James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That means families in this country at the moment are having to make really difficult decisions to reduce their household budget, because their wages are growing at a slower rate than the costs to their family are increasing. That is an indisputable reality. I'd be shocked if we now have a government that doesn't believe the Australian Bureau of Statistics anymore and rejects the indisputable reality of the situation of real wage decline in this economy under the Labor Party.

Mortgages are going up; power prices are going up. People are having to make difficult decisions, like maybe cancelling a family holiday they take every year because they just can't afford to do that right now, and they can't undertake that kind of discretionary expenditure because the rest of their costs are going up under Labor. In the budget that Labor handed down in October they confirmed electricity and gas prices were going up by 56 per cent and 42 per cent in those two cases. That makes life so much more difficult, not just for the people that are struggling now but for those that are going to have to meet these increased costs into the future. Those projections of electricity and gas prices going up in double digits haven't hit households yet. While their real wages are going backwards and inflation is currently at 7.8 per cent, you have utility costs going up at an even higher rate. That means for the average family in this country right now it is only going to get worse, and that is the reality of the statistics that the government themselves have put out in their own budget. So it is a very difficult time for families.

Cost of living is exploding in this country while real wages are going backwards. That is not something to celebrate or to come into this chamber to brag about. It is something to be ashamed of, and it is something that needs a plan to address. Rather than bragging about the deteriorating wealth of the average Australian, come up with a plan to do something about it. At least, when we get elected in a few years time, we'll have that plan, and the people of this country will again see their economic future is something to look forward to rather than something to be frightened of under this government.

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