Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the matter of public importance today. The government should be ashamed that it has failed to take any action to alleviate the cost-of-living pressures in the lead-up to Christmas. This is a time when family budgets are pushed to the brink, when a lack of funds means fewer Christmas presents or maybe no Christmas presents at all, fewer guests at the Christmas table or maybe no guests at all. It could mean that school holiday activities have to be significantly reduced or perhaps not take place at all simply because there are no funds or there are very limited funds.

I know the cost of living is hurting Australian people a lot. I hear it from the people in my electorate of McPherson. I receive emails and calls on a regular basis in which people talk to me about the impact that rising prices are having on their day-to-day life. People raise it with me in person. They stop me at shopping centres and in the street to tell me how difficult life is for them at the moment. I heard it before and during the campaign and I hear it more and more as the situation deteriorates.

Unfortunately, the issue is most often raised by those who are most vulnerable in our community. What I want to know is what the government is actually doing to reduce the pressure on our most vulnerable: our seniors on fixed incomes; our welfare recipients; the unemployed, who have no capacity to increase their incomes to compensate for the additional cost pressures they face. Of course it does not only affect the most vulnerable amongst us; if affects the entire community. And it affects us most dramatically during the holiday period.

At the 2007 election, the government promised to address cost-of-living pressures. They made a commitment to the Australian people to reduce the cost of everyday expenditure on items that we all rely on. They promised to do something about groceries, they promised to do something about fuel and they promised to do something about banking. But what have the government done to fulfil the promise that really was the centrepiece of their campaign? If you cannot think of anything, Mr Speaker, I can assure you that you are not on your own. Very few of us can think of anything real and tangible that the government have done. But let me point out to you a few things that they have attempted.

Firstly, there were a range of websites. Fuelwatch, which was supposed to reduce our fuel costs, was of course the ridiculous embarrassment that the coalition predicted it would be. The Royal Automobile Association of South Australia went so far as to say that it believed that Adelaide motorists would be $100 a year worse off as a result of Fuelwatch. So not only did it not help; it actually exacerbated a situation. It is easy to say that $100 is not much, but $100 here and $100 there most certainly does add up, and it becomes very significant to those in the community who are most vulnerable.

Then there was GROCERYchoice, the now abandoned white elephant that did not help retailers reduce their prices, did not help consumers get the best prices, and cost Australian taxpayers at least $7 million. A team of up to 30 people had been working around the clock to develop the site, and $7 million went out of the pockets of the Australian people and down the drain. What did this project achieve? Absolutely nothing. It was poorly planned and poorly thought through.

It is actually not unlike the government’s favourite project at the moment, the NBN—poorly planned, poorly thought out and a potential financial disaster of a magnitude not seen before in this country. It is again a project done without due diligence and with an ever-increasing bill payable by us, the Australian taxpayers. Why is this relevant to cost-of-living pressures? With a budget deficit in excess of $40 billion this year and a budget deficit next year, this government is going to deliver to all Australians a burden of debt that will put upward pressure on interest rates and have a huge impact on all Australian families, potentially for years to come. Wasting money on poor projects, including the failed home insulation project, increases the debt and deficit, and that is really only making the problem worse.

A debt-free government is one that does not compete with individuals and businesses for finance. This government is borrowing $100 million a day. It is a AAA rated borrower. This government is in competition for finance with ordinary Australians. This pushes up costs for us, the ordinary Australians. When you reduce the debt you reduce the costs on borrowings. This is certainly a simple concept but the government either does not understand it or chooses to ignore it. The seven interest rate rises in the past year have added more than $500 a month to the repayments on an average mortgage—an extra $500 a month just to keep a roof over your head.

The coalition has a plan to make banking fairer for consumers and for a better all-round financial system with our nine-point plan. This is the only proposal on the table that looks to address issues with our banking system outside the RBA’s interest rates increases. This plan will culminate in a full review of our financial system. Considering the impact financial services and lending have on household budgets, this is a necessary measure that will help address the cost-of-living pressures. The government will not consider it and they will not consider addressing their reckless spending, but families and individuals have to look at their own spending, at their own budgets. I say, if it is good enough for families, why is it not good enough for the government to manage the budget?

It is disgraceful that, because this government has shirked its own responsibilities, Australians are now paying the price and will continue to pay that price for some time in future. And of course it is not only in the form of increased prices; it is the potential for increased taxes or at least taxes that are not reduced. If your family is debt free, you are still hit with cost-of-living pressures outside the interest rate rises. Electricity is up 34 per cent. Gas is up 26 per cent. Water and sewerage are up 29 per cent. The issue here is that you just cannot decide to disconnect your electricity, gas or sewerage. You can use less, and in Australia we have a very proud history of demonstrating that we can conserve water, that we can reduce electricity use by simply switching off the power. We are already doing this but we are still faced with the rising cost pressures of those services.

Health care is not something families should be skimping on, but the cost of health care under the Labor Party has risen up to 18 per cent. Education costs are up 17 per cent and no government should want families to cut back on that and sell out our children’s future. Year over year prices generally go up. I accept that; we all accept that but we should accept that only up to a point. 

We need to look at the period over which these price increases have occurred. We are constantly reminded—and the Treasurer reminded us this week in the House—of the seriousness of the global economic downturn. Australia, thanks to years of strong economic management and reforms prior to the 2007 election, was in a good position to weather the GFC. There was a reduction in inflationary pressures and this is shown in the figures, but these everyday prices kept rising despite the GFC. The value of the dollar is higher than ever. We should be able to get more for our dollar, so there is no excuse there either. There is a link between the actions of this government and the prices we all pay for our everyday expenses that the government just will not accept. They are shirking their responsibility to the Australian people in this regard and the impact of this is exacerbated as we move towards the holiday season.

They do not understand that there is a link between government expenditure—their reckless spending—and the impact interest rates and prices are having on everyday Australians, or maybe they just do not care. Not only are they not willing to be part of the solution but also they continue to be committed to being part of the problem. The government need to take responsibility for the impact they are having on ordinary Australian households. They need to take responsibility for the impact they are having on our most vulnerable and they need to understand the correlation between their actions and what is in the next household bill for families across the nation. In July, the Treasurer said:

We will do everything as we go forward to ensure we minimise those cost-of-living pressures.

I say to the Treasurer: the government has failed Australian families and must immediately change its pattern of behaviour. It must start planning properly, improve its financial management, start proper project implementation and act in the best interests of all Australians.

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