Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is galling but unsurprising to sit here and listen to the Liberals opposite continue to crabwalk away from their own responsibility when it comes to a decade of economic mismanagement, waste, wasted opportunities, wasted public resources, wasted money and wasted taxpayer money. They have left Australian taxpayers with $1 trillion of Liberal debt. It is an utterly disgraceful circumstance and incredibly irresponsible fiscal management. The worst part about that terrible trillion dollars of Liberal debt that they've left is that there is no economic dividend for this country. There is no economic dividend for the trillion dollars that they wasted on car parks and regional pools in city areas. It's just so disappointing. They come in here after 12 months—the Australian public are not mugs. I know that those from the Liberal Party think that working people don't understand matters of complex policy—they're wrong. They might not have gone to the fancy schools that you lot went to, but the reality is that working people know full well that the economic challenges that our country faces are largely driven by overseas forces—specifically, a war in Europe that is a tragic and an illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. And the Albanese Labor government has worked very hard to support our friends in Ukraine. The issue around energy pricing is driven by supply-side challenges as a result of the war in Europe. The Reserve Bank governor has been clear about this: those international pressures and those pressures that are beyond any fiscal policy control are responsible for roughly 75 per cent of inflation in our country right now. Seventy-five per cent of inflation in our country is driven by a war in Ukraine and other factors that are outside of our control.

The Liberals have been out of government for 12 months. They spent a decade in government, wasting $1 trillion of Australian taxpayer money, and they come in here and have the nerve to suggest that they have the answers, 12 months after being removed in office—rightly—by the Australian people. They have all the answers all of a sudden! No one's buying it, because it is the same old story from those opposite. It is all criticism and nothing constructive. There's nothing constructive to be put here. Australians are facing really significant economic challenges, and the member for Barker is right—the price of energy is chief amongst them. But the price of energy is being driven by an illegal war in Ukraine, perpetrated by Russia. Everybody across the other side knows that. Pretending otherwise does a great disservice to both our economy and the people that rely upon it. The 25 per cent of inflation that remains on the demand side is a complex challenge to face, notwithstanding that, in fact, in some instances the Reserve Bank governor has suggested that some inflation is requisite for a growing economy.

This is the Liberal Party who spent a decade suppressing wages. The Liberal Party are upfront—and I give that to them; they're upfront—about the fact that they fundamentally believe in lower pay for working Australians. They are now trying to make the case, along with their mates across the various shady right-wing corners of the universe, that growing wages are the issue with inflation in Australia. It is quite clear that the lowest paid workers in the Australian economy, who are getting modest pay rises, are not driving inflation. In fact, real unit labour costs are six per cent lower today than they were before the pandemic. So, for those who come in here wanting to make ridiculous arguments suggesting, after a decade of economic mismanagement on their part that left our country and Australians with $1 trillion of Liberal debt, that they somehow have the answers, that they are blessed with the public policy ideas that they had a decade to implement and couldn't: that suggestion is utterly ridiculous, and the Australian people can see right through it. (Time expired)

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