ADJOURNMENT

Senator BLYTH (South Australia—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (20:20): Across Australia, families and businesses are losing faith in the direction of our economy. They are hurting as a result of the rising cost of living. The dream of owning a home is slipping further from their reach.

They see an Australia that works harder, pays less and achieves less. They see a government that prioritises symbolism over substance. Australia is a nation rich in talent, resources and potential.

Yet, under this Labor government, that potential is being choked by bad policy, taxes that punish effort, industrial laws that strangle employers and energy policies that drive up costs without driving up investment. Labor promised fairness, but its version of fairness punishes the people who do the right thing—the small-business owner; the tradesman; the farmer; and the family that saves, invests and works to get ahead.

These are the Australians who build this country. They create prosperity. They deserve a government that backs them, not one that burdens them.

Labor's industrial relations laws are not designed to favour growth and productivity but to favour Labor's union mates at the expense of ordinary workers. Small and medium businesses now face a thicket of red and green tape and a system gamed to favour the unions working against productivity. And, while Aussie businesses struggle to stay afloat, cheap imports from companies like Temu and Shein flood our shelves with products made in conditions that we would never tolerate here in Australia.

Australian enterprise is being punished for playing fair while others profit by cutting corners. The effect is that Australian jobs are shipped offshore to foreign countries where workers are exploited and the natural environment is ruined—and all of this from Labor, the party that claims to care about the environment and working people. It's time to restore balance to workplace law and to provide flexibility for employers, security for employees and a system that rewards productivity, not paperwork.

The same imbalance runs through Labor's energy and climate policy. Labor's legislated net zero targets are about control, from the cars we drive to the food we eat. These targets are undermining our freedom while simultaneously imposing additional costs on families, farmers and businesses.

Labor promised transformation but delivers only uncertainty and higher costs. Over 631,000 jobs are at risk from Labor's net zero policies. A huge number of those jobs are in regional communities.

The jobs at risk are those that keep our country running—in agriculture, mining, manufacturing and energy. Energy prices are soaring, investment in manufacturing is stalling and industries that once sustained whole regions are reliant on government bailouts or they go bust. We cannot rebuild a nation on power that is unaffordable and unreliable, we cannot improve our global environment by exporting our emissions to countries that have lower standards than us and we cannot revive Australian manufacturing while punishing the very sectors that power it.

Australia should be a leader in practical environmental stewardship, innovation, clean technology, carbon capture and advanced nuclear research, but we should do it on our terms, through science and industry, not ideology. Australia needs leadership that recognises the pitfalls of legislated net zero targets and replaces them with policies that strengthen our economy while protecting our natural environment.

Then there is our tax system, which is the quiet thief of aspiration. Labor's instinct is always the same: tax first and think later. But you cannot tax a country into prosperity.

Every dollar taken from the worker, the farmer, the family or the small-business owner is a dollar that cannot be invested, saved or spent in their local community. Australia is in danger of losing its manufacturing base forever. A nation that forgets how to make things forgets how to sustain itself.

Labor's disastrous net zero industrial relations and tax policies are killing our nation. Let's get back to when 'made in Australia' meant something. Hardworking Australian families deserve more than Labor's symbolism.

Senate adjourned at 20 : 25