Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Leader of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very important matter that we are discussing today. The cost of living has been affecting families right around the country. During the entire election campaign in 2007, we heard the now Prime Minister and the now Treasurer wandering the countryside talking endlessly about the cost of living and the cost of petrol. But once the election was over there was an eerie silence. They went back into their shells. They pulled down the hatches. There was an eerie silence. We went from a moral crusade about the cost of petrol and the cost of groceries to one of virtual inaction. I say ‘virtual’—I will pay them a small, ever so small, degree of credit—inaction. And what did they do? They announced an inquiry—just for something different! It was really unexpected, I thought, that they would announce an inquiry! And then they appointed a bureaucrat. So, true to form, true to type, they announced an inquiry and they appointed a bureaucrat.

The real problem is that the cost of living is vitally important to Australian families. They feel they need more than just another inquiry; they feel they need more than just another bureaucrat, because the cost of living affects every family. It affects every single parent and it affects every pensioner and self-funded retiree. Every time they visit the shops, every time they fill their plastic shopping bag with goodies, they know that the cost of living is going up, and they judge their pension, their allowance or their wage against what they can buy for the money that they have. We are not talking about luxuries; we are talking about the necessities. We are talking about putting food on the table and putting petrol in the car. We are talking about a car that has to get people to work or kids to school. We are talking about the cost of keeping a roof over people’s heads. These are questions that people are really concerned about. They are far too concerned about these questions for the government to just appoint a bureaucrat. They are far too concerned about them for the government to just start another inquiry.

See this speech in context