Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Wow. Going by the member for Blair's standards, I don't have to say much to those at home other than: look at the government front bench. It's an opportunity for them to talk about the cost of living, and the only minister here—by the member for Blair's own admission—is forced to be here. We know the cost of living isn't a big issue for this government because actions are very important. When the Prime Minister was asked a question about the cost of living today in question time, and the price of groceries going up, what did those on the backbench and the frontbench do? They laughed. They laughed about the cost of living. We used an example of Vegemite going up eight per cent. That's representative of many products in grocery stores that are going up. We will not be lectured to sanctimoniously about the cost of living because those on the government benches laughed when asked about the cost of living today. That's what they did. They laughed at the Australian people. Because the Australian people are struggling every day to pay bills. This government, in MPIs, spends more time talking about us in the opposition than it does about outlining its policies. The reason its talks about the opposition is that its policies are not working and the Australian people know that. They know that every day when they go to the shops. They know that every time they receive an energy bill.

I was out yesterday at Yarra Valley Hilltop, an amazing business in my electorate of Casey. They started just over 20 years ago with a vision to support the agricultural community of Casey. They started from nothing. They now employ over 100 local people, manufacturing food products. One of their best products is their strawberry jam. They bring in all local strawberries.

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