Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Australians are doing it tough, but, listening to the member for Dobell, it seems everything's hunky-dory: Australians aren't doing it tough; everything's great. In a 10-minute speech, probably 20 seconds were devoted to, 'We need to do a little bit better on cost of living.' When it comes to Dobell, I guess people aren't paying more rent, people aren't paying higher mortgages, people aren't paying more for insurance. I guess the member for Dobell must have delivered that $275 reduction in electricity prices. So, for the people in Lemon Tree, Long Jetty and Palm Dale and other places in Dobell, everything's sweet since the Albanese government was elected, according to the member for Dobell.

But the truth is that Australians know they are doing it tough. They know the Prime Minister couldn't be trusted when he said that things would be better off under him, that life would be better under him. People know they have been struggling for the last two years. The record shows that under the coalition people had more savings in their bank accounts, people had more dollars in their pocket, people had a greater disposable income. People weren't having to work two or three jobs, as the member for Hume said, under the coalition.

The government come in here day after day talking about more women being in employment. The reason more women are back to work is that they're struggling; their mortgages have doubled, their cost of living has gone through the roof, they're having to put groceries back on the shelf when the kids pick them up. That's why they're back to work—nothing to do with what the Leader of the House has done. The minister for industrial relations comes in here and says he's saved the country, that everything's hunky-dory under him. The reality is that prices have gone up because of their actions, because of their legislating for their union donors. That's what Labor governments do. It's what they'll always do. Whilst the rules allow them to take that money from the unions, they'll come into this place and act in the best interests of their donors, not in the best interests of you and other Australians throughout this place. That is the absolute reality.

After almost two years of Labor, Australians' quality of life has fallen dramatically, with higher income taxes, higher inflation and low productivity. They talk about income taxes, but the government wouldn't be doing anything around income taxes if the former coalition government hadn't already legislated to cut them from 1 July. That is the absolute reality. There's not a member on this side of the House who advocates for income taxes any day of the week. In fact, in the last two years all they've done is say, 'How do we actually get rid of those legislated stage 3 tax cuts?'—that you said you wouldn't cut.

The reality is that businesses are also suffering. Small businesses are suffering. For every man, woman and child in Australia, the economy is going backwards; there is less money in their pockets. That's what the figures produced last week say and what the shadow Treasurer, the member for Hume, spoke about today. Workplaces are more inefficient—workplaces are not as productive—because of the workplace laws that this government has introduced.

Businesses are now more worried about trying to work out, 'What is the definition of a casual?' What is the definition of a casual? We're not sure.

There is fear and uncertainty over the right to disconnect. Now, how many members here—there are quite a few members in the House—have actually had someone come up to them and say, 'I'm really worried about my boss calling me after hours; I'm really worried about being sent an email after hours'? I've been a member here for 10 years and haven't had one person raise that with me. But now you've got small businesses around the country going, 'You know what? I might not put on that extra employee.' And unemployment is rising under the Albanese government.

There's the duplication. For years, in Queensland, we've had legislation addressing wage theft, and the federal government introduced the same legislation but doesn't talk to the current legislation in Queensland.

Capital expenditure is down. People are not investing in their businesses because the Albanese government have wound back the instant asset tax write-off. And now we have one employee in every 15 whose full-time job is to deal with compliance and regulation. That is the Albanese government's legacy. SMEs have stopped growing. They've stopped employing. They're finding it tough. And Australians have given up on the Albanese government.

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