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

SPEAKER (): I have received a letter from the honourable member for Hume proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The Prime Minister's six months of failure to address the cost of living crisis.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

We all heard it before the election. Australians all heard it before the election. Life was going to be cheaper under Labor. We heard before the election that mortgages were going to be cheaper. And what did we get? We got six consecutive increases in the cash rate, to 2.85 per cent, and we know it's going higher. Before the election, they promised lower cost of living, and what did we get? We got inflation going above seven per cent, and the Reserve Bank says it's on its way to eight per cent. Before the election, we heard that electricity prices were going to be lower, a $275 reduction. And what did we get? Ninety-seven times before the election we heard they were going to be cheaper, but, since then, the Prime Minister has been asked 28 times—including twice more today—if he will commit to the $275 reduction, and each time he has refused to recommit.

This is a Labor government that made election promises it is happy to abandon and give away, despite the fact that the greatest pressure all Australians are facing right now, whether it's businesses or households, is cost pressures. The big opportunity Labor had to deal with this was in the budget. But we have a Treasurer whose focus as a Treasurer is on doom, gloom, forecasting and commentary. This is a Treasurer that wouldn't know a plan if he fell over it. What we got in the budget, instead, in October, was a complete flop. There is no other way to describe it.

He promised us that he was going to paint a picture. We were all expecting something elaborate—a Picasso or maybe something more local, like Tom Roberts. Instead, we got a singer. We got Taylor Swift. We got a blank space. We got absolutely nothing out of this budget. We got something that sank to the bottom of the ocean within a couple of days. The Treasurer has chosen, on a now famous occasion, to mishear questions about the budget. No-one bothers to ask him questions about the budget anymore, because he mishears them anyway. The truth is that I would be mishearing questions about that budget if I had handed it down, because it was absolutely hopeless!

Instead of a comprehensive plan to consolidate the strong economic position and the strong budget that the Treasurer inherited, we got growing deficits and no medium-term fiscal strategies. They have given up on budget balance. They've given it away. It's gone! For the first time since the Charter of Budget Honesty was put in place, there is no commitment to budget balance. They have absolutely given up the ghost.

Instead of delivering economic growth, which is what we wanted to see, we have $142 billion of extra taxes in the budget. Compared to the March budget, if you take the forwards over the four years, there are $142 billion of extra taxes—and right at the heart of that is that sneaky thief in the night, bracket creep, that those opposite want to keep. They want taxes going up, automatically, every year.

Instead of a productivity agenda we got more red tape and industrial relations chaos. Instead of managing spending, we got an extra $115 billion of spending in this budget. The Treasurer himself has admitted: with more spending comes higher interest rates. He said it. The member for Parramatta, over there, knows this. Any economist knows it: more spending; higher interest rates. We've even heard an economist to Julia Gillard, Stephen Koukoulas, make this very clear.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Kouk!

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

The Kouk. This is a budget that has left the Reserve Bank carrying the can. In fact, Steven Hamilton put it very well when he said it was an irresponsible budget. Right at the heart of this budget is an acceptance that rising inflation, in the view of the Treasurer, is okay—a 56 per cent increase in electricity prices; a 44 per cent increase in gas prices—and, on top of that, they've given up the ghost on productivity. He's scaled down productivity from 1.5 to 1.2 per cent a year. That means less money in people's pockets, less wealth.

They talk every day. In fact, before the election we heard time and time again about real wages, that they would go up. In their own forecast, there is no increase in real wages in this term of the parliament—none. Gone! They have given up on it. They have given up the ghost. They've put up the white flag. As a result, Australians will be paying more at Christmas. Australians will be worse off because those opposite have given up on their commitments. We know that a family with a $750,000 mortgage is now paying more than $1,200 extra every month. In the electorates of those opposite, $1,200 every month. Australians are going to be going to the checkout at the fuel bowser this Christmas knowing that this government does not have their back when it comes to the cost of living. They've broken the most basic promises they made before the election.

We know there's complete chaos when it comes to energy policy with those opposite. Three days ago, we heard there were going to be subsidies. We don't know which one of them leaked from cabinet. One of them did, clearly. We don't know which one. Everyone's trying to guess. Then the next day it was price caps on gas, and then the next day it was price caps on coal. I don't know what's coming tomorrow. Who knows? But we do know that even Labor states are saying, 'Not good enough!' A couple of weeks ago the Western Australian government said, 'No way, don't even think about those policies.' Then a couple of days ago the Queensland government said, 'No way, don't even think about those policies.' Then today we read that South Australia is saying exactly the same. This is a government that has no idea. It is all smear and no idea.

I have a special place in my heart for the Assistant Treasurer. He's not here today. What a disappointment. He's part of the team, and it takes the team to make a mess of things. He is the leader of chaos in the Treasury portfolio. One would think that getting through bills--which we support and which we supported when we were in government--would be pretty straightforward. They are straightforward pieces of legislation that we still support, but not the Assistant Treasurer. He has decided to unilaterally implement $1.1 billion of fines on executives in the financial services industry. He made a deal with the Greens that wasn't needed, and then he walked back on it in less than 24 hours. There's been a bit of commentary about this. Michael Roddan wrote in the Fin Review just a few days ago about the recent performance of the shadow Treasurer, and I quote:

In the six months since he took charge of the ministry, the Member for Whitlam has chewed up the furniture, rubbed his bum on the carpet and cocked his leg over his parliamentary colleagues, the financial sector and the voters of Australia.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Excuse me! Order! I ask you to withdraw that, even if it is a quotation.

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

It is a quote, Deputy Speaker.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't care if it's a quotation. It's a clear offence of the standing orders and I ask you to withdraw.

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

I withdraw. Colourful language, I do accept, very much so. He goes on to say that the Assistant Treasurer's:

… priorities in office have been nothing short of bewildering, such as bending over backwards for small superannuation funds like the $3.6 billion First Super, chaired by CFMEU heavy Michael O'Connor …

That's slightly less colourful language, Deputy Speaker, so I think that is more acceptable. But that is what has been said about the performance of the Assistant Treasurer. It does take a team to make a mess of things, and that is exactly what those opposite are doing.

The other person who is getting it all wrong time and time again is the Prime Minister. Not only has he completely failed to commit or recommit to be $275 electricity price reduction; he does not understand the electricity industry at all. In fact, he claims that one gigawatt of electricity was committed or built under us. The answer is: in the last three years of government, it was 18.9 gigawatts. He's only out by a factor of 19. And, in each one of those years, more renewables were built than in the entire time those opposite were in government. Those opposite are all smear and no idea.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The shadow Treasurer started out his interesting speech by quoting Taylor Swift from the album 1989. That album was released eight years ago. Taylor Swift has managed to release five albums since. In the same period of time, those opposite managed to deliver a trillion dollars of debt—although, in fairness, maybe it's $500 billion for former Treasurer Frydenberg and $500 billion for secret Treasurer Morrison. Maybe there was a bit of job sharing there. They delivered us three Prime Ministers. They delivered us a few Deputy Prime Ministers—some better than others. They delivered us five secret ministries. In the same time that Taylor Swift managed to get those five albums out, those opposite managed to have 22 failed energy policies and didn't deliver one.

The shadow Treasurer also decided that it was appropriate to quote some interesting pieces from the Financial Reviewit is a great paper of record; I read it every morning—so I might do the same. I refer to the article titled 'ScoMo's besties feed him to the wolves', which notes that some of the closest declared so-called friends of the former Prime Minister—some might call them frenemies—had some interesting things to say. Former prime minister Hawke said that former prime minister Morrison 'wasn't the greatest listener'. I think that might be the understatement of 2022—wasn't the greatest listener. We then saw his great friend the member for Fadden say:

Scotty's a friend, as much as one can have a friend in politics.

That's an excellent qualification of a strong endorsement. I think the most appropriate, the most serious, statement was from former Treasurer Frydenberg who described the secret ministries scandal as 'extreme overreach'. It's good to see that those who are no longer under the puppetry of the former Prime Minister can actually say what they believe about the secret ministries scandal, whereas everyone else on the coalition benches was forced to back in what they knew to be wrong when they voted to defend the secret ministries scandal.

While some chose to spend their time defending what was, frankly, the indefensible over the last few months, which is what this MPI is about, this government got to work delivering the sorts of legislation that we went to the Australian people saying we would deliver. This government has introduced 85 separate bills in six months. So many of them, as I looked through the list, would not have happened if it weren't for the election of the Albanese Labor government.

We have the Aged Care Amendment (Implementing Care Reform) Bill, making sure we have nurses on shift 24/7 in our aged-care facilities. We have the comprehensive royal commission to aged care response bill. We have the climate change bill, acting on climate change, something that those opposite refused to legislate on. We have the Jobs and Skills Australia Bill, giving us long-term planning for the jobs and skills needs of Australia. We have the bill to repeal the cashless debit card, which was introduced and passed thanks to the work done on this side of the House. We had legislation, again passed by this House, to give a tax cut for electric cars, the only tax cut those opposite seem to oppose.

We have the important work, led by the Leader of the House, to ensure we have paid family and domestic violence leave for all workers in Australia. We have the incentives for pensioners to downsize. We have something that I know you, Deputy Speaker Claydon, are very fond of—the High Speed Rail Authority Bill, which will help connect so many parts of our country. We have the respect at work bill; the cheaper child care bill; the National Anti-Corruption Commission Bill, a piece of legislation, now the law of the land, that was promised to the Australian people in 2018 but which was never delivered because those opposite never believed in it. They just wanted to get it off the agenda. We have the offshore electricity infrastructure legislation, which will make sure we can have more renewables plugged into our grid.

We have the workforce incentive bill. We have the appropriation bills for the Treasurer's brilliant first budget, which start to address just some of the trillion dollars of debt that was left behind by those opposite. If they want to give us a lecture about the cost of living, let them be honest: I'd love to see just one member of the opposition come to that dispatch box and admit that the biggest pressure, the biggest growing cost, on our budget today is the trillion dollars of debt that was left by the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Liberal-National government.

We have the secure jobs, better pay bill, which I hope will become the law of the land sometime in the next 48 hours. We'll soon find out when, I hope.

We have improvements for paid parental leave, making sure that families can spend more time together—again, legislation that is in front of this House only because the people of Australia chose to change the government. We have the bill that was introduced today to enable a vote for a Voice to Parliament. That will enable next financial year the Australian people to have a say and for that referendum to be held, in a similar way to how we hold elections in this country, in 2022-23. The last piece of proposed legislation that was introduced into this place today for the end of this sitting was the Ministers of State Amendment Bill, to make sure that never again do we have the parliament treated with such contempt that members who sit in this chamber do not know who is holding what portfolio or when they became the minister for that portfolio and indeed to ensure that other ministers never have the experience that some opposite had, where they never knew that they were job-sharing but their boss did.

I did not find the argument put forward by the shadow Treasurer to be particularly persuasive—that every problem Australia faces today started on 21 May. I know that's what those opposite are trying to put forward, but so many of these were many years in the making. I have to agree with another shadow minister, whom I have some respect for, a West Australian, the shadow defence minister, who really told the truth about what happened in the former government just over the past few years:

I think after the 2017 loss the party was lazy … It did no intellectual heavy lifting and thought the tide would turn.

That's some really honest speaking from the member for Canning.

When it comes to the six months and what has been delivered for the Australian people, we have had an increase in the minimum wage, because this side was elected and wrote to the Fair Work Commission supporting an increase. We had a 15 per cent pay rise for aged-care workers, some of the hardest working people in the care economy. We've had medicine prices reduced to $30 per script, down from $42. We have 180,000 fee-free TAFE places. We've ended the cashless debit card. We've started the robodebt royal commission, so that people who had unfair fines, and the stress that came with them, put in their letterbox can finally get justice. We've got child care that will be on average $1,700 cheaper for families. We've got an extra 20,000 university places for people from low socioeconomic and disadvantaged backgrounds. We've got legislation in front of the parliament right now to close the gender pay gap, and we've got action in our local communities: in Boothby, a $200 million investment in Flinders Medical Centre; in Reid, an $8.5 million investment in the Hill Road upgrade; in Moreton, a koala crossing to help our beloved koalas get from one part of Toohey Forest to another; and in Chisholm, the Box Hill City Oval upgrade—much needed for those communities.

We go further, because it's not just about cost of living; it's also about quality of living—quality of food in aged care; quality of voice for those who might not feel this parliament always hears them, and I commend the work Minister Aly has done with the Youth Steering Committee; quality of living when it comes to secure jobs, so people can have secure jobs, and outlawing things such as sexual harassment, which is attached to the legislation in front of the Senate right now; quality of living in being able to get a doctor and see a doctor with bulk-billing, through 50 Medicare urgent care clinics. I remember the Liberal National cost-of-living record: cuts to JobKeeper, frozen Medicare payments, hiked-up university fees and 22 failed energy policies. They tried to force Western Australia to privatise Western Power, and they said low wage growth was a deliberate design feature of their budget. (Time expired)

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take the member for Perth up on a couple of points. Cuts to JobKeeper? We were the ones who instigated JobKeeper, which saved 700,000 jobs during a global pandemic. The member for Perth asked what we got for, to use his term, a trillion dollars worth of debt, and he said that is placing the pressure on the current government as far as cost of living is concerned. It's not a trillion dollars. But what that debt did for the Australian public was it retained their jobs and, moreover, it kept their lives safe. During the pandemic, when we were faced—

I didn't interrupt, so please don't interrupt me, member for Hunter. When we were faced with potentially 50,000 lives being lost due to the global pandemic, we made urgent steps. Yes, we were just about to get back in black, and what we did was we made sure that we Australians' lives safe. We did was we made sure we kept Australians' jobs safe. Yes, we racked up the debt, but it was necessary, it was needed, and it was the right and responsible thing to do. That's what we did.

On another point he made, no one was forced yesterday to back the censure motion. When you are a Liberal or a National, if you cross the floor and vote on policy, a piece of legislation or a motion that the rest of your colleagues aren't voting on, you don't get expelled. You don't get thrown out of the party. I know—I've done it. I voted against the Murray-Darling Basin draft plan and the buybacks that Labor wanted to introduce. I wasn't kicked out of the party. I wasn't expelled from the party.

A word of warning for the member for Perth, if he doesn't already realise this: if he decides to go against the party line, he will be expelled from the party. I wouldn't wish that upon him, because I know he has a deep and enriched history with the party, having been an advisor for several Labor luminaries, including former Prime Minister Rudd. I know his background, I don't know whether he's ever run a small business. I don't know whether he's ever taken the risk of running—

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't know what this has got to do with the MPI.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll tell you what it has to do with it—it has to do with the cost of living. That's what it is about. And many small businesses are worried about whether they can make ends meet, including one who texted me. I won't read it all out because we've already had one little unparliamentary remark, and I wouldn't do that. It says: 'Our power prices at—' I won't mention the company' are increasing 330 per cent and gas prices rising 400 per cent from 1 January. We'll be paying an extra $5 million per year.' That is a Wagga Wagga firm. How does a regional business cope with such a cost rise? How does a Wagga business continue to employ the people it has? That company has dozens upon dozens of employees, it's a good company. It's into manufacturing and recycling. It's a good Wagga Wagga company and it's faced with an increase of $5 million on its power bills—just like families and businesses right across the nation are faced with higher power bills, even though the Prime Minster promised on 97 occasions that power prices would come down and electricity prices would drop, and there would be a $275 saving. No. I'm sorry.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

By 2025.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And then we hear—come in, spinner—'by 2025'. But I doubt that, and I will keep you to that. By 2025 it'll be 2028. Then it'll be 2031. You won't achieve it, Labor—you just won't. The reason you won't is your policies aren't inclined to do that. They're not properly thought out. They're not properly planned.

I know that we heard the member for Ballarat, the infrastructure minister—I've got the greatest respect for her—talking in question time about the fact that they were finally ending the political fights with states and territories. I didn't have political fights with states and territories. I got on with the job with states and territories—indeed, most of them were Labor—to make sure that we put in place a national logistics freight code so we could get goods transported around during the pandemic. That happened within hours—not days or weeks or months—because I did have the relationship with those state Labor ministers. I'm proud of the fact that I got on and built things with state Labor ministers. I wait to see if those opposite do the same in their term of office.

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to reject this nonsense motion from the shadow Treasurer because there is only one party who has improving the lives of Australians struggling with a rising cost of living at heart, and that is the Labor Party and this Albanese Labor government.

Let's remember back to May this year, a short six months ago. Hasn't so much changed since then? So much has changed that it appears those opposite have forgotten Maybe they've been gaslighted, so let me refresh their memories. While all of us in this place were busily travelling across our electorates speaking to voters, the former government was presiding over an economy heaving under a trillion dollars of debt and far too little to show for it. Before the election, interest rates were rising, and the outlook was that there was more to come. They had rising power prices, increases which they deliberately hid from the Australian people and which were borne out of a decade of wasted opportunities. And was it 20 or 22 failed energy policies? Childcare prices had also risen some 41 per cent. The cost of health care was rising and rising, because, while those opposite like to talk about bulk billing rates, what they don't tell you is that, while some items might be bulk billed, the underlying consultation is likely not. Boothby residents told me of the difficulty in finding a bulk billing GP, let alone a specialist, in the electorate.

If we are to take the opposition at face value—and it's not clear we should, but, in the spirit of consensus and goodwill, let us—after nine long years they have suddenly had a conversion on the road to Damascus and are now suddenly deeply concerned about the cost of living. This is after nine long years of doing precisely nothing about it. Instead, for nine years they presided over deliberate wage suppression. That's less money in the pockets of Australian workers to pay power bills, to send the kids to school or to save for a rainy day—deliberate.

Now that they are so concerned with the cost of living, surely all that's changed and they'll be doing everything in their power to ensure more Australians have more in their pockets from higher wages. It turns out: no. They have fought this government's attempts to get wages moving to fix a broken bargaining system, particularly for those workers in the low-paid feminised sectors that we relied on throughout the pandemic, like aged care, child care, cleaning and health care. They have fought our secure jobs, better pay bill tooth and nail every step of the way. Even now, we heard in question time, there are 19 amendments underway in the other place. These are further delays, because they're not actually serious about tackling the cost of living. After nine years of their economic vandalism, these challenges are real, and I see them in my electorate. If you're serious about tackling cost-of-living challenges, you need to invest in the productive capacity of the Australian economy and in the capacity of the Australian people for the long term. That's exactly what we're doing.

We are getting on with doing the long-term structural reform needed to actually create an economy that works for people, not the other way around. We're investing in future generations of Australians by making cheaper child care for 96 per cent of families in the system. This is, of course, an important social reform, with more kids accessing quality early learning during key developmental years, but it's also a huge economic dividend. Cheaper child care means women can choose to take on more employment and bring more income into the household.

As I said, we're reforming our industrial relations system to drive productivity and get wages moving. We backed a raise in the minimum wage, which is benefiting 2.8 million Australians. We backed a long overdue 15 per cent pay rise for frontline aged-care workers as an interim measure. We've legislated to enable those on age pensions, if they so wish, to work more hours before it affects their pension. We held the national Jobs and Skills Summit, bringing together business, education, unions and civil society to work together to address the critical skills shortage we inherited. Starting 2023, we'll be providing more university and TAFE places and fee-free TAFE to further tackle our skills shortage. We've introduced legislation to establish our National Reconstruction Fund and to begin the process of making Australia a place that makes things again.

After six phenomenal months, the Albanese government has been kicking goals in so many areas: international relations, climate change, energy policy, child care and the skills crisis. We've introduced a national anticorruption commission, and there is work being done in so many ways by this government to cut costs in health, child care and education and to address the skills shortage to get the economy going again.

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to dedicate this speech to the number 275. It's a number that's been made famous by the government. I think we should dwell and reflect on the number 275 over the next five minutes because it's a very, very important number. So many times before the election, the government talked about its solemn, ironclad promise to reduce electricity prices by $275—97 times.

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about $1 trillion?

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome any interjections on the number 275, because it is a very, very important number in Australian politics. Please, let's talk about 275, because it is a really important number. You know how there is a word of the year each year? If you had a number of the year, this year it would be 275. Do you know what else? It is not only the number of 2022; 275 is going to be the number of 2023. It is going to be the number of 2024. I will tell you what else: it is most definitely going to be the number of 2025. That's because this is the number that is at the centre of Australian politics. It's a number that Australians remember. Everyone is talking about the number 275, except the government. Imagine how you would feel if you were the number 275. Before the election, you were so close with the government, but now you are the number that dare not speak its name. They were so close—275 and the government. It was an intimate relationship. When the Powering Australia policy came out, there it was, up the front: 275. It was in only the first or second sentence. The number 275 was central to that debate—front and centre.

There's a paper called MyCity Logan. I understand it has a big circulation in the Logan area. The very first sentence when the Treasurer talked to the paper about the 2022 election included the number 275. It's a very difficult thing for the number 275 to be so abandoned. The Prime Minister wrote an op-ed, and a $275 reduction was mentioned in that op-ed in the Daily Mail in March. Then at the 10 April press conference in Sydney, after a visit to the Royal Easter Show, the number 275—it had such a close relationship with the government—was mentioned again. Then, on 12 April, the Prime Minister went on Triple M in Hobart and talked about a range of issues with the usual jovial demeanour that the Prime Minister puts on in those interviews, and there it was again—the number 275. It is like how Sesame Street has a number of the day. The government's number of the day, the week, the month and the year was 275.

We heard this really weird thing from the Prime Minister today about the war in Ukraine, which, as the opposition leader said today, started in February. But 18 May was 88 days after the start of the war in Ukraine. It is quite a lot. It's not 275, but it's a lot. In the speech to the National Press Club, there it was again—$275—three days before the election. That was 88 days after the start of the war in Ukraine, and yet the promise persisted. There is, as I am sure members opposite will acknowledge, a logical problem with saying that the Ukraine war changed things when, 88 days after the war started, the Prime Minister said it to the entire nation at the National Press Club.

When the Prime Minister gave a big speech to the energy forum in August, soon after the election—it was a 3,000-word speech—the word 'energy' was mentioned 41 times, but, oddly, the number 275 was not mentioned at all. It has been not mentioned at all by those opposite since the election. Why does this matter? It matters because of the millions of Australians who listened to that discussion about the $275 electricity price cut that this government and this Prime Minister promised over and over again. That's why 275 is such an important number, and it will be for many years to come.

Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, too, share the member for Banks's interest in numbers. Let me give him some numbers: five additional ministries that his former Prime Minister decided to swear himself into; and 22 attempts at an energy policy. I think it's particularly galling that the member for Hume, the former Minister for Energy, was the one who rose today to talk about this matter of public importance, because, when it came to an energy policy, the member for Hume as the Minister for Energy had more tries than the NRL season!

I want to thank those opposite for the opportunity to talk about what the Albanese Labor government is doing to address cost-of-living pressures. We are doing it in a fiscally responsible way that is ensuring that we also lift productivity, because that's the responsible approach when you are in a challenging economic environment where you have a trillion dollars of debt, low productivity and increasing inflation—all thanks to those opposite.

In just six short months, we have passed legislation to make child care cheaper. That is going to benefit more than 1.2 million families, including 7,800 families in my electorate of Reid. We have passed legislation to make medicines cheaper for millions of Australians from 1 January next year. The maximum general co-payment will drop from $42.50 to $30—the first time we've seen a price drop in the 75-year history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Someone taking two or three medications a month could save between $300 and $450 a year.

The other critical measure is one that those opposite are allergic to talking about, and that is increasing wages. On this side of the House, we support wage rises. I want to talk about what that means. When my parents came to this country 45 years ago, they spoke very little English and had little formal education, but they were able to build a life for themselves here and, within five years of arriving in this country, they were able to buy a modest home. While some of their success can be attributed to their hard work, it can also be attributed to the jobs that they were able to get and the wages that they were able to earn. They had good jobs with good pay. My dad worked in a factory making car parts, and my mum worked in a factory making telephone handsets. But, had they arrived in this country four decades later, I wonder: would they have been able to thrive? Given their limited English and qualifications, would they have been able to find well-paying jobs? Unlikely.

That's because, under the previous coalition government, wages were kept deliberately low. It was a feature of their economic strategy. It was so ingrained in their psyche that they refused to back a wage increase in line with inflation for our lowest paid workers. However, when now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked if he would back a 5.1 per cent increase in the minimum wage, he said simply and unequivocally: 'Absolutely.'

That's what you get when you have a prime minister who is on the side of workers, because on this side of the House we will back our lowest paid workers. They are our childcare workers, aged-care workers, disability workers and essential workers, and they deserve our support. We will back them because they have been doing jobs that are tough and challenging but incredibly important to this country, like our aged-care workers, who are looking after our most elderly.

To those opposite: if you are serious about addressing cost-of-living pressures then back the secure jobs, better pay bill. It's a bill that will get wages moving, reinvigorate the enterprise bargaining system and allow Australians to meet those rising cost-of-living pressures, because we, on this side of the House, know that good wages are fundamental to helping families get by. It's not too late to get on board. To those opposite who want to talk about this and who think that this is important, I say: get on board and back the secure jobs, better pay bill.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've been in the chamber this afternoon during this MPI, and I just want to make a point about the speeches. I note that there have been a lot of interjections towards the members on this side. People in the chamber have been quite respectful in not interrupting the other side, allowing them to make their point. Whether we agree or disagree—and I appreciate that this is a chamber of debate—we can do so with some sort of decorum. It's why people up in the gallery walk out of this place shaking their heads, to be perfectly honest. I think we really, on both sides, need to have a look at ourselves and pull our socks up. It's not why I came into this place; I came into the place to be constructive. I'm not lecturing the other side; I'm simply making the point that it achieves nothing.

In relation to the member's last contribution, I accept the childcare changes. Fantastic. It's great that mums and dads earning up to $530,000 can access child care and rebates, but the fact is, in the regions, we can't get any childcare places. Now, when I make that point, I don't make the point to criticise the government. I make the point because it's a fact, and I urge the government—

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You were in government for nine years!

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course we were in government for nine years—I'll take the interjection—but for how long are you going to run that argument: 'You were in government for nine years'? You've been in government for six months.

And this is what I'm coming back to—that point. I'm not being critical of the other side. I'm making the point in facts. If you're not able to have that debate without getting angry or without shouting down the other members for making points of fact, then perhaps you might want to examine why you're here.

If you talk about the PBS, again, that was something that this government did. But we're here to discuss the MPI that people are doing it tough. If you want to look at your own budget, there is very little in that budget that assists people in the regions with their cost of living. I spoke of Peter Feros from the Dorrego Hotel in the chamber last week. Peter Feros owns the Dorrego Hotel. He had his contract coming up for renewal. The cheapest electricity contract he could get for next year was an increase of $25,000. Where are the measures to bring that down? There are none. In fact, prices are going up by 56 per cent over the next two years, and gas, 44 per cent.

Trotting out the line it that you inherited $1 trillion in debt is simply misleading the public, because when we came into government it was almost half a trillion. You sat in opposition and you signed up to every single support package to keep our people in work, to keep employers and employees together, and then you trot out this line: 'Oh, you were in government for nine years and you left us a $1 trillion debt.' You came with us all the way. You were there all the way. It was your people and your businesses that benefited from JobKeeper and JobSeeker. The truth sometimes hurts.

That $275 was promised by your leader, the Prime Minister, which he has walked away from. He won't repeat it; he won't say it again, and you don't like it.

Government members interjecting—

So, when I stand here and listen to the interjections—

Government members interjecting—

I won't be lectured from—

Government members interjecting—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just a moment. I am going to ask the interjections to cease. I'm just going to remind the member for Cowper that every time you say 'you' it's a reflection on me, so let's try and redirect the debate a little.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will address you instead of the chamber, and my time is now up!

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And I am sorry about that! Member for Wright, is this a point of order?

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

During the debate, this side—you might well not have been in the chamber—has sat very quietly and respectfully, while those on the other side of the chamber—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was the point I just addressed, and I accept that. There are also not very many people on your side, but I will take your point of order. I have asked members on the government benches to cease interjecting. You have another point of order?

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolutely, Madam Deputy Speaker. Whilst it's very respectful for members to sit around the chamber, I would bring your attention to those people who, when supporting a member—which is very good—whilst not in their seat should be mindful of their interjections, which seem to be constant.

(Quorum formed)

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Obviously, this is a matter of 'not-very-importance', because there are three people opposite for the matter of public importance, so I'm going to digress for a minute and talk about something slightly personal. Today would have been my mum's 90th birthday if she were alive, so happy birthday to Peggy Perrett—Ellen Margaret Perrett—single mother of 10, who produced some wonderful people, including me!

I'll go back to the matter of public importance. We're actually talking about cost of living, something we on this side of the parliament clearly care about, while those dilettantes opposite pay lip service to it. Since they came into opposition they've been like born-again Vinnies, Salvos, Sikh Volunteers, Muslim Charitable Foundation—those sorts of people. They're cosplaying friends of the working class: Comrade Dutton and the Bolsheviks, who suddenly care about the poor people. Let's look at their record. For 21 of the last 27 years, they've been on the treasury bench. What have they done in terms of looking after the working class? They like to cosplay, but they don't actually understand what their policies have visited on the poor people of Australia. We care about the working class. We care about all Australians. But I remember their policies and the bloodhounds of robodebt, sicking those horrible beasts onto poor people. Lives were lost.

We had a royal commission into insulation when we insulated a couple of million homes, because there were two or three or four deaths. Think of the lives lost because of their decisions. And they're shameless. They don't apologise. The minister responsible for robodebt sits there smirking. We've never had an apology, but they dare to have an MPI to talk about cost-of-living expenses when we know that we've got the settings right.

One of the big things is getting the energy costs right. Yesterday we saw former prime minister Abbott's painting hung under the flagpole. Today marks 13 years since Tony Abbott became Leader of the Opposition. Since then, this nation's energy policies have gone to hell in a handbasket. We've had 20-odd energy policies, and all can be traced back to Tony Abbott becoming the leader of that dreadful group opposite.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Twenty-two energy policies.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not going to go through all 20 energy policies, Member for Macnamara, no, but I beg your pardon and take the interjection: 22 energy policies. But all can be traced back to Tony Abbott becoming leader, when he weaponised responding to dangerous climate change, the greatest moral challenge of our time, as it still is: something being visited on our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren because of Tony Abbott becoming leader. For those opposite to stand up and talk about cost of living without apologising for all those energy policies is reprehensible.

We have a great record of all the things we're doing to reduce cost-of-living pressures: childcare, medicine, 180,000 TAFE places, more choices when it comes to energy because we believe in renewable energy. Why? Because it's cheaper. They pretend they're grabbing this mythical beast called nuclear energy when everyone, including these people that we call 'scientists' at the CSIRO, tell us that nuclear energy is much more expensive.

Look at what we did for aged care, for manufacturing, for wages. We have done fair dinkum things. They cosplay that they are champions of the poor people in Australia. Their mouths say one thing and their feet do another when it comes to voting in the chamber. They've had a shameful record over the last, I'm going to say, 26 years—if you go back to March 1996. As soon as they got control of the Senate—

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

WorkChoices.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take that interjection from the member for Blair. We ran in that 2004 election, I seem to recall. Jimmy Barnes was wrong; there is no second prize.

Thankfully, 2007 saw a change, where Labor did come into power and started to do things, like building affordable homes and putting more stock out there into the community to change lives rather than just make landlords happier. We were actually putting a roof over people's heads, and there were all the things that flowed from that.

So, don't dare talk to us about cost of living, because you have been hypocrites from today right back to March 1996. (Time expired)

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to address this matter of public importance, a matter that is probably the most important thing that is facing households and businesses in our economy right now: the spiralling cost of living.

The starkest figure in the economy right now is the gap between inflation and wages growth. Under this government, inflation has now reached 7.3 per cent and, for the same period, the ABS indicates that wages are increasing by 3.1 per cent. Wages growth is less than half of the inflation rate. That is absolutely diabolical. Wages have never been deteriorating more quickly—going back to the 1990s recession—than they are now under this Labor government. The inflation rate of 7.3 per cent is predicted by the government's own budget to go up to eight per cent. They've had the embarrassing circumstance of moving too prematurely self-congratulating motions about increases to the minimum wage of a little over five per cent when inflation, of course, was then revealed to be in the sixes and now the sevens. The Fair Work decision of increasing the minimum wage is actually decreasing the minimum wage in real terms because inflation is running higher than that increase. That is nothing to be proud of; that is something to be absolutely ashamed of. And that is happening on this government's watch.

While real wages are declining at their fastest rate in decades, we've got electricity prices predicted to go up at their fastest rate in decades. Over the next two years, there will be a 56 per cent increase in electricity prices. Of course, this is in an environment where the government went to the last election saying they were going to reduce electricity prices. This is now becoming the totemic great fraud that was inflicted upon the people of this country at the last election. The Labor opposition said they would reduce electricity prices by $275. Instead, the budget they released, a mere few weeks ago, told the truth and exposed that lie. Far from going down by 18 per cent, which is the percentage of the $275 from that costings document—the poor RepuTex people will never recover from being associated with that piece of Labor Party fraud and propaganda—the reality is that prices are going up by 56 per cent. So there's only a 74 per cent gap in all of that, which is regrettable to the people that trusted the Labor Party not to lie to them in an election campaign. That was a very reasonable thing for the people of Australia to assume. They'll learn their lesson. But, if someone is going to make such a significant commitment to their household budget and say, 'Vote for us. Your power prices will come down by 18 percent,' it's not unreasonable in our democracy for people to believe that.

Apparently, we're going to have truth-in-advertising laws. This is going to put some people at Labor Party headquarters in a lot of trouble in the future, because, if the Labor Party lies in an election campaign, there'll be a law against it. So I look forward to looking at what significant punitive measures are going to be encapsulated in any legislative framework for a scenario where a major political party makes a promise and then breaks it in such spectacular fashion—and on one of the most significant things that people are concerned about: their household budget.

Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've had nine years of a wage freeze.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The wage system in this country is the Labor Party's wage system. The Labor Party introduced it under the Rudd-Gillard government. If things have been a disaster since then, it's the fault of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. They passed the Fair Work Act, and it hasn't changed. If the criticism is of the Fair Work Act, I welcome that criticism of the Rudd-Gillard regime and the awful fair work system that was put in place and has resulted during the last 10 years in such terrible outcomes for workers. Regrettably, the situation today, under this government, has never been worse for workers. As I outlined, there's been a dramatic collapse in real wages, as inflation is more than double the rate of wages growth. So I join on this matter of public importance in condemning the fraud that the Labor Party took the last election and I will hold them to account for that lie at the upcoming one.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ARLAND () (): The issue of the rising cost of living is a really serious one. It's an issue that I'm absolutely committed to addressing in my community, and it is, in fact, one of the very reasons I decided to run for the incredible privilege of being the member for Chisholm.

The fact of the matter is that this problem has been in our community for some time—certainly predating the six months since the Albanese Labor government was elected. I'm not a naturally cynical person, but I do find it really curious that, after a decade in government, those opposite have suddenly realised that communities around Australia are struggling with rising costs and low wages—problems that were, in fact, created by previous government. We saw the increase of childcare costs under their watch. We saw out-of-pocket fees to GPs—and this is just in my electorate—increase by 38 per cent. That is outrageous. We had a government that had wage suppression at the heart of its economic policy.

Again, it was the disgrace of those opposite, the very existence of the terrible policies they had in place for a decade, that made me want to run in the first place. We on this side of the House understand that the cost of living is hitting a lot of Australians hard. We always have understood—and those opposite never have—that that's what happens if you don't support working people.

Not only is the situation we find ourselves in the consequence of the wasted decade of the previous government—including 22 failed energy policies—but we are also finding ourselves in a situation where we have an illegal war in Ukraine. Australians understand that we didn't create these challenges, but we have been elected to take responsibility for addressing them—and we are.

Our economic plan is a direct and deliberate response to the challenges facing our economy, including the cost of living. That is why one of the very first acts of the Albanese government was to successfully argue for the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation, an outcome which helped around 2.8 million Australians. I remember very, very clearly standing beside the now prime minister—in my electorate of Chisholm—when he was asked the question, 'Do you support a wage increase for the lowest paid workers in the country?' And he said, 'Absolutely.' And I remember the way those now sitting opposite treated that comment. They were outraged. They scoffed. They laughed at a man running for prime minister who dared to aspire to have policies so that those doing it hardest in our communities should get some kind of cost-of-living relief. And now they stand here and they dare to put this matter to this House. They dare to be authorities on what it takes to improve the lives of working people, when they have spent a decade destroying our communities. It is shocking.

Our budget is focused on responsible cost-of-living measures. We've made child care cheaper. We are expanding paid parental leave, which means we are increasing workforce participation for parents, who most often are mothers who have to stay out of the workforce because there's just not enough support for child care or for leave. We are making medicines cheaper. We are making sure there is more affordable housing.

I had the great privilege to take the Treasurer into my community to meet with the Ashburton, Ashwood and Chadstone Public Tenants Group and the Ashwood Chadstone community partnership to talk about real ways we can help people on the ground, listening to the expertise of people who've been advocating for change for decades

I hope that in the next few days we'll be able to get wages moving again as our secure jobs, better pay bill passes both houses of this place. We will always stand by working people and will do whatever we can to make sure that cost-of-living pressures don't hurt our communities.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion is now concluded.