Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the last week of August I set out on my seventh Tour de Fisher, cycling across my electorate to host 23 listening posts in 23 towns over five days. The overwhelming feedback from locals was that they are struggling under Labor's cost-of-living crisis. Pensioners, self-funded retirees, single parents, families and aspirational Australians are barely making ends meet.

In Queensland, it's disproportionately worse, and the QCOSS living affordability report released just today proves this point. Over one-third of Queenslanders' pay is going to housing. Petrol prices and poor public transport are driving up the cost of travel, particularly in regional places like mine on the Sunshine Coast. Families are forced to choose between school fees, health care and keeping the lights on. As the Leader of the Opposition talks about, people are having to choose between heating and eating. One contributor said to me, 'I keep recycling debt to get by, using my credit card to pay everyday bills.' Families are hurting, but where is Labor in all of this? They throw money and hold press conferences. Why do Australians always pay more under Labor?

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