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

The Kouk. This is a budget that has left the Reserve Bank carrying the can. In fact, Steven Hamilton put it very well when he said it was an irresponsible budget. Right at the heart of this budget is an acceptance that rising inflation, in the view of the Treasurer, is okay—a 56 per cent increase in electricity prices; a 44 per cent increase in gas prices—and, on top of that, they've given up the ghost on productivity. He's scaled down productivity from 1.5 to 1.2 per cent a year. That means less money in people's pockets, less wealth.

They talk every day. In fact, before the election we heard time and time again about real wages, that they would go up. In their own forecast, there is no increase in real wages in this term of the parliament—none. Gone! They have given up on it. They have given up the ghost. They've put up the white flag. As a result, Australians will be paying more at Christmas. Australians will be worse off because those opposite have given up on their commitments. We know that a family with a $750,000 mortgage is now paying more than $1,200 extra every month. In the electorates of those opposite, $1,200 every month. Australians are going to be going to the checkout at the fuel bowser this Christmas knowing that this government does not have their back when it comes to the cost of living. They've broken the most basic promises they made before the election.

We know there's complete chaos when it comes to energy policy with those opposite. Three days ago, we heard there were going to be subsidies. We don't know which one of them leaked from cabinet. One of them did, clearly. We don't know which one. Everyone's trying to guess. Then the next day it was price caps on gas, and then the next day it was price caps on coal. I don't know what's coming tomorrow. Who knows? But we do know that even Labor states are saying, 'Not good enough!' A couple of weeks ago the Western Australian government said, 'No way, don't even think about those policies.' Then a couple of days ago the Queensland government said, 'No way, don't even think about those policies.' Then today we read that South Australia is saying exactly the same. This is a government that has no idea. It is all smear and no idea.

I have a special place in my heart for the Assistant Treasurer. He's not here today. What a disappointment. He's part of the team, and it takes the team to make a mess of things. He is the leader of chaos in the Treasury portfolio. One would think that getting through bills--which we support and which we supported when we were in government--would be pretty straightforward. They are straightforward pieces of legislation that we still support, but not the Assistant Treasurer. He has decided to unilaterally implement $1.1 billion of fines on executives in the financial services industry. He made a deal with the Greens that wasn't needed, and then he walked back on it in less than 24 hours. There's been a bit of commentary about this. Michael Roddan wrote in the Fin Review just a few days ago about the recent performance of the shadow Treasurer, and I quote:

In the six months since he took charge of the ministry, the Member for Whitlam has chewed up the furniture, rubbed his bum on the carpet and cocked his leg over his parliamentary colleagues, the financial sector and the voters of Australia.

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