Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

What we've just heard from the member for Fraser underscores exactly where we're at. These are comedy-style, pithy contributions that seek to make light of the fact that Australians are doing it tough. In fact, I'd argue they've never done it tougher. Another question time has come and gone. It's been another week. And in every single contribution from the Prime Minister we've heard various versions of, 'Australians have never had it better.' Then we transition to the Treasurer, if you like, and he gives us a slightly different version. It's imbued with this sense of, 'Well, aren't those Aussies lucky that I've got my hands on the Treasury levers?'

Newsflash to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer: Australians aren't feeling very lucky right now. In fact, Australians are feeling poorer and colder. We'll talk about 'colder' in a minute, but let's talk about 'poorer'. They're poorer, of course, because, as we've heard about, real wages are plummeting. It's probably not hard or surprising, because food is up 11 per cent, housing 14 per cent, gas 22 per cent, the cost of health care 11 per cent and education 10 per cent.

If you were a prime minister coming to government, cognisant of the fact that there were going to be real challenges around inflation and the lifestyles of Australians, you'd make it your No. 1 priority from day 1. That's what the late Bob Hawke would have done. He was in touch with the Australian zeitgeist. Whether it was having a beer at the front bar or talking to people at the cricket, he got real Australians. Unfortunately, what we have is a prime minister who spends too much time in the Lodge, too much time overseas and too much time in private jets, and that causes him to come into this place and say to the people assembled in this chamber and via broadcast to the rest of Australia, 'Haven't you got it good?'

Well, I'm telling you, Madam Deputy Speaker, they have not got it good. If it wasn't enough that they're paying more at the checkout, at the bowser and in their electricity bills—we have longer lines at places like Foodbank, and all members of parliament are hearing that same feedback—the worst is yet to come. Those opposite, via their three failed budgets, are making the job of the RBA harder. The Member for Fremantle over there laughs. He laughs at the prospect of interest rates going up and up and up. People in the gallery get it. They are getting their interest rate bills. They know what is really hurting Australians.

There are Australians right now who are choosing between heating or eating. That is the truth. In a country as wealthy as ours, pensioners are deciding whether to keep the heater on or have a meal, and this is where they're not only poorer but colder. You know what? It's not just the fiscal policies of those opposite; it's also their approach on other issues. If you want to put downward pressure on prices, do you reckon you'd unleash the union movement? Would you unleash John Setka? Off he runs! The cost of construction is hitting the roof. Wait for it—I know what I'd do! In coming into government, my No. 1 priority being to put downward pressure on the cost of living, I'd spend close to half-a-billion dollars on the Voice referendum! That's what we should have done! Goodness!

Australians have worked out those opposite. They come to the dispatch box now, two years too late, and say, 'Our No.1 priority is cost-of-living pressures.' Minister after minister is asked that question, but I ask Australians: don't listen to what they're saying; look at what they've done. What they've done has put upward pressure on prices, upward pressure on interest rates and has made every Australian poorer and colder.

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