It’s time for political leaders to be honest with the Australian people.
Hard-working Australians are doing it tough. Living standards are falling. Household budgets are under strain. And despite record spending on public services, nothing seems to be improving.
Meanwhile, businesses are packing up and leaving our shores at record rates.
We must confront a simple truth: Australia doesn’t have a revenue problem. Or a compassion deficit. We have a spending problem. Somewhere along the way, we forgot the golden rule of prosperity, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.
At both state and federal levels, government has grown beyond its core responsibilities. Instead of focusing on essential services and national priorities, we’re squandering billions on bloated welfare schemes, corporate handouts, and ideological energy fantasies such as green hydrogen. These programs may be launched with the best of intentions, but as we know from history, good intentions do not guarantee good outcomes.
Take the NDIS. Supporting Australians with serious and permanent disabilities is a national duty. But at over $40 billion a year and growing fast, the scheme is now a sprawling, inefficient bureaucracy riddled with waste, rorts, and warped incentives. Capable people are being pushed into long-term dependence, while those truly in need are left with inadequate support and battling a broken system.
Childcare subsidies are another trap. More government money just fuels demand without fixing supply, driving up prices and reducing access. The result? More taxpayer dollars spent, fewer places available and higher costs to hard working families.
Then there’s Labor’s recent $16 billion HECS debt write-off. A cleaner on minimum wage is now subsidising the university debt of tomorrow’s millionaire professionals. How is that fair?
Corporate welfare is no better. Billions have been thrown at politically favoured industries under the guise of ‘strategic investment’. Remember Holden? Years of taxpayer support couldn’t save it from closure.
Green energy subsidies have become the new face of corporate welfare, a costly exercise in virtue signalling that funnels money from hardworking Australian families to wealthy international investors and green energy spruikers. Billions are being wasted on unproven technologies and grandiose projects that promise to save the planet but consistently fail to deliver.
It is an unfortunate reality that successive governments have become addicted to spending, promising ever more services, subsidies, and support, without asking whether those programs actually work.
And too often, they are funded not through savings or discipline, but by extracting more from Australian workers and businesses through rising taxes and mounting debt.
The bottom line is this: hard-working Australians are much smarter at spending their own money than government is in spending it for them. Every dollar spent by government is a dollar taken from a family’s pay cheque or weekly budget. Worse, when government overspends, it doesn’t just waste money. It distorts incentives. It undermines personal responsibility. And it creates a culture of dependence on government programs, rather than the individual initiative which is required to for a productive and prosperous economy.
Living within our means should not be a radical idea.
Every family, every business in this country understands the need to budget wisely. To prioritise needs over wants. To say no to what can’t be afforded. Government should be no different.
A nation that cannot control its spending will never control its destiny. This doesn’t mean abandoning those in need. It means recognising that targeted, efficient, and sustainable support is far more effective than bloated, catch-all programs that cost billions and achieve little. It means doing a few things well, not trying to do everything poorly. It means trusting Australians to solve their own problems where they can, instead of assuming Canberra always knows best. And it means resisting the ever-growing calls for government to do more.
Because the more government does, the poorer we will all be. Australia became prosperous on the back of hard work and aspiration. Because we backed ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That spirit still burns bright, but it’s being smothered by a government that spends too much, borrows too much, and taxes too much.
We need to change course. Not with slogans or subsidies, but with courage and common sense.
That means reducing the scope of government. Cutting wasteful spending. Reforming programs that have grown far beyond their original purpose. It means restoring discipline to public finances. And most of all, it means letting Australians keep more of what they earn, trusting them to make the best decisions for their families, their businesses, and their futures. Reducing the tax and regulatory burden on Australian families and businesses is the surest path to unlocking our potential and future prosperity.
That is the truth. It is time for political leaders to acknowledge it.
Senator Leah Blyth is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Stronger Families and Stronger Communities.
