Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As parliament draws to a close for the year, it seems fitting to reflect on the past 12 months, and 2019 has been a year of missed opportunity. Shamefully, Australia still does not have an effective policy to tackle climate change. Even in the face of catastrophic bushfires, the Prime Minister continues to argue there is no direct link between Australia's greenhouse gas emissions and the record season of early bushfires we have had so far. The fire danger has reached extreme levels on Tasmania's east coast and in the midlands in the past few weeks. The Bureau of Meteorology directly links such extreme conditions to long-term trends in global temperatures as a result of global heating from human-driven climate change. The climate emergency is the defining issue of our times, yet the Morrison government continues to sit back and do nothing.

We see the same attitude towards the increasingly troubling state of our national economy. If things are as great as the Treasurer says, why is it so damn hard for Australians to make ends meet? This government has broken all the records this year, but the records are not the kind you want to be breaking: the lowest level of economic growth since the GFC; stagnant wages; a doubling of the national debt; an unemployment rate higher than those of the US, Britain, New Zealand and Germany; and official interest rates at the lowest in our history. These economic indicators should be enough to prompt any responsible government to action, but we get nothing but spin and politics.

Standards of living are flatlining. Working Australians are worried for their families. They know they cannot trust this government with their wages or job security and they are holding on to their money. For example, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reported just yesterday that in November new vehicle sales in Australia fell for the 20th successive month. That is not a sign of confidence in the economy.

Retail figures paint a grim picture, with no evidence that interest rate cuts and tax cuts are prompting the consumption we need. ABS statistics for September show that retail sales volume fell by 0.1 per cent for the quarter, against market expectations of a 0.2 per cent increase. It's going the wrong way. CommSec Chief Economist Craig James says that it's the weakest retail spending in 28 years. Maybe it has something to do with power prices going through the roof or with insurance costs going through the roof. They're all running out of control. The cost of living is out of control.

Low wage growth is the biggest impediment for the retail sector, yet we have a Minister for Finance boasting that ultralow wages growth is a deliberate design feature of our economic architecture. It may be a deliberate design feature of his, but it's certainly not Labor's. It's no wonder that working Australians feel like they just can't get ahead. This government has created a perfect storm of low wage growth, soaring power prices, and housing prices out of the reach of many, particularly young homebuyers.

Low wages—and, of course, we saw penalty rates cut under this government—are one small part of this government's new normal, where the quiet Australians are told to sit down and shut up. It's why the government are so intent on passing their union-bashing bill. This government wants workers defenceless, unable to stand up and fight back when it goes after their wages and conditions. We have not seen any real plan or direction since the election six months ago—just more of the same dysfunction, missed opportunities and an obsession with fighting Labor and refighting the last election.

Although it may not sound like it, I do remain optimistic for the future because I know Australia is full of opportunity. I see opportunity in last week's defeat of the ensuring integrity bill. It was a strong signal to the government that it has no mandate for its attacks on the union movement. I see opportunity when I hear the Leader of the Opposition talk about Labor values and an alternative vision for this country that is based on fairness, on social mobility, on creating wealth and on the fairer distribution of that wealth. Labor is prepared to take on the challenge of creating the conditions that we need to prosper in our changing and dynamic world. It is with a hopeful eye to the future and the opportunities before us that I wish everyone here in this chamber, this parliament and this great nation a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe new year.

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