Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Within my electorate of Deakin, and, indeed, throughout Australia, people are suffering are from a cost-of-living crisis that I have not seen in my time in this place. I must say, in looking at the agenda of the government over the first two weeks of this parliament and the activities of the Prime Minister over summer, that what electors in Deakin are seeing—and what I think Australians are seeing—is a fundamental lack of focus from this government on the most pressing issue that Australians are now suffering from.

We all know that the millions of Australians with mortgages are seeing, and have seen, interest rate rises. There have been nine consecutive rises, eight of which have happened since this government came to office. For a household with an average mortgage, it's an increase of $16,000 a year. We're seeing record inflation; the most recent figures of 7.8 per cent highlight that the government has lost control of what is one of the most corrosive aspects of any economic situation. We saw the Prime Minister over summer, and all he wanted to do was talk about the Voice or hang out at the tennis. We see no urgency from this government on the most pressing issue that people face every day. They face it every time they go to the supermarket. There are Australians now who make decisions in the supermarket about what they will go without, and there are parents who will themselves go without so they can provide for their children.

We're also seeing the consequences of the government's broken promises in relation to reducing power prices. The Prime Minister said, on 97 occasions before the election, that he would deliver a reduction of $275 a year. It wasn't a slip of the tongue once or twice. He said it 97 times. And, at the very least, households are seeing not increases of hundreds of dollars but increases of thousands of dollars.

Last week, I had a constituent send me a letter that they'd received from their energy provider, and it read as follows: 'Hello, as you may have heard, energy prices have been going up. On 1 February, your natural gas rates are going up. We understand this isn't news you want to hear.' Then there was a whole lot of other flowery language. And then: 'We estimate that the new rates will cost you $602.74 more, including GST, a year.' That's $600 a year more, and that's just gas; that doesn't also include electricity. So we're seeing inflation out of control, which is leading to higher mortgage interest rates, which, again, for the average house means $16,000 a year more out the door on their mortgages. We're seeing the price of every single good, service and product—including staple products at supermarkets—rising, with inflationary levels higher than they've been for 33 years. We're seeing power prices not only not going down by $275, as the Prime Minister promised on 97 occasions, but going up by thousands of dollars.

You would have thought that, in returning to parliament for the first sitting fortnight of the year, there would be an obsession from the government on these issues and an absolute focus on addressing these issues. But, instead, we see a Prime Minister seemingly unconcerned about the economic situation being faced by households in this country; a Prime Minister who's very self-satisfied, very pleased and very happy, and who's enjoying the trappings of office—enjoying nights at the tennis and hanging out with musicians—while Australians are doing it hard.

This is a prime minister who said he'd show up. This is a prime minister who said he'd deliver $275 price reductions in power prices. This is a prime minister who said he'd deliver cheaper mortgages. So, on every single measure, we're seeing a Labor Party and a government that not only is not showing the focus that is necessary but is incapable of addressing these challenges.

We know, and Australians have seen it before, that you always pay more under Labor. The economy always tanks under Labor. Labor claim it's all a bit of hard luck and bad luck for them and bad timing. Bad luck seems to follow Labor, and Australians pay the price.

See this speech in context