Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

This Labor government has taken this country in the wrong direction. Its bad decisions and poor priorities have made Australians worse off, and indeed Australians are poorer than they were just 2½ years ago when Labor came to power. After spending an entire election campaign telling Australians that they were going to get cheaper energy, a cheaper cost of living and cheaper mortgages, they have got exactly the opposite. Let's take a look at what they have delivered: twelve interest rate increases, meaning a typical family with a mortgage is paying more than $50,000 extra from when Labor came to power. They've delivered a $1,000 hike in energy bills—whatever happened to that $275 reduction that the minister for energy promised?—and a record collapse in living standards, which no other peer economy in the world has seen. Twenty-seven thousand small businesses and other businesses have hit the wall. And there's been a record-breaking household recession.

Inflation has been too high for too long. It remains above the target band. It's been stuck outside the target band for 12 quarters, and prices are not going down under this government. There is a better way to get this country back on track.

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