Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026
Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (11:32): In the five minutes allotted to me in this speech, 2.4 Australians' entire income will simply go to financing the nation's debt—$50,000 a minute. With $104,000 as the average income, 2.4 Australians' entire income will just go to financing the nation's debt. If the limit of the contribution towards financing the nation's debt was limited to the extent that I was speaking, I can assure you that I would be silent.
The reality is that it will go beyond those five minutes and will continue in perpetuity. The reality is that this government has no capacity or will to constrain its spending because it is addicted to making sure it spends other people's money. If you've ever seen it— A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 11:3 4 to 11:41 Mr TIM WILSON: As I was remarking before we were rudely interrupted by the incompetence of the Leader of the House— Government members interjecting— Mr TIM WILSON: it's a five-minute speech—the entire income of 2.4 Australians will go to financing the nation's debt, and that is material because it is going to continue for the next five minutes and the next five minutes and the next five minutes in perpetuity.
When you have $50,000 per minute going towards financing the nation's debt and the only response from the government is to palm out more cash and continue the spending spree in perpetuity, without any sense of fiscal restraint, this is only going to become a bigger problem, where the rate of expenditure is going to increase and the volume of debt is going to increase.
And, of course, we're going to borrow more from tomorrow to spend today. We're going to have more debt, it's going to fuel inflation, and Australians are going to pay higher interest rates, and it's going to be directly connected to the consequences and the decision-making of the Albanese government. Even worse than that, at every point that this government is given a choice about whether it wants to pull in the belt, whether it wants to show economic responsibility and restraint—simple things, like when we've seen hard evidence in the public domain now that public money is being used to facilitate cartel kickbacks to the CFMEU and where Australian taxpayers' dollars are finding their way into brown paper bags to facilitate cartel kickbacks to criminal and organised gangs.
You'd think the federal government would say: 'No, that's Australian taxpayers' money. It shouldn't be given to organised crime.' You'd think they'd say, 'No, we're not going to borrow from Australians and future generations—and, more importantly, your children—to facilitate payments to people like Mick Gatto.' But the federal minister, Amanda Rishworth, will not even audit the volume of money that is currently going to projects, to ensure that that money is not going to criminal gangs.
Last night in the Senate it was revealed that three state government projects have reported to the federal government concerns about corruption and cartel kickbacks. Twenty-eight days after, we have contacted both the federal minister for infrastructure, Minister King, and the federal minister for industrial relations, Minister Rishworth. They have refused to commission an audit to make sure that Australian taxpayers' dollars are not going to fuel and fund organised crime.
So we're not talking about esoteric matters; we're talking about very serious matters. Right now, Australian taxpayers' money is at risk of financing organised crime. And you are not just paying the debt; you are paying and financing the interest on that debt, and it is pushing up the cost of the interest on your house.
This is the fundamental immoral position of this government—that they will not even take a casual interest or put proper resources in to make sure we have a crackdown on organised crime and whether there's a direct connection to what you the Australian taxpayer are paying. So the simple question I have for this government is: will you commission an audit to assess whether Australian taxpayers' money—not just taxes you have today, not just money and revenue you have today, but the debt you're borrowing from future generations—is going towards financing cartel kickbacks and corruption?
Will you question whether it is going to go into brown paper bags? A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 11:45 to 11:5 7 Mr TIM WILSON: It's quite clear. The government simply will not answer whether or not any federal money is going towards cartel kickbacks and brown paper bags through public-sector projects.
If the minister will not answer these simple questions, then how can we have confidence that they're not going to not just those projects or the CFMEU but her own account?