then again, you look at also the $150 power bill rebate. Well, New South Wales households are going to be facing an extra $328 a year next financial year on their power bills and overall, it's $1,300 more than what it was when before Labor was in office. So the power bills have gone up $1,300 and here we have a Treasurer and a Prime Minister spruiking about $150. Well, it's robbing Peter to pay Paul, but not giving Paul back the amount of money that Paul so desperately needs to pay his power bill and, it's just so wrong and there's so many other things, too. The Murray-Darling Basin is marked once again in this Budget paper NFP. Now NFP stands for not for publication. So we don't know how much they're going to spend on taking productive water out of the Riverina system, out of those river communities and it's not just the farmers that are affected, it's the café, it's the hairdresser, it's the local school. All of a sudden, their communities get diminished and, there's no return from them. So overall, I'm very disappointed. It was an underwhelming Budget, but it was an attack on regional Australia and regional Australia at the moment is carrying this nation and regional Australia is being ignored.
EMILY FRANCIS
How concerning is it for you that the Riverina isn't even mentioned once?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, it's just typical Labor. It's all I can say is just so typical Labor. You know, even the devil is in the detail now, I've been busy unpacking this Budget, but I can't see, apart from a mention of Inland Rail. I can't see the $30 million, suggested for the study for the bypass. Now, it could well be in a line item in the Budget, but it's not spelled out clearly. There's that money there and when you consider Rex, when you consider regional airlines, they are mentioned to you consider Regional Express, and we see the petition put out by local Labor and the question seven, question seven reads such; Do you wish to be contacted about volunteering opportunities for the upcoming federal election? We have a Rex logo and a Labor logo. I mean, that is a disgrace. This is just a cheap stunt at getting people's names and addresses so that Labor can bombard them with election material and material going forward. So anybody who signs that petition can expect to be bombarded with Labor paraphernalia for now, forevermore and this isn't about Rex? I've absolutely, been 100% behind keeping Rex planes in the air because Rex planes in the air means jobs on the ground. Rex planes in the air means, people are going to be able to get to their vital medical appointments, it means tourism, it means business. I've been very much, in favour of keeping Rex in the air and the Government doing whatever it can, to ensure that this airline provides competition to QantasLink but moreover, services for people in country towns, particularly in those country towns where they only have one airline and that being Rex but this survey is nothing more than a cheap stunt by Labor, to get names and addresses so that they can get people to hand out for them at the next election. It's nothing more. It's mentioned in the Budget, but only the previous measures that Labor has put into place for Rex and overall the Budget is an attack on regional Australia. It offers nothing for regional people, and certainly it takes away local councils’ ability to be able to provide the infrastructure that local people need and it does nothing for local businesses already struggling and does nothing for households enduring a cost-of-living crisis brought about by Labor's policies.
ENDS: 10:06am