Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

He is pretty good. I would like to address the issue of cost of living pressures on my constituents in Holt. I particularly refer to the visit to Cranbourne on Wednesday, 11 July by federal opposition leader Kevin Rudd. He came to Cranbourne and spoke about an initiative to direct the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to monitor grocery prices to ensure that families were getting a fair deal. Mr Rudd said at the time that soaring petrol prices, increased credit card debt, record mortgage repayments—as we know, there was another interest rate rise last week—and a 12 per cent increase in childcare costs has put the squeeze on family finances as never before. To quote Kevin Rudd:

Australian families are under increasing financial pressure due to the rising cost of living.

Working families are finding it harder than ever before. They are doing it tough and getting deeper and deeper into debt and hitting the wall.

And the cost of living is felt most sharply by families at the supermarket. Prices of everyday goods keep going up and up and up. Food costs have well outstripped CPI across the country.

Interestingly, after the Leader of the Opposition made this statement, supermarket chains and those on the government side derided Mr Rudd.

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