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

Colleagues, in a few moments the PM will come to the dispatch box and tell Australians they've never had it better. The truth is, colleagues, that Australians are hurting. Australians know it. I know it. You know it. Guess who else knows it? The Prime Minister's backbench. They know it. That's why, when the Prime Minister or the Treasurer get on to telling Australians how good they've had it and how grateful they should be for their service to the nation, the backbenchers get their phones out. They slink away, and, secretly, that little campaigner in the back of their head says, 'Please make the pain stop; make it stop,' because food is up 11 per cent, housing 14 per cent, rent 14 per cent and gas 22 per cent. Health is up as well. It all adds up to a headline inflation rate of 4.4 per cent. It's homegrown, core inflation at four per cent. Why do we have that? We have that because we have a weak PM who's out of touch. He needs to get out of the Lodge and off his private jet and talk to Australians who are hurting. The late Bob Hawke would be ashamed of this Prime Minister. He'd be out there talking to Australians. He wouldn't be coming in here telling Australians that are hurting that they've never had it better.

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