Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I rise to speak on this MPI, I'm getting a sense of deja vu, standing here speaking on this issue. I feel like I've spoken to it before. I guess this is what happens when you have a directionless opposition, an opposition who are desperate to try and get one over a government which we all know is doing all it can do to address the cost-of-living challenges facing Australians.

If the opposition wants to keep throwing mud and playing cheap politics—because that's what it is—I'll keep reminding them, particularly being from the Northern Territory and holding the seat of Lingiari, who caused this mess. The foundations for the energy price problems we see today were laid by those opposite. When you have an incompetent government like the Morrison government was, you see long-term issues take root. When you fail to plan and prepare for the future, you create a mess. Luckily, the Albanese Labor government is stepping up to clean this mess.

A high cost of living and intractable effects of energy prices are a hard thing for anyone to cope with, but are particularly hard in regional and remote Australia. I know, in my electorate of Lingiari, my constituents are hurting right now. I hear about it on the way to the shops. I see it in our communities. I see it on the shelves of my local shopping centres. I see it on the street. I know just how tough Territorians, particularly in Lingiari, are finding things, particularly amongst some of our families.

With these challenges, it has been important to be part of an Albanese government that is implementing its key cost-of-living reforms—cutting the cost of child care, making medicines cheaper, investing in our regional economies and working on our new remote employment program. All of these will go towards easing the cost-of-living burden on families in my electorate of Lingiari. Unlike those opposite, the Albanese Labor government has an agenda. It's an ambitious one but one that will greatly benefit the people of Lingiari and, indeed, all remote and regional Australia.

Part of our government's agenda is to work on energy prices but also on energy more broadly. Last year, in a special sitting of parliament, we passed legislation that would cap the price of energy. This meant that Australian homes would be spared huge increases in energy prices. I remind those opposite that they voted against this price cap and rebates for working people. Recently, we had a by-election in the Northern Territory. Energy prices were part of the discussion we had, and I can tell you the result of that by-election was to vote against what those opposite stood for. Those opposite voted against any changes that would benefit people in regional and remote communities. So I echo the words of the Prime Minister. You don't come in here as opposition, talk about energy prices and then stand up and vote against measures to curb them. Be honest with the community and tell them exactly what you do outside of this House. Talk about how what you vote against are measures that can actually help some of those families.

The member for Fairfax talked about protection rackets. I think that the biggest protection racket is how the opposition protected the member for Hume, who hid a certain policy and information from the community before the last election. You talk about protection rackets, and that is the biggest protection racket. They should be honest with their electorates and their constituents, but they are being dishonest on a number of fronts. One of them is their policy that they hid when they went to the last election. The reason so many families are doing it tough is that those opposite did not know how to do the hard yards. We know what good policy is all about. We are revitalising the national energy grid, we are investing in clean energy for the future and we are building a skilled workforce to go with it. But, for now, we will work to help Australians with energy costs and we will continue to ease the cost of living for people.

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