Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

That speech by assistant minister was pretty pathetic. Honestly, do you not listen to the Leader of the Opposition's speeches at all? He's got a lot of great policy. What we here are saying is that the Prime Minister is weak and incompetent—absolutely weak and incompetent. The Prime Minister has failed to deliver cost-of-living relief for the Australian people. It just astounds me that the Labor Party is so out of touch with the people whom we're meant to represent and the cost-of-living crisis that they're going through now. With everyday costs suffocating them day to day, Australians are crying out for some relief. But the truth is that their cries are falling on deaf ears. They will go unanswered. There is no relief coming for Australians under this Labor government. As one constituent said recently, never in our history have we had such an incompetent leader representing Australians. That might be a bit harsh, but that's what they're thinking.

Didn't the Prime Minister say that life would be easier under him? I guess that's just another broken promise under the Albanese Labor government. Australians are struggling. The government are out of touch with the issues that are currently hitting hard and they have no answers. The best we have had from the assistant minister, I think, would be child care, which is going some way towards helping working families with children. The reality is that a lot of childcare costs have actually gone up, so there's nothing. There's no relief coming. Instead, he's been focused for the past 18 months on this referendum, which is a failed vanity project, right in the middle of when Australians have been experiencing this cost of living. The opposition have raised that. As he correctly said in parliament today, they have asked 90 questions or something on it and have received very little in answer.

As a result, he's let down the Australian people and he's let down Aboriginal people—$450 million wasted on that referendum. In Barton, the Minister for Indigenous Australian's seat, 57 per cent voted no. How do you think she feels, with that sort of leadership from this Prime Minister? In Hasluck, the former minister's seat, 66 per cent voted no. In Gilmore, 62 per cent voted no. In Bendigo, 60 per cent voted no. I'll keep going. In Parramatta—he's over there—55 per cent voted no. In Hinkler, 80 per cent voted no. It was a complete waste of money. I won't talk about Blair; Queensland was a disaster. But the reality is that not one state got up, and this government has spent a year and a half focusing on this and not listening to Australians about the cost of living.

The fact is that, from groceries to petrol to health care, minister, to rent and housing, everything is going up. It's just not good enough. If you look at rent and housing, Peter said to me:

I'm 71 years old & have been an amputee for 43 years. Life has been tough for me … my rent increased—

under this government—

from $296 per week to $480 per week … that increase is really hurting me—

I'm sorry, Peter—

Not only do I suffer physically every day, but financially also. Is there any chance down the track, that the people in charge of such decisions will look into it & perhaps give old farts like me a financial break.

Those are the words that he said to me.

The reality is that rent is increasing because interest rates are increasing under Treasurer Chalmers. There have been 12 interest rate rises. The fact is that housing has doubled. If you're paying off a house, no matter what you're earning if you're working in this country, your housing costs have doubled, and then, of course, rents have doubled. The assistant minister spoke about social housing or some sort of housing package, but homelessness has increased under the Albanese Labor government. It's gone up. It's gone through the roof. In 2021 homelessness fell in three acute areas, and under this government it's going up. That's because they're only focused on social housing and giving to the states. They're not focused on the private sector. The fact is that we've got a housing crisis now because working families' cost of living is going through the roof, and they're running from investing in the private sector when 90 per cent of housing in this country is in the private sector.

Under the Albanese Labor government, you won't get relief. You will not get relief until a coalition government returns. In groceries, 'It is becoming increasingly difficult to provide a fresh, healthy diet for my family,' says Damien from Aspley, 'let alone support local Australian farmers and producers.' It's just terrible under this government. The reality is that the shadow Treasurer is right: the Prime Minister is incompetent, and he's failing people.

See this speech in context