Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to express my and my electorate's disappointment on the Albanese Labor government's ongoing list of broken election promises. During the 2022 election campaign, we were promised that Australians would be better off under Labor. Ten months into the Albanese government's leadership, it is clear history is repeating itself. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised many election commitments, then left a trail of backflips and broken promises. Following in Kevin Rudd's footsteps, Prime Minister Albanese is on record prior to the election stating that he would not meddle with retirement savings if Labor were elected. He said, 'We have no intention of making any super changes.' Yet the Prime Minister and his Treasurer announced only a couple of weeks ago that they were, in fact, coming after our super. Prime Minister Albanese claims that these changes will only affect a small number of Australians, yet they have failed to consult industry and peak bodies and are forgetting about our farmers. For many farmers, their land and their farms are their superannuation, and it is common practice to hold land assets in superannuation. Labor's announcement throws up significant uncertainty for family farms, with scant detail on things like grandfathering, treatment of re-evaluations and the impact on lending in a climate of rising interest rates.

Labor promised that no-one would be held back and no-one would be left behind, but 30 per cent of Australians who live in regional areas have been left behind. Under Labor, the regions have had over $6 billion cut from their dam funding, opportunities that have been taken away. We have seen mobile black spot funding slashed and road infrastructure funding slashed. Multimillion dollar regional programs have been scrapped under Labor, including the Energy Security and Regional Development Plan, the Regional Accelerator Program, the Community Development Fund and the Building Better Regions Fund. They're all gone.

Since Labor, groceries are eight per cent higher. The Albanese Labor government have done nothing to combat workforce shortages, which are driving prices up. Instead, they decided to scrap the coalition ag visa, leaving farmers with uncertainty and consumers with food shortages. The Albanese government promised that power prices would be reduced by $275. This was not just a slip of the tongue. This promise was repeated over 97 times. It's another broken promise. Treasurer Chalmers has forecast electricity prices will rise by 23 per cent in 2023. He provided no new relief measures for households in his October budget and no future plan. Australians with mortgages are buckling under the pressure, and the RBA has just lifted interest rates for the 10th consecutive time. The Albanese government's only solution to this is to break promises and to increase taxes.

The Albanese Labor government has also turned its back on vulnerable Australians by slashing mental health support. This is a tragic repeat of history, as the current health minister cut the same program back in 2011. The Albanese government has once again disregarded experts, peak bodies and medical professionals, who have all called for these psychology sessions to be reinstated.

Let's not forget that, leading up to the 2022 federal election, Prime Minister Albanese and his party promised there would be no carbon tax. Labor promised that not a single Australian coalmine would be impacted by their policy to reduce carbon emissions, but after the election the Albanese government said that any new gas or coal project would automatically come under the remit of the safeguard mechanism, which is essentially the carbon tax 2.0.

As we can all see, history shows us that the Labor Party are very good at making promises but are just not very good at keeping them. Australians are struggling under the Albanese government. Australians are not better off under the Albanese government. Why do we always pay more under Labor?

See this speech in context