Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's take a look at the facts of the Australian economy: economic growth is the slowest it has been since the global financial crisis; wages have stagnated; 1.9 million Australians are looking for work or more work; and living standards and productivity are going backwards. Yet we constantly hear from those across the chamber that they are the economic maestros of our times. Well, I think that the Australian people beg to differ. People are struggling to cope with rising costs—rising costs of electricity, fuel, groceries, child care, and the list goes on.

The woeful state of our economy isn't a surprise to the Reserve Bank, which has lowered interest rates to a quarter of the lowest rate since the GFC; or to the International Monetary Fund, which has forecast Australia's economic growth to be only 1.7 per cent. Yet the Prime Minister and his government have put their hands in the air and said: 'Nothing to see here. Don't talk the economy down.' We're not talking the economy down, Prime Minister; we are stating the facts. Our country is in the midst of a drought from rain and a drought from economic policy from this Liberal Party. Regional areas like my seat, the seat of Paterson, are absolutely feeling it.