Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

In March, the Prime Minister said the following: 'Labor has a real plan to get incomes rising and costs under control.' Then in May, a couple of months later, he said, 'The cost of living is rising now. If we don't act, these problems will just get bigger.' At the same time, he made commitments to the Australian people. He committed to cheaper mortgages, he committed to a $275-a-year reduction in electricity bills, and he committed that the Labor Party would deliver improvements in real wages. Well, what have we seen since then? On the other side of this chamber, we have seen Labor consistently refuse to recommit to the $275 reduction in electricity prices, time and time and time again. All we hear is waffle from the Prime Minister, waffle after waffle after waffle—no $275. He has steadfastly refused to commit to it. Cheaper mortgages—absolutely gone. Time after time after time, the Reserve Bank has raised interest rates, and there's nothing from the government.

Meanwhile, the Treasurer, in his updated forecast, has put up the white flag on real wages. The news to the Australian people in the last budget is that, in this term of parliament, there will be no increases in real wages—none, zero, zip, gone. Those opposite have given up; they have absolutely put up the white flag. Indeed, the Treasurer's budget, handed down only a short time ago, weeks ago, sank to the bottom of the ocean within days. It was gone. It was absolutely gone. This was Labor's biggest missed opportunity. They had a chance to lay out a plan to the Australian people for doing exactly what they said they were going to do before the election, and they gave up on it within months.

We have said time and time again that a sensible plan to deal with rising inflation and rising interest rates is one that needs to go to the source, not just the symptom, and that means a responsible budget. That means responsible fiscal policy. That means managing spending. That means making sure that you lay out a budget where the budget is improving, year after year. What did we see from this government? One hundred and fifteen billion dollars of additional spending since the March budget.

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