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

He did earn it. He earned his doctorate in politics: in Paul Keating, in focusing on Paul Keating. This is the Treasurer who said—what did he say?—'It's the recession we had to have.' This Treasurer knows a lot about politics. He spent a lot of time getting an education in Paul Keating. And what he does very cleverly is spin the numbers to play the political game, with the off-budget spending, over $45 billion, which drives inflation. Even though he can move it off the budget and put it over in off-budget spending, it still drives inflation, because inflation does not care about moving numbers around. It's a nice accounting trick that the Treasurer likes to use with his political spin—doctor spin—so he can make sure that he can stand up and give a headline, but Australians know. They know every day, when they go to the grocery store. They know every day, when they have to put petrol in the car or when the electricity bill comes in, that words and spin from the Treasurer don't actually cut it.

He's got another nice little trick that he's using in question time and in the media at the moment. He talks about his claim of banking 82 per cent of savings—the upgrades that we have from the surplus that was delivered, from the revenue growth, from the strong unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent that he inherited and from the strong exports in terms of trades that we've got. But that 82 per cent, again, is a nice little trick, because what is conveniently excluded is the aged-care spending increase that the government is paying for. Both sides support it, and it's good that we're supporting aged-care workers—that's not the issue—but what he's done with his little change of words is he has decided that that's not a decision of government, so he can remove that spending and say that he's banking 82 per cent. But he's not, actually. He's actually only banking 70 per cent. He likes to talk about how he's more economically responsible than the former treasurer Josh Frydenberg. The last budget from Treasurer Frydenberg and Prime Minister Morrison actually banked 75 per cent of savings, and that was in a lower inflationary environment. So, again, we've got this great little political spin from Dr Chalmers. He's renowned for, as we said, the off-budget spending. But Australians know every time they go to the grocery store that they're actually paying more.

There's another thing we heard from this Treasurer, from the Prime Minister and from the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. As a candidate, I obviously engaged deeply and listened a lot to what the then opposition was saying, and there was a lot of talk about real wages and how if the opposition, the ALP, got into government they were going to bring real wages down. Real wages are the crucial thing when it comes to wages, because real wages are the money you take home each month or each week in actuality. That's what you get to keep. We do not hear this government talk at all about real wages anymore. They talked about it a lot before the election. They will now not talk about it. And the reason the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the minister for workplace relations and many opposite won't talk about real wages is that the reality is Australians' real wages are going backwards. They are continuing to go backwards under this government. Again, you know it's true because you know it every time the pay packet comes in and you have to go to the grocery store or you have to put petrol in your car. This government promised real wage increases. They're not delivering real wage increases, by their own numbers, in this term of government.

To go back to our original point, one of the key ways to drive real wages up is to bring inflation down, because if the cost of goods is less, then the money you earn can buy more. Every Australian knows that, because you're doing that and making those decisions every day. We hear a lot of political spin from this Treasurer. We'll continue to hear it. But the reality is this budget, at best, by his own admission, will keep inflation at 6.8 per cent or seven per cent, as we're seeing, which isn't in the target band of two per cent to three per cent. If it stays at this level, the RBA Governor will have to continue to increase interest rates to get it down to our target band of two to three per cent.

This Treasurer is not doing the heavy lifting to help the RBA Governor. He's leaving it to the RBA. He likes to quote him, as he did yesterday, but he's leaving the heavy lifting to the RBA Governor, which means that interest rates will continue to go up. We see reports today that the market is now predicting that rates will go up again next week. I genuinely hope they won't, because I know that will hurt and cripple many families who are trying to pay their mortgage. But this is what happens when a Treasurer doesn't make the tough decisions to drive inflation down.

Those are some of the challenges at the national level that all Australians are struggling with. I now want to talk about my community of Casey. We're struggling with all of those issues, particularly in our business community, which is made up of many great people and great small businesses in agriculture, manufacturing, wine production, tourism and trade. There are amazing organisations. There are so many small-business owners and tradies. In fact, I'm proud to represent the electorate that has the highest percentage, as a percentage of the workforce, of tradies in the country. Master Builders had that data recently. It's a great example of people who are getting up every day and working hard. They're putting their life on the line. There are many challenges for many small-business owners. They are struggling at a time when the cost of living is going up and their inputs are going up.

There are many businesses I could talk about, but I have one great example. I want to quickly talk about Laurie from Aussie Growers Fruits. Yarra Valley Hilltop is one of their great brands. I had an opportunity to chat with him this week. His energy bill in the last 12 months went up over $200,000. He fears it can go up another $200,000, to $400,000, in the next 12 months. He's doing it tough. He's looking for support. His business started over 20 years ago. It was an empty paddock. He built a factory with a vision of supporting local fruit producers, particularly strawberry producers. He does a strawberry jam, for example. All of that product comes from local farmers in the Yarra Valley in my electorate of Casey. It's a great example of strong local manufacturers making a difference, supporting businesses and creating an economy.

This government talks about energy relief, but it's another example of the political spin that we hear from this government. We all got rushed back here in December to make these important changes, but energy prices are continuing to go up. The Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy sit in parliament in question time and crow about the amazing job that they've done. Guess what? The policy is not working. Laurie knows it and business people and families in Casey know it.

There's another interesting thing. They had to wait for the budget—and the member for Longman knows this—because it's all about the political spin. They talk about energy relief. In a cost-of-living crisis, every day and every week makes a difference. They talk about how people in Victoria will get $500. They talked about that in December. Not one dollar has gone to a resident or business in Casey—not one dollar. Let's be clear why it hasn't.

If the government wanted to, they could have had that legislation and made those decisions at the start of this year. They could have given you that relief, that money, four or five months ago, but they chose not to. The reason they held off giving you that money, that relief, is politics. By making the announcement in December they've been able to drag it out in question time and the media. They've talked about the relief and how they're supporting Australians.

This is the important bit for Dr Chalmers and his political science degree—and this is what former treasurer and prime minister Keating would have taught him. He needed that announcement on budget night because he needed to stand up with the Labor faithful and state, 'We're supporting Australian people.' But they haven't delivered a dollar. That's the choice he made. As the Treasurer of this country, whose responsibility is to support the Australian people and struggling families, he made a choice in December last year with the Prime Minister. They chose to delay your relief so he could stand up on budget night and make a big announcement about how they were going to help you. That was a choice. They could have given you that relief earlier this year. Because they've got the numbers and a very supportive Senate, they can push through whatever they want, and they chose to make you wait six to eight months so they could get a political announcement.

There are many other tragedies in this budget, particularly for farmers. There is a new tax coming around biosecurity that means, essentially, Australian farmers—all the farmers in Casey—are going to be paying more money to bring in products from overseas, increasing competition. I support biosecurity measures—we need those—but the importers should be paying it. The farmers of the Casey should not be paying more money. Residents and people in supermarkets will pay more money because, when your farmers pay more, they have to pass it on. Woolies and Coles will pass it on. That's because they're not making the tough decisions to make importers, who are bringing the risk in, pay that money. It's another example of abandoning farmers and driving inflation up.

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