Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I admire the member for Parramatta's attempt to defend the indefensible. Maybe, for the benefit of this discussion, it's worth the member for Parramatta looking at some other indices. If we look at the Selected Living Cost Indexes for the last quarter—this is an ABS figure—we see that there was an annual rise in the employee living cost index of 4.7 per cent. Yet at the same time wage growth was at 3.5 per cent. So, on average, employees in this country over the past 12 months have gone backwards by 1.2 per cent. That's in addition to all of the other quarters and all of the other months where the cost of living has far exceeded any wage growth that has eventuated. Therefore, households in real terms have gone backwards. That is exactly the point the shadow Treasurer is making. Households in this country have gone backwards over the past 2½ years of this government.

Those opposite seem to forget that they took from the Australian people the low and middle income earner tax offsets. They promised the Australian people that they would take $275 off their power bills, yet their power bills have gone up by well over 10 per cent. They have said, 'Well, we've given you back some tax relief.' That's fine, but your mortgage repayments have gone up in total by some $35,000 a year, so you're well underwater on your mortgage repayments. There is not a single piece of economic data other than the broad economic context which maybe provides some fig leaf of cover for the government. But the real everyday Australian people that the member for Braddon spoke about yesterday are feeling the pinch. They are not feeling better off under this government. Why is that? Because for three years we've seen this government make poor decisions and have wrong priorities.

At the last election, the Labor government, led by the Prime Minister, promised that under them Australian households and businesses would have cheaper energy, cheaper mortgages and a better life. Instead, we have seen the Labor government consistently make a bad situation worse. Over three budgets we've seen the government keep inflation high and for longer.

As the shadow Treasurer has well pointed out, we have seen that GDP per capita has gone backwards for six consecutive quarters. That's reflected in the figures I just read out. This is now the longest GDP per capita recession on record. I say to those opposite, when I'm speaking to households and to small businesses across my electorate, they are feeling the pinch; they are definitely feeling the pinch, and they are feeling the impact of the government's failed decisions and failure to deal with these issues. That's what we mean by a household recession—people are feeling worse off, because, in reality, despite the government's attempt at spin, they are.

Australian families have seen their living standards fall off a cliff. Families have seen the cost of essentials go up and up not just for the big ticket items like mortgage repayments but for basics. Food, energy and household goods have all increased. For many families, they feel like they are going backwards—and, sadly, in many cases they are actually going backwards. And the latest data confirms this. Over the last two years, Australians have seen their real disposable income and their standard of living collapse by some 8.7 per cent, the largest collapse in living standards since records began in the 1950s and bigger than any other developed country. Australians are not better off under this government; they are worse off than they were 2½ years ago.

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