600 MILLION FOR OFF-SHORE FOOTY AND NOTHING FOR US?

Anthony Albanese has pledged $600 million over the next decade to establish a Papua New Guinea team in the NRL. Meanwhile, Water Minister Tanya Plibersek is overseeing the removal of 250 gigalitres of water from our regional communities—areas that produce 80% of NSW’s food—offering just $160 million in compensation for a rural economy set to lose billions. Her recent approval of an additional 100 GL in water buybacks will cost taxpayers over half a billion more, further jeopardising our agricultural heartland.

This is a stark misalignment of priorities: the government is committing almost 4 times as much to an overseas sports initiative than to mitigate the devastating economic fallout in our regions. When the next drought arrives, the absence of Australian-grown food on supermarket shelves will be a direct consequence of these decisions. This is not governance in the national interest—it’s a failure of accountability.