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

Of all the Rudd government’s broken promises, the one that most reaches into the pockets of every Australian is the Prime Minister’s failure to put downward pressure on the cost of living. At the 2007 election Mr Rudd led Australians to believe that he could lower the price of groceries and that the cost of petrol would be lower because of his leadership. Well, Prime Minister, I am not sure if you were speaking in the heat of the moment, but I do know that you are not speaking the gospel truth to any ordinary Australians.

In the eyes of many North Coast residents your failure to deliver on the cost-of-living promise is one of the greatest ‘immoral’ challenges of our time. Your ETS was set to drive up the cost of living and the cost of everything we buy, and force pensioners and low-income earners to go without the basic necessities of life. It was the greatest moral challenge of our time, you said. You quickly abandoned that promise when people started to wise up to the impacts of your ETS. Federal and state Labor governments wanted to increase the price of electricity by 64 per cent over the next three years, largely as a result of your ETS.

Fortunately, the Prime Minister has temporarily shelved that ETS. But the voters are not silly. They are all too aware that this great big new tax is just on hold—a great big new tax that will drive up the cost of everything you buy. So next time the Prime Minister visits the North Coast of New South Wales he should reject the compulsion to pose for a photo opportunity. He should get down on the street and see how increases in the cost of living are affecting everyday Australians and how it is putting pressure on household budgets. He should speak to low-income earners and pensioners and see the impact his policies and his failure to act on his promises is having on them.

The government has insulted pensioners who have participated in the solar roofs program. We have seen the government penny-pinching in this regard by reducing their pension if they are paid any money for electricity generated as a result of the installation of solar panels. The government encouraged people to install solar panels and then treated them with contempt by reducing their pension if they received any financial benefit through cash payments as a result of this program. It is absolutely outrageous that local pensioners should be hit by the government—a government that promised to put downward pressure on the cost of living, a government whose promises now seem to be all too hollow. It is absolutely outrageous that a pensioner who receives a cash payment as a result of a very substantial investment in our green future should be penalised. It is an absolutely outrageous situation and just shows that this Prime Minister cannot be trusted.

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