Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the acting Prime Minister. Since the government was elected, Australians have been paying an extra $700 a month on an average mortgage, record inflation is forcing them to pay more for less at the supermarket and desperate families are still waiting for a $275 cut to their power bills, a promise Labor repeated 97 times before the election but not once since. Acting Prime Minister, when Labor talks about bread and butter budgets, is it because that's all Australians are going to be able to afford this Christmas?

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There is far too much noise on my right.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. We do understand that rising interest rates are putting real pressure on the budgets of Australian households. This government sees as its first priority doing everything we can to ease that pressure. It's why we sought an increase in the minimum wage. It's why during this week we are introducing legislation which will reduce the cost of medicines and which will make childcare more affordable. It's why last week we saw the biggest increase in the pension in more than 10 years. On this side of the House, we're completely focused on the effort to improve the household budgets of every Australian.

But the issues that we face today are fundamentally a function of a lost decade of government offered by those opposite. We had insipid productivity growth defining the last 10 years. We had the greatest period of wage stagnation in our country's history, and that's a direct result of the fact that what we had opposite was a bunch of economic bystanders. It was a lost decade of economic activity when it came from those opposite.

We are different. We are the ones who are economic managers, and government under Labor will see economic management be a part of what we are about. We will do that in a way which will improve the budgets of households as a result.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to table a document entitled The economic impact of the ALP's Powering Australia plan, authored by RepuTex ENERGY, modelling the Prime Minister's claims to stand by his promise of a $275 cut to power bills.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is leave granted?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You can't table the internet. It's already publicly available. Leave is not granted.