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

It's a great honour to represent the people of Petrie here in federal parliament. There are some 130,000 voters, and, when you add children in as well, there are a lot of people in Moreton Bay and Brisbane city that I represent. What we've seen under the Albanese Labor government is an increase in the cost of living, and it really hurts me to see that people are struggling in my electorate and around the country as well. Things have gotten considerably worse in the last three years since the Albanese government came to power and the government changed.

What we've seen, and how it's become more difficult for people of Petrie, is an increase in costs. Health is up 10 per cent, education's up 11 per cent, food is up 12 per cent, housing's up 14 per cent, rents are up 17 per cent—and acute homelessness is through the roof—insurance and financial services are up 18 per cent, gas is up 34 per cent and electricity is up 32 per cent.

When you look at health, Labor talk a big game. I've said before that they continually say, 'Let's save Medicare.' The issue is that it's a complete joke. Under them, bulk-billing is lower. It's actually fallen by 11 percentage points in less than three years. The bulk-billing rate under the coalition government was 88 per cent; it's now down to 77 per cent.

When it comes to education, education is also up 11 per cent despite the rhetoric that we get from those opposite about free TAFE. Free TAFE is not free; it's costing taxpayers an additional $1½ billion on top of what we already spend on VET funding. The issue is that Labor only support the sector where their union donors are. That's why they want to do free TAFE, because you've got more unionists in TAFE, as far as it's been in state education. The problem is that it's not getting the results that we need. Under our system, we were ensuring that we were boosting apprenticeship schemes and actually paying for 50 per cent of wages, but Labor don't want to support employers; they only want to support union membership. When you govern that way, you get bad results, and that's partly why we've got a housing crisis.

Food's up 12 per cent. Labor did not extend the 22 per cent discount that the coalition had in place on fuel, so because of transport costs, we're seeing milk up 17 per cent, bread up 17 per cent and eggs up 17 per cent. And, when it comes to housing, there have been 12 interest rate rises under Anthony Albanese, and that's added $30,000 to mortgages, or $600 a week. Rents are also up 17 per cent, and that's why we're seeing acute homelessness growing under the Albanese government. Between the 2016 and 2021 censuses, the coalition reduced acute homelessness, reduced rough sleeping, reduced couch surfing and reduced severe overcrowding. Insurance is up after Labor's attacks on accountants and financial advisers. And electricity, the $275 promise, is out the door. In fact, it's gone up 30 per cent, and 100 per cent for businesses. We need to vote out Albanese.

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