Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

Life will be cheaper under me. That was the headline—life will be cheaper under me—on the front page of the Oz. Cheaper electricity bills, cheaper mortgages, a plan to bring down the cost of living. That's what he said: life will be cheaper under me. The Prime Minister told Australians that they'd be better off under him and a Labor government. But six months on the only thing that is going up is inflation, gas prices, electricity prices, mortgage payments and interest rates. How much support is coming to the Australian people for their cost of living? Zero. Absolutely nothing. By Christmas regular Australian families will be paying at least $2,000 more. They'll be $2,000 worse off by Christmas. The Prime Minister said, 'No-one left behind.' He promised that but apparently that only applies to their union masters.

The government had one task for their budget: to deliver a plan that reduced cost-of-living pressures, put downward pressure on inflation and interest rates, and deliver on the key promises—the promises that they made to the Australian people. 'Life will be cheaper under me,' he said. Not only did they fail that test, but they've failed the Australian people they promised to support. Australians can't afford to pay their electricity bills, because prices are rising by 56 per cent. Gas prices are going to be up by 44 per cent. My dear old dad in South Australia already can't afford his electricity prices and now this government is pushing them through the roof by 56 per cent. Australians are struggling to pay their gas bills and prices are forecast to go up by 44 per cent. These are Australians who have worked their whole lives and now they can't afford to pay their bills. They are Australians who are struggling to pay their mortgages, because interest rates continue to climb.

On 97 occasions those opposite, the Prime Minister, promised a $275 cut in power bills—97 times! Yet when it comes to delivering on that promise they back out. What do they do? They divert blame. They shake the finger. They shake the finger, they divert and they blame us on our side. They fumble with fake apologies, excuses and reasons as to why they spend that money somewhere else.

Australians are having to choose between whether they heat or whether they eat and this government couldn't care less. The reality is that it's getting harder and harder for Australians to make ends meet under this new, inexperienced, baby Labor government which is clearly incapable of managing our economy.

Almost every day of the election campaign the Prime Minister promised he would show up and take responsibility. He now spends question time talking about what the opposition did, not talking about what his plan for the Australian people is. Why? Because he doesn't have a plan. He needs to stop making excuses, stand up and start governing. Instead of providing tax relief; they're increasing taxes.

Let's be clear: those opposite love to tax. They're lovers of tax, that's what they are. Labor loves a tax. And we know how those in Labor feel about aspiration. Do they even know what 'aspiration' means? The coalition will always support aspirational Australians. We want to see your small-, family- and medium-sized businesses grow. We want to see you grow, we want to see you successful, we want to see you own your own home and we want to see you take home more of what you earn, to build something that you care about.

All that Labor, on the other side, sees are dollar signs. Labor loves a tax. They said they supported the stage 3 tax cuts, but now they're not sure anymore, which means that millions of Australians will be worse off when they scrap them. If they're repealed, a teacher earning $70,000 a year would lose more than $620 every year. A qualified diesel mechanic earning $100,000 a year would lose more than $1,370 every single year if they scrap those tax cuts. How is that fair? I can tell Australians that the coalition will continue to fight for your tax relief, because it's your money and not theirs.

Labor also promised to increase real wages, but this budget shows that real wages are going backwards. The coalition wants to see higher wages but this government's plan for radical changes to IR laws to give power to their union mates is bad for the economy, bad for business, bad for employers and bad for employees and families. This government is failing to deliver for Australians and failing to deliver on the Prime Minister's promise that 'life will be cheaper under me'. Mr Love-a-tax—'life will be cheaper under me'. They're just making a bad situation much, much worse.

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