Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to make my contribution to today's matter of public importance. I have here the letter that was sent to the Speaker proposing it. It reads:

Dear Madam Speaker

In accordance with standing order 46, I desire to propose that today on Wednesday 25 February 2015, the following definite matter of public importance be put to the House for discussion …

It talks about providing a stable and competent government and about increased cost of living pressures for Australian families. This is on the letterhead of the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Bill Shorten. What bald-faced hypocrisy for the Leader of the Opposition to table an MPI talking about stable and competent government and increased cost of living. When they were in government for the previous six years, we saw the most incompetent, the most dysfunctional and the most chaotic government in our nation's history. In every single portfolio there was complete chaos and complete dysfunction.

Where should we start? How about the economy? The Treasurer in 2012 stood up there at the dispatch box and said, 'The four years of budget surpluses I announced tonight'. We know what happened there. If we go into border protection we see more chaos: 50,000 arrivals, 800 illegal boats, $11 billion in cost blow-outs in defence—the lowest level of defence spending as a proportion of GDP since 1938. If we look at mining and resources, we had the mining tax announced and then changed—eight times. There was complete chaos and dysfunction. In agriculture we saw the live cattle fiasco. In small business we saw a revolving door of small business ministers. It was just a disgrace. What hypocrisy to come in with such a matter.

Then we come to cost-of-living pressures on Australian families. I am glad the member for Parramatta is sitting at the dispatch box, and the member for Chifley and the member for Werriwa are here—and I will not forget the member for McMahon, who is also sitting there; he is another member from New South Wales. You lot might be interested in some figures recently released by the Australian Energy Regulator that showed the number of households in New South Wales that had their electricity disconnected because of that toxic carbon tax which pushed up the price of electricity in this country.

These are the numbers. I hope you take note, Member for McMahon. You may be asked questions later on this, so please grab a pen or a pencil to write this down. From 2009-10 to 2013-14 we had a 100 per cent increase in the number of households in New South Wales that had their electricity disconnected. I am sure, Member for Parramatta, that many of those people were in your electorate. In New South Wales, 32,000 households had their electricity disconnected because of the carbon tax increasing prices. On top of that, another 63,000 households in New South Wales were on payment plans because they had trouble paying for their electricity because of the carbon tax. You lot voted time and time again to block the repeal of the carbon tax, and you come in here and talk on an MPI about increased cost pressures on households. What an absolute disgrace you lot are!

The member for Sydney came in here and whinged about cuts and increased costs. The biggest increased cost pressure on family households today is the interest payment on the debt that you guys ran up. It is $13½ billion this year, which gets put down to every single family in Australia, because of the waste and the mismanagement of the six years of you lot in government. That works out to an increase of $560 every year for every man, woman and child just to pay the interest on their debt. For the average household of four, it is over $2,000. That is the cost of the interest on the debt from your mismanagement and your incompetence—and you come in here and you move this MPI. What a disgrace!

We are getting on with the job. There is no magic solution. There is no magic pudding. We cannot reduce cost-of-living pressures by borrowing and spending more money. Sadly, that is the recipe that they have. (Time expired)

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