Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Why is it important to support Australians with responsible cost-of-living relief and to get wages moving again?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The member for Deakin has been continually interjecting. So has the member for Aston. When the House comes to order, we will hear from the Treasurer.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to the member for Hasluck for her question and for her contribution to this place as part of a much bigger and much better contingent from WA. When government changed hands in May, Australia had skills shortages, an aged-care crisis, energy policy chaos, a trillion dollars in debt and stagnant wages, and ordinary working people weren't getting a look-in.

Since then, the global economy has deteriorated, and the impacts of the war in Ukraine have become more serious and longer lasting. And that's why, around the world, we are seeing higher energy prices, higher inflation, higher interest rates and the risk of a hard landing in other economies. Developments in China will weigh on global growth as well. These economic pressures come at us from around the world, but we know that they are felt around the kitchen table. Australians are paying a hefty price for Russian aggression and a decade of economic mismanagement here at home.

Let me give you four facts, Mr Speaker. A decade-long policy of deliberate wage suppression delivered nominal wage growth at an average annual rate 40 per cent lower than the last Labor government before it. The average weekly disposable household income grew by just $25 between 2014 and 2020. From 2007 until the pandemic, almost two-thirds of the increase in household income per person—a key indicator of living standards—occurred under the last Labor government. Real wages are lower now than they were 10 years ago as a consequence of all this.

We know we can't fix every single aspect of this overnight, but we can make a difference. That's why our economic plan is focused on responsible cost-of-living relief and getting wages moving again in our economy. We've got a policy for cheaper medicines and for cheaper child care and early childhood education. We've got a policy to train more people for higher wage opportunities. We're taking steps in the energy market in the near term but also in the longer term. We supported a minimum wage for the lowest-paid workers. We support a pay rise for aged-care workers as well, and we are fixing a broken bargaining system.

All the argy-bargy in this place about industrial relations comes down to a simple difference. Those opposite think that there is never a good time for decent wages growth. We want to make it easier for people who work hard to get ahead and to provide for their loved ones, and that's the difference. That's why the election did more than put an end to a wasted decade of missed opportunities and warped priorities. It did more than end the waste and rorts in our budget. It did more than end a policy of deliberate wage suppression from the national government. It began a new and better approach to managing our economy and leading our country in the interests of our people.

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

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's broken promise to reduce power prices for small businesses and families by $275—a promise he made 97 times before the election. I also refer to the Prime Minister's broken promise to deliver cheaper mortgages, made at Labor's campaign launch. Can the Prime Minister identify a single electricity company which has reduced its charges or a single mortgage holder who is paying less than on the day the Prime Minister made these promises?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The whole premise of the question is wrong. But when you look at the energy crisis—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! Members on my left!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They've given up on the IR. No more talk about small businesses and IR. No more forced examples coming through. They're now back onto another falsehood. This is what Kane Thornton, the Chief Executive of the Clean Energy Council, has had to say:

… abundantly clear that Australia's clean energy transition has been throttled by years of policy uncertainty, with … the amount of quarterly commissioned capacity continuing the downward trend of the last few years and now at its lowest level on record …

Industry confidence to invest is growing, aided by clearer and more potent policy directions across the country …

Couldn't have said it more clearly. Philip Lowe, the Governor of the Reserve Bank had this to say:

When we were on a different path, people were saying, 'Are they really serious?' It was damaging us.

Richard Court, the former WA Liberal Premier:

The past decade of energy policy has been a slow-moving train wreck.

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

A point of order on relevance: rattling off the wrong page of talking points is not answering the question: one company!

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

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition knows that was not a correct way of stating a point of order. It might have been a good grab, but it was not a point of order. I warn her that that sort of behaviour will not be tolerated for much longer. The Prime Minister is referring to energy prices. I give him the call.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked about power. We know from the member for Mitchell, who's had some good comments about his mate the member for Cook, that they were addicted to power, but they weren't very good at energy. They weren't very good at energy policy. That's the problem for those opposite: all about power policy; nothing about energy policy. The truth is that the cheapest form of new energy is clean energy, renewable energy, which is why our policy will put downward pressure on energy prices.

When it comes to mortgages, and I know this is a really difficult concept, if you have the policy that we have, that the WA government has—and I notice Minister Cook in the gallery today. Perhaps Minister Cook could provide a workshop while he's here in Parliament House about how successful the WA program has been in providing a shared equity system for people to get into housing in Western Australia. Our Help to Buy scheme will do just that as well, because the nature of a Help to Buy scheme is that, rather than the person who has the borrowing—it's a shared scheme. (Time expired)