MEDIA RELEASE

Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton says the Albanese Government’s reported budget measures will only deepen the cost-of-living crisis facing Australian families.

Mr Shelton said reports that Treasurer Jim Chalmers would hand out one-off payments of $200 to $300 to taxpayers showed how out of touch the government had become.

“Giving Australians a couple of hundred dollars of borrowed money while inflation and interest rates spiral out of control is an insult,” Mr Shelton said.

“The Commonwealth debt is now approaching $1 trillion. Every cent of this reckless spending must eventually be repaid by taxpayers — especially young Australians who are being saddled with a debt binge racked up by both the Coalition and Labor.”

Mr Shelton said families would barely notice the handout because it would instantly be swallowed by rising mortgage repayments, fuel prices, electricity bills, grocery costs and government-driven inflation.

“This is like throwing lighter fluid on an inflation fire,” he said.

“Even economists and the Reserve Bank are warning that more government cash splashes will make inflation worse and force interest rates higher.

“Families are already hundreds — in many cases thousands — of dollars worse off because of Labor’s economic mismanagement. A token handout won’t fix that.”

Mr Shelton said the government’s budget strategy was a cynical political exercise designed to create the illusion of compassion while making the underlying problem worse.

“This is classic gaslighting,” he said.

“The government causes the pain through reckless spending, inflationary policies and energy price increases, then pretends to be the hero by giving people back a tiny fraction of what it has already taken from them.”

Mr Shelton also accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Dr Chalmers of betraying voters after repeatedly ruling out changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax before the election.

“The government cannot be trusted,” he said.

“They explicitly denied plans to target negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, and now Australians are being prepared for exactly that.

“This follows Labor’s previous broken promises on superannuation and stage three tax cuts. Australians are learning that when Labor says ‘trust us’, they should be very worried.”

Mr Shelton said Labor’s rhetoric about “intergenerational equity” was deeply dishonest.

“If Labor truly cared about younger Australians, it would stop saddling them with nearly $1 trillion in debt and endless deficits as far as the eye can see,” he said.

“You do not help the next generation by destroying the value of money, driving up house prices through inflation and punishing productivity with bigger government.”

Mr Shelton said Australia needed lower government spending, cheaper energy, lower taxes and policies that rewarded productive enterprise rather than endless redistribution.

“This government is the worst since Whitlam,” he said.

“The sooner Australians wake up to the damage being done to our economy, family budgets and the future of the next generation, the better.”