Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Swan threw me off a bit there! For those up in the public gallery who have come to visit and watch, what we are doing now is called 'matters of public importance'—thank you for the wave! Question time is where the government comes in and tells us how good they are, and they do that a lot. Matters of public importance are where we tell them, 'Not so fast!' And we do it in a way that, hopefully, addresses the issues that are important to you and important to all Australians. Right now there is no more important an issue than the rising prices of food, electricity, fuel and housing.

I want to tell you a story that was told to me that is heartbreaking. A young mum came to me and told me about how she was putting items of fresh food back on the shelf—they included eggs and fresh meat—because she couldn't afford it. She did it in front of her children and she said she felt ashamed. She then said a few days later she had to cancel a school camp—and those in the gallery might be here for a camp like that—because she couldn't afford it. And then she said, 'I feel like I'm letting my family down.' And so while we're talking in here of a cost-of-living crisis, that's where the rubber hits the road for people throughout this nation. They are feeling like they are letting their families down. Except they didn't create the circumstances that are leading to that. They're doing their very best with the circumstances that are before them, but it is not their doing.

Now, in a matter of public importance, and one as important as this where we're hearing stories like that, you would think the government would turn their full attention to it. You would think so. Instead, on many, many issues we've seen jokes told, memes shared. Australians expect more—and full credit to many members of the government who are here today; not all of you engage in that sort of rhetoric, and many of you didn't on the recent nuclear debate and you didn't share Simpsons memes.

It is important, when we are looking at the critical task of reducing inflation, that we don't just look at the symptoms, we look at the cause. We know what it is like to use metaphor when people look at the symptoms and not the cause. Imagine a scenario where someone borrowed your car. They ran it into the ground; they didn't look after it properly and there's a noise in it. We know a noise in an engine means something's wrong. What's their cure? They turn the radio up so you don't hear it. Or imagine a scenario where you're not feeling well, the room is too hot and one of your housemates is turning the heating up all the time. They alone can turn it down, but instead they give you a glass of water. Or to go back to the car metaphor: someone has punctured a tyre and their solution isn't to fix the puncture, but to keep putting air in it. That's what it means to just look at the symptoms and not the cause. When this government talks about addressing inflation, we hear from the talking points and out in the media, again and again, that they are giving you money to say, 'It's alright; you've never had it so good,' as many speakers said before. 'Here; I'm helping.' But for every dollar the government gives you, we are seeing multiples in price increases.

I want to take you to them. The shadow Treasurer noted that food was up 11.4 per cent. When you look at the compound increase—and compound returns can go for you or go against you—that means on that rate, if it continues, food doubles every six years—it doubles. With power, electricity is up 21.5 per cent. Again, on a compound increase, if that stays that means it doubles every 3½ years. Gas is up 22.2 per cent; that doubles every three years. We are talking about significant numbers for a country where the average wage is about $95,000, and for half of all Australians it's the median wage—half or less—of $65,000. These are serious numbers, and we should always turn our minds to the people who are standing at shopping centres who are saying, 'I'm letting my family down.' (Time expired)

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