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

Well, more drivel from the member for Bruce. This guy continues to play the class clown. Here we are, talking about the collapse in living standards under this government, and he starts saying that we only mention Anglos. Maybe he should have mentioned Zahid Safi, who's the Liberal candidate for Bruce running in his seat against him, who was born in Afghanistan. This guy failed to mention Zahid, the Liberal candidate who wants to take him on. Instead, he goes on about Peter Dutton's TikTok account. I'll tell you what: Zahid Safi has 280 likes on his Facebook. So if you want to criticise him, Member for Bruce, come back down and do that. You want to talk about Anglos and all the rest of it.

Maybe what you, Assistant Minister—and well done on your promotion—and all of those opposite should be doing, including the minister with his back to the dispatch box, is concentrating on the living standards that have fallen in Australia over the last two years.

If you think about what's happened for people in the gallery, for people in my electorate, for people right around the country, just two years ago people did have a lot more money, a lot more disposable income. Right now, since this government was elected, living standards have fallen through the floor.

You just have to look at what the assistant minister said about what this government, the Albanese government, is somehow going to do to help with the cost of living. What did he mention? He mentioned tax cuts and he mentioned a $300 electricity rebate. What he failed to tell you is that the Prime Minister, prior to the last election, promised the stage 3 tax cuts that the coalition had legislated and that they, at the time, had approved: 'My word is my bond. I won't change them.' And then he went and changed them, and now they want credit for it. They wouldn't even be delivering tax cuts if it wasn't for the coalition.

Then he mentioned a $300 rebate but failed to tell you that the Prime Minister had promised a $275 reduction in your electricity bill. I haven't met anyone around the country yet who's had their electricity bill fall by $275. So what have they done? They've said, 'We'll give you a $300 rebate, a one-off thing for one year,' but your electricity bill has been continuously going up.

People in my electorate have written to me. Carol from Mango Hill asked, 'When is Labor going to stop wasting money on renewables, which in most cases are worse for the environment, and start investing in our own resources?' Today, the minister for the environment was asked about the environmental damage that has been done by resource projects around the country, and all she could say is, 'Oh, in some cases, there's a little bit,' or, 'We're working with people to prevent environmental damage.'

Sandeep from Griffin said, 'The cost of living is impacting everything, especially interest rates.' But what does the Prime Minister get up and say in parliament today? At 2.21, he said, 'Australians understand that I lead a government that gets things done.' But what are you getting done? What are you actually getting done, besides higher mortgages, higher rents, higher insurances and less disposable income? I mean, he spent $500 million on a Voice—and ran around for months carrying on about it—that 68 per cent of the country voted no to. Not one state voted for it. That was his priority in the last two years, not the people of Petrie that I represent or Australians right around the country.

The Treasurer was just as bad. At 2.37 today, the Treasurer was asked about interest rates, and what did he say? There have been 12 interest rate rises in a row under them, but he focused on the coalition and said, 'It started under you.' We had one interest rate rise in nine years. In two years, they've had 12 interest rate rises. For someone with a mortgage of $730,000, it's gone up by $30,000 in interest. They carry on about women going back to work. No wonder they're going back to work. Their mortgage has gone up $30,000! This isn't just the case in Petrie. It's right around the country.

I'll tell you what really illustrates how bad this Albanese Labor government are and what an appalling job they're doing with the collapse in living standards, and that is the level of homelessness right around the country. Anywhere you go at the moment, you will see more and more rough sleeping. Statistics don't lie. Under the coalition government, rough sleeping fell at the last census. Under this government, it's doubled. It's gone through the roof and it will continue to get worse. Homelessness is up, cost of living is up— (Time expired)

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