Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

I think the people of Australia who are listening to the debate on this matter of public importance would appreciate the fantastic transformation that has happened inside the Liberal Party. Suddenly the Liberal Party has discovered cost-of-living pressures. They certainly did not when they were in government. The Leader of the Opposition quoted a couple of statistics, and I am happy to quote a few more. In the last term of the Howard government, the cost of the average family basket of groceries went up by 20 per cent, from $232 to $281. That is between 2004 and 2007.

Mr McCormack interjecting—

At the same time, interest rates went up 10 times in a row. In 2007, as a result of that, 10,000 Australian families had their homes repossessed.

Mr McCormack interjecting—

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