Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

There have been 12 interest rate rises under those opposite, forcing mortgage rates up, rents up, housing costs up by 12 per cent and electricity bills up by 20 per cent. Just as a little history lesson, that's after Prime Minister Albanese promised a $275 reduction in everybody's power bill, and that's not a slip of the tongue. That's the promise that he actually uttered 97 times, and power bills are up by 20 per cent. Gas is up by 27 per cent, fuel prices are up and insurance is up by 22 per cent.

Food is up by nine per cent, and that's going to get a hell of a lot worse. The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has presided over a water buyback scheme in the Murray-Darling Basin. That water was being used to grow food and fibre. If growers can't grow the food, supply will go down and prices will go up, so all Australians will be paying more at the check-out for this very bad idea. In my neck of the woods there is the gillnet ban. The same minister has banned the commercial gillnet. This was to save the Great Barrier Reef. Newsflash here: no nets go within 40 kilometres of the Great Barrier Reef. But what does that mean to each and every Australian? They will be paying more for their wild-caught mullet, barramundi and salmon, or they will have to get it imported at lesser quality and still pay more for their fish and chips and at their fishmonger's.

We are living in a Labor-created cost-of-living crisis, and this government's family car and ute tax will make the cost of living absolutely worse. According to the research undertaken by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, hardworking Australians will have to pay over $13,000 more for an Isuzu D-Max, over $14,000 more for a Toyota HiLux, over $17,000 more for a Ford Ranger and—the big one—over $25,000 more for a Toyota LandCruiser.

Graziers need these vehicles to be able to throw some 44s in the back of the ute and go down to fill their pumps up to put food in the back of their ute and go down to feed their stock. Farmers need to be able to throw a ton of fert in the back of the ute and take it down to fertilise their crops—sometimes long distances. And fishes? Well, they need to be able to tow their boat, put their boat in the boat ramp and be able to pull it out. They need a four-wheel drive for that. What about maintenance? Crews of miners need to be able to carry a lot of gear to do that. And of course tradies need to have their tools and their supplies, but what tradie can afford over $13,000 more for a ute? That will flow back on everyone else's bill, so again Labor is fuelling this Labor-created cost-of-living crisis. Once again, this is a very bad policy.

What about SUVs for the mums and dads so they can put the kids in the back and take the pram and all the groceries. What about driving in our part of the world, where we have so many unsealed and bad-quality roads. Folks, EVs simply can't do the job. They can't carry the weight. They cannot tow the load and cannot cover the vast distances. There is not enough infrastructure either. This is another tax against rural and Australia.

Once again rural and regional Australia are picking up the tab for the city dwellers. The government family car and ute tax is a failed policy by a failed one-term government. Those opposite are very big on idealism, but what they need is a good dose of realism. Please do the right thing and get rid of this policy before it's too late. Australian simply cannot afford it.

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