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

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:

This Government's failure to take real action on reducing inflation and the pressures on Australian families and businesses.

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

I want to start with a question to all those watching or listening to this today. Do you feel better off or worse off than a year ago? As I talk to people around Australia, I ask this question wherever I go and I get a very consistent answer. Whether it's in a capital city, our regions, in the suburbs, you name it—over in the west, here in the east—I hear the same thing. 'No,' they say, 'I feel worse off.'

The facts on this are stark. An average Australian family with a mortgage is wearing additional costs now, versus a year ago, of $25,000 a year for a typical family. That's higher mortgage payments. That's higher grocery bills. That's higher energy prices—and they are set to get higher under the government's own numbers in their budget. Those costs are set to get higher. The truth is that there is real pain out there, and there is real pain out there because we have higher core inflation than any G7 country in the world, at 6.6 per cent core inflation. The UK is at 6.2 per cent, the US at 5.6, Canada at 4.3, the euro area at 5.7 and so on. Australia is top of the pops, but it's not the top of the pops you want to be, because it represents enormous pain to Australians.

Only a couple of weeks ago, I was in Goulburn, where I live, talking to a young couple there. Nicole and Dougie have two kids. They recently bought a home. They're luckier than many Australians because they, being in a regional area, paid a little bit less for their home than the average, but they're still paying $890 a month more than they were a year ago. Finding that is incredibly hard. In fact, in Nicole and Dougie's case, Nicole is looking at the prospect of having to go back to work earlier than she had hoped, which means spending less time with her second child.

These are the real decisions that Australians are making right across this great country. We saw in the employment numbers that came out only last week that Australians are having to work harder to make ends meet. They're working more hours in the day and the week than they were, because that is the only way they can pay for the necessities of their lives. You would have thought in that context this government would have brought down a budget that fought inflation first—that treated fighting inflation as the one thing this budget could have done which would have helped every single Australian. It would have united us in saying, 'Thank you for a budget that is going to help every one of us, not divide us between those who are going to benefit from the budget and those who aren't.'

Sadly, in this budget we saw long lists of the forgotten Australians who were hurt—the young families like Nicole and Dougie, who have seen no help from this budget, because there is no end to this inflation that is hurting them so much. For small businesses, no end is in sight. They're seeing down-trading of their customers and their costs escalating at the same time, and just trying to hold the show together is a battle every single day. We saw the example of Darren Pilcher on the Sunshine Coast just last week. He was a great example—a terrible example, really—of what small businesses are having to do to survive. In his case, it is just extra hours in the day that he simply doesn't have in his cafe on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. The biggest losers in this budget, though, are those hardworking Australians who want to get ahead. They are the backbone of this country. The people who run the small businesses, the truckies, the tradies, the young families with a mortgage trying to get ahead, and the farmers are all being whacked in this budget with higher inflation and higher taxes.

Since the budget, those opposite have been very keen to talk about middle Australia. But I tell you when the Treasurer stood up at the dispatch box there on budget night there wasn't a mention of middle Australia. There was no mention of middle Australia in the budget. It was only in the talking points the day after, when they realised, after interview after interview that night, that they'd forgotten about middle Australia. 'Oh my gosh. Forgotten about middle Australia—how could we have forgotten?' They stuck them in the talking points.

There's a reason they took this approach. The Treasurer is not a doctor of economics. Many Australians think he's a doctor of economics. There's a doctor of economics just across on the other side; he's not one of those. He is a doctor of spin. That's all he is. So, when he realised the budget was no good on the economics, he went to the spin, and we saw the true doctor at work—the spin doctor that is the Treasurer. We wish we had a doctor of economics, but he's been consigned to a lowly role.

Meanwhile, we get this budget. This budget featured a lot of big stuff. The first big thing it featured was big spending. What we saw in this budget was an extra $185 billion of spin since those opposite came into government. It's simple: you can just go to the table. It's there. This is what the spending is now; compare it with what it was when they came into government—$185 billion. That's their definition of restraint. That's what the Treasurer calls restraint—an extra $185 billion is restraint! We do have an economist here who could tell us what restraint looks like, but it's not $185 billion of extra spending.

Worse—and this is in the table of truth that Chris Richardson always talks about that compares the spending and the savings of policy initiatives—he is spending two dollars for every one dollar he is saving. So this is a budget that is not fiscally responsible. Indeed, a whole range of economists and others, on budget night and since, have said exactly that. We heard Rich Insight's director Chris Richardson say:

I had thought that the Reserve Bank was done and dusted but this has notably raised the chance that they will do another swing of the baseball bat.

Betashares' chief economist David Bassanese called the budget 'unambiguously expansionary'. Just now I read an article in which Richard Yetsenga, the chief economist of ANZ, said we should get used to interest rates being high as no easing is coming any time soon. This is what others are saying in response to the budget.

It is a budget that is not only big spending but also big taxing, because that's how Labor do it. They spend the money and then they hit you with inflation and taxes. It's not a new formula; it's a very old formula. What are the taxes? Taxes on superannuation, taxes on franking credits, taxes on truckies, taxes on farmers, taxes on everyone earning an income through the low- to middle-income tax offset disappearing and bracket creep, taxes on cigarettes, taxes on gas—you name it. There is nothing the Treasurer can see that he doesn't want to tax, and that's exactly what we saw in this budget.

That is why we support a 23.9 per cent limit on the tax-to-GDP ratio. It's a sensible approach that says to Australians: 'You can trust this government is not going to spend all your money and is not going to take more from you. It gives you the incentive to get out there and work hard every day.' That is what Australians want to do to make their families better off and give themselves a chance to get ahead. That's what they want to see.

We also saw in this budget not just big spending and big taxing but big government at work. It's a heavy-handed government with industrial relations changes that are going to hamstring businesses to get on and do what they do, which is sell their products and services to Australians and to the world that benefit all of us. We've seen gas regulation driving out investment in this country. We are seeing a carbon tax being put in place. We had a review handed down to make life easier for financial planners to advise Australians on how to make investments, and the Assistant Treasurer has buried it, because they believe in bigger government and they believe that the role of government is to do everything for you, rather than let Australians get on and do what they do best in making their lives better and conditions better for their families.

This is a big-spending, big-taxing government focused on a big Australia. It is the wrong answer for Australia.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've long known that conservatives love the past, but it's becoming increasingly clear that they're not just fans of steam trains and rotary-dial phones. In fact, they're drawing their inspiration from the 50-year-old Monty Python TV series. It has to be said that the shadow Treasurer is very close to a Monty Python character at times. There's an irony to this man making claims about inflation, given that he has made a specialty of inflating certain claims or, as he might say, 'Well done, Angus.' We all remember that time he made inflated claims about Clover Moore using a dodgy doctored document—

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

I remind the assistant minister to use correct titles, please.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I was just quoting the shadow Treasurer, but I certainly respect your ruling. He is here talking about the cost of living, but he is arguing against the Housing Australia Future Fund. He voted against the Housing Australia Future Fund. He voted against energy bill relief. He was at the dispatch box a couple of hours ago arguing against 60-day prescribing, which will bring down the cost of pharmaceuticals for Australians. He is not the Messiah; he's just a very naughty boy.

This opposition reminds us of that moment in the Life of Brian when one of the insurgents says: 'Well, apart from the sanitation, medication, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a freshwater system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?' To which the answer is, 'Brought peace.' The theme of this MPI is basically: what has the government ever done about cost of living? Well, apart from cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, bulk-billing and energy bill relief, what have we done? Oh, that's right: we've also boosted incomes through single-parent payments, JobSeeker, student assistance, rent assistance and better aged-care wages. There are 11 million Australians who will benefit from the tripling of the bulk-billing incentives and six million Australians who will benefit from a reduction by up to half in the cost of medicines. There are one million Australians who will benefit from increases in payments like JobSeeker, Austudy and youth allowance and many, many more Australians who will benefit from the energy bill relief. In our year in office, we haven't just dealt with cost-of-living issues; we've also created a National Anti-Corruption Commission, set a 43 per cent emissions reduction target, carried out a royal commission into robodebt, saved Trove, fixed the roof of the National Gallery, fixed up our international relationships and brought adult government back to Australia. But, again, what has Labor ever done for Australia?

The fact is that those opposite remind me of the Knights Who Say 'Ni!' When it comes to immigration, they're criticising our immigration forecasts, despite the fact that they were projecting more migration—more 'ni'. They criticised the fact that we brought down a surplus, despite the fact they were projecting deficits as far as the eye could see. They've criticised our middle Australia supports, despite the fact that they voted against energy price relief last December. They are the Knights Who Say 'Ni!'

You can't help feeling that, when you're in question time, it's a bit like walking into the Monty Python argument sketch. Rather than offering solutions or arguments, they just want to find what Labor is saying and say the opposite. I am reminded of my favourite line in that sketch: 'I came here for a good argument!' 'Ah, no, you didn't, you came here for an argument!' They can't even give us a good argument.

They are, in so many parts of the country, infighting among themselves. The Victorian Liberal Party are a bit like the People's Front of Judea, who reveal that the only people they hate more than the Romans are the Judean People's Front. But even the People's Front of Judea weren't flirting with the far right.

The Liberals have now lost office in every mainland state and territory. On the mainland, their most senior Liberal leader in office is Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, as Monty Python once said, and nobody expected that, for the first time in a century, a government would win a seat off an opposition in a by-election, and yet that has happened.

You'd think this would prompt a bit of soul searching. You'd think it would prompt the Liberal Party of Australia to consider how they might re-engage with middle Australia. But instead they're responding more like the Monty Python Black Knight, who's lost his arm and is saying, ''Tis but a scratch.' They can't realise that they have fundamentally lost the core of what it is to be a small-l liberal party. Robert Menzies wouldn't recognise the party sitting on the opposition benches right now, and indeed that probably explains why his former seat is no longer held by the Liberal Party, why John Howard's former seat is no longer held by the Liberal Party, why Tony Abbott's former seat is no longer held by the Liberal Party and why Josh Frydenberg's former seat is no longer held by the Liberal Party. They've lost touch with middle Australia. They've lost their right arm, and they think it's just a scratch.

The fact is that those opposite couldn't even deal with the problem of spam. There's that great Monty Python spam sketch, in which there's spam on everything. A customer is trying to order something without spam, and the response is, 'Well, there's spam, egg, sausage and spam; that's not got much spam in it.' But it took a Labor government to deal with real spam. It took the Minister for Communications to put in place new rules that blocked 90 million spam texts in the first six months.

Deputy Speaker, those opposite remind you of Monty Python's cheese shop sketch, in which a customer walks into the cheese shop and is asking one by one just for a bit of cheese. 'Any Danish Fimboe?' 'No.' 'Czechoslovakian sheep's milk cheese?' 'Venezuelan beaver cheese?' 'Not today, sir.' 'How about cheddar?' 'Oh, I'm afraid we don't get much call for it round these parts, sir.' The cheese shop's inability to come up with cheese is a bit like the Liberal Party of Australia's inability to come up with policy: 'Got any policies? What about a policy in education?' 'Nope, we don't have that.' 'What about a policy on health?' 'Nope, we don't have that.' 'What about a policy on reducing Australian emissions?' 'Nope, we don't have that. We've just got a wacky nuclear policy, although we won't tell Australians where the reactors would be and won't confess what the cost will be.' 'What about a policy on defence?' 'Nope, we don't have one of those.' 'Have you in fact got any policies at all?' 'Oh, well, we don't get a lot of call for policy around here.'

While those opposite are languishing in the land of the argument sketch or in the land of the Spanish inquisition, while they're sitting there having esoteric discussions about themselves that are about as relevant to regular Australians as the question of how far a swallow could carry a coconut if it were the right breed of swallow, middle Australia continues to desert the Liberal Party of Australia. Middle Australia has deserted the Liberal Party of Australia in a little less than a year. It has deserted them in South Australia. It has deserted them in New South Wales. It has deserted them at the federal level.

The fact is that those opposite can't realise that they're having their discussions between the Popular People's Front of Judea and the Judean Popular People's Front when they should be focusing on what matters to Australia. If they could focus on middle Australia rather than having their own in-house argument sketch, they would be voting for energy price relief and for the Housing Australia Future Fund. They'd be supporting us on our measures such as the safeguard mechanism in order to ensure that Australia gets the benefits of decarbonisation and the renewables revolution. But instead they're caught up on the esoteric discussions of their party room, dragging them further and further off to the right, unable to recognise that Australians may not want a Danish Stilton, may not want a cheddar and may not even want a yak's cheese but would like a policy after all. They would like the Liberal and National parties to actually come up and be clear as to how they intend to be a little bit more than a comedy sketch, a little bit more than Australia's answer to John Cleese and a little bit more than a 50-year-old comedy troupe whose jokes might have been great back then but who are no example of how to run a serious party of government.

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

Methinks the member for Fenner watches far too much television when, as the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, he should be doing more for those portfolio areas than watching Monty Python. His speech reminds me a little bit of Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time, because that's what he's spent the last 10 minutes doing: wasting everyone's time.

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

You'll only waste five minutes.

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

Hilarious. You should be in a comedy sketch too.

In 12 months of Labor in government, cost of living has gone up. In 12 months, unemployment has gone up, interest rates have gone up and power prices have gone up. We have higher core inflation than any G7 country, and, in 12 months, it's gone up as well. Yet Labor comes in here and quotes comedy sketches. It's no laughing matter. People in middle Australia, who were referred to by the member for Fenner, ain't laughing. They are deadly worried. Real wages have gone down. Regional funding has gone down. The government have taken away the regional funding, the infrastructure investment in regional Australia. Regional Australia—I am sure the member for Wannon will agree with me here—carried Australia during COVID, through agriculture and resources—two sectors which were not looked after in the recent budget. In fact, mining has been demonised by this Treasurer. He talks about the things we sell overseas but can't bring himself to say the things are coal and gas and iron ore. He can't bring himself to name those vital industries. And let me tell you, mining workers are worried. They are worried about their jobs. Farmers are worried about the additional taxes which are being imposed upon them by this unfriendly-to-regional-Australia government.

Families' budgets are stretched to the limit. The shadow Treasurer, the member for Hume, said, 'Ask your constituents if they are better off now than they were 12 months ago. The resounding answer you get back is, "No, we are not."'

Our pharmacists are very concerned. And whilst I appreciate that those on the opposite side believe they have the mandate to do what they want to do, they really need to look at the situation with our country chemists in particular. In many rural, regional and—particularly; especially—remote areas it's the friendly pharmacist who is the only frontline health professional in town. Take away their ability to make money, take away their ability to operate, and you take away the only health professional in town. When they go, who's going to do the compression stocking tests for free? Who's going to do the blood pressure tests for free? Who's going to do all of that work putting in place the blister medicine packs and all the rest that pharmacists do for absolutely nothing—the after-hours care, the deliveries that they do. They are very concerned.

Infrastructure projects and programs are all on hold, and that is also causing nervousness right across the country. That is also placing pressure, particularly on our regional communities. The member for Fenner waxed lyrical about how terrible the coalition is. I just might remind him how, in the last five elections, the National Party retained every seat. I might also remind him that the percentage that Labor got of first preference votes was very low. In fact, it was one of the lowest first preference votes since the early 1900s. It wasn't at all a good result, and the quirks of our electoral system—yes, it means Labor is in government—and good luck to them—but good luck also needs good management, and we're not seeing good management at the moment.

Real wages have gone down. They spruik a big deal. They talk themselves up. All we've seen this week is the hubris and also the feigned indignation about what we did in the nine years we were in government.

We did do something. I'll tell what you we did do during COVID: we kept people in a job. We kept their business doors open. But more importantly than that, to the member who interjects, the member for Perth, we kept Australians alive. And if there was one thing we did that we should always be remembered for, and acknowledged for, it was actually keeping Australians alive during COVID.

Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This debate started with a rhetorical question. Well I'm going to start my speech with what I consider to be a real question. It was the real question that I think was posed to the Australian public at the last election and the real question that they're thinking about every day, and that is who do they trust to manage this economy in difficult times, and particularly to manage it in a way that cares the most for the most vulnerable in our community? They answered this question a year ago at the election, and many of the issues that were put at that election centred entirely on how we should deal, as an economy and as a society, with the challenges that we're facing.

One example is the minimum wage. The Australian population at the last election voted clearly. They voted for the party that wanted to lift the minimum wage so that the most vulnerable in our community would have their cost-of-living pressures eased, as opposed to those who railed against it.

This debate today is about who is best placed to deal with the very profound challenges that our economy and our society are dealing with? Those opposite—either in what they stood for at the last election that was rejected at that election, or in what they have voted against since then, both in the policies that they stood against at the last election and in what they have voted against since—have shown that they are not in a position to claim anything in relation to containing inflation or providing households with assistance.

Now, if we look at what this government has done since the election we see a two-pronged approach. The first is to put in place a raft of policies which reduce inflationary pressure, to bring inflation down as quickly as possible. At the heart of that in the last budget was fiscal repair on a level we saw nothing of over the last decade. We've seen 87 per cent of the fiscal uplift the economy has seen over the last 12 months returned to the budget bottom line. That compares to 40 per cent from the previous government over the decade they were in power and 30 per cent under the Howard government. When we look at their actions in government versus what we have done, this government's actions have put much more downward pressure on inflation than anything they did over the last two decades—$40 billion in savings under this government and zero identified by them. What we have done in government versus what they have done in practice over the last 20 years represents a massive difference in downward pressure on inflation.

Another source of downward pressure on inflation is the energy price caps that we legislated, and which they voted against. So when the people of Australia ask who is better placed to manage inflationary pressures in our economy, they can directly contrast what we have done with what those opposite have voted against. There is significant downward pressure on inflation running through wholesale energy price markets, which will flow through to the economy as a whole. Those opposite voted against that, yet they come in here every day and have the temerity to ask questions complaining about energy prices.

The second prong is what we are doing to help vulnerable households. Again, the contrast could not be greater. At the last election, those opposite ran on a policy saying that an increase in the minimum wage was irresponsible. The then leader of their party, the then Prime Minister, said it was incredibly reckless. He said that we were unprepared to manage the economy, because we were putting forward an increase in the minimum wage that reflected some kind of compensation for cost-of-living increases. The contrast at the last election could not have been greater. He also went on to say that, when governments change, things can change and they can get worse. That was their description of what would happen if there was a modest increase in the minimum wage. Yet they come in here and say not enough is being done for vulnerable households. They railed against increases in the minimum wage at the last election and have voted against every single industrial relations policy that we have brought in here since. Let's look at other key measures that we've put in place to protect vulnerable households, such as five million households getting electricity bill relief. They voted against it.

It is an absolutely intellectually hollow and, indeed, hypocritical position that they run. They come in here and note a whole bunch of things that are going on in the economy, but either they ran against those things at the last election, and now come in here and say that our primary vote wasn't enough, even though we won the election, or since then, they have voted against them. As the previous speaker on our side, the member for Fenner, indicated, this government is doing a whole raft of things, and in five minutes I don't have time to list them all. Those opposite come in here complain, but they either stand against those measures or vote against them.

Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the speakers who have come before me. I will single out the two on the other side, and I'm sure that the member for Fraser has to leave. Can I congratulate the member for Fraser for actually sticking to this topic a bit more than the member for Fenner did. The member for Fenner should know better. He had 10 minutes—twice your time—and I think you had twice the substance on this topic that he did. He gave us a full dissertation on his love of Monty Python, another sort of entertainment. That's a bit disappointing, because the member for Fraser and the member for Fenner are accomplished academics and have accomplished postgraduate qualifications in economics. In fact, many might argue that perhaps they, rather than those who have written political PhDs, should be in some of the key economic positions.

We have noticed that on the other side there is selective hearing when it comes to experts. There is a tendency to want to listen to experts who only say what they think they want to hear. After the budget, we heard from three experts about how this budget would contribute to inflation—and it is putting more pressure on the RBA to do the heavy lifting. Chris Richardson said he thought that 'the Reserve Bank was done and dusted, but this has notably raised the chance that they will do another swing of the baseball bat'. And then S&P Global Ratings disputed the government's forecasts, saying that the 'handouts in today's budget may add to inflationary pressures.' Thirdly and finally, the Chief Economist of BetaShares, David Bassanese, called the budget 'unambiguously expansionary'. When we look at this budget being an inflationary budget, that actually hurts Australians.

The member for Fraser talked about the minimum wage. It's a shame he didn't talk about something else, which is real wages. It's real wages that count. They account for inflation and they look at what is important to people, which is purchasing power. It doesn't help you if your wages go up but expenses are rising faster. That's why real wages matter. The member for Fraser knows better and is more than qualified to actually address that, and so is the member for Fenner and anyone on the other side. We should all be talking about real wages because there are two sides to the cost-of-living crisis: what you earn and what you have to spend. We can't just pick the one that's more politically convenient. We have to talk about both.

There are some records that Australia has that we shouldn't be proud of, one being the record of core inflation. This is addressing the things that actually matter, rather than just the headline that suits particular talking points. At 6.6 per cent, Australia's core inflation is higher than the UK, the US, Canada and the euro area. We know where inflation is coming from. It's coming from Canberra.

We give you the benefit of the doubt as a new government. You are just over one year in, and there's still a tendency to want to look in the rear-view mirror and blame the previous government. I'm a Victorian, and it reminds me of a quote given by then opposition leader Daniel Andrews in 2012. He referred to the then Premier with this:

That is where we have got to in this state. What do we get from the Premier? We get excuses and blame. He is always trying to blame someone else. Nothing is this man's fault, and he is accountable for nothing.

…   …   …

The Premier is very certain in his blaming and his buck-passing.

In 2012 the city of Melbourne, where I'm from, the capital of Victoria, was the most livable city on earth. It held that title from 2011 to 2017. Melbourne is now ranked 10th. That's nothing to be proud of. That happened on a Labor government's watch. There are two other rankings that the state of Victoria is top of, and we shouldn't be proud of them. One is that Victoria has the largest debt in this nation. It's so large that it is larger than the combined debts of New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania. Victoria is paying the highest taxes in Australia. So, instead of leading the livability index, Victoria is leading the debt index. It's leading the tax index. We saw, with the recent state budget, measures and policies that will drive business out of Victoria and drive hard-working families to the wall.

You may ask why I'm talking about the Victorian state government. I'm talking about the Victorian state government because I'm aware that sitting over there are an enormous amount of Victorian Labor members. If we want to look at what the next few years might look like—not just the last 12 months, but the next few years, when it's not so disciplined; where more extreme elements within their party say, 'Now it's time to actually dust off the policies we really want to do'—look no further than Victoria, because that is an insight into where we may go in the next few years.

Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to rise for this matter of public importance to talk about what our government is doing to help families and small businesses with cost-of-living pressures without adding to inflation. In my electorate and across our nation, I know that many families are under the pump. They're doing it tough. So it is even more important to ensure that our 2023-24 budget is carefully calibrated to manage inflation while helping Australians get ahead. I'm proud that this budget is expected to directly reduce inflation by three-quarters of a percentage point in this coming financial year.

On this side of the House we understand that inflation is the defining economic challenge of 2023, as it was in 2022. This is driven in large part by Russia's illegal war on Ukraine, and also in no small part as a consequence of the wasted decade by the previous government, which included more than 20 failed energy policies. The coalition oversaw a decade of wasted opportunities that left Australia with falling real wages, cost-of-living pressures and $1 trillion of debt without an economic dividend to show for it. Australians understand that we didn't create these problems, but they elected us to take responsibility for addressing them, and we are. This is despite the coalition's ongoing opposition to policies that build our economy, grow jobs and reduce inflation. Now they're standing in the way of our government's Housing Australia Future Fund, which will deliver 30,000 homes for people who need them the most. I urge the coalition to reconsider.

I'm proud to be part of the Albanese government that is directly tackling cost-of-living pressures in health, in housing, in energy bill relief and in wages growth. We are increasing payments for JobSeeker, Austudy and youth allowance for more than 1.1 million Australians.

Health is fundamental to living a happy, productive life. Labor understands this. That's why we created Medicare, and in this budget we have made a record investment in bulk-billing. We're investing $3.5 billion to triple the bulk-billing incentive for GP consultations. This will support 11.6 million eligible Australians to access a GP with no out-of-pocket costs. This is the largest investment in bulk-billing incentives ever, making it easier and cheaper for Australians to see their doctor. We are also making changes to pharmacy dispensing. From 1 September, many patients requiring routine medication will be able to buy two months worth of medication for the price of a single prescription. This means fewer visits to the GP and the pharmacy, saving you time and money.

The Albanese government has also introduced the Energy Price Relief Plan. With winter coming, this plan will help to relief energy costs for five million eligible households and one million eligible small businesses. It will provide $3 billion of electricity bill relief. Our government is also making it easier for households and small businesses to access energy savings and upgrades, through financing options for households and a new tax break for small and medium-sized businesses.

On top of this, we've successfully advocated for wage increases for minimum and award wage workers and we are funding pay rises for aged-care workers, and we're delivering cheaper child care and cheaper medicines. We're delivering Commonwealth supported university places. We've expanded paid parental leave and have a new pensioner work bonus so that older Australians can keep more of what they earn without it affecting their pensions, and we're increasing the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance. We're also providing electricity bill rebates to more than five million households and one million small businesses, in partnership with state and territory governments.

In closing, this is a bill that will support Australians. It will help to manage our inflation. It has something in it for all Australian families. It has a focus on women. It supports small business. And, importantly, it has a focus on reducing climate change implications and emissions. I am very proud to support our government's approach to working to reduce cost-of-living pressures whilst we also manage inflation. We will do this, and we will support those who most need it.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have never heard a group of people who are so tone-deaf as those opposite here today. When I and, I'm sure, those on this side of the fence talk to our local businesses in our communities, they're not talking to us—and I am sure they're not talking to those members opposite—about the fact that Australians apparently, if you listen to those opposite, have never had it so good. They've never had it so good, according to this lot over here.

Both local businesses and families in my electorate are absolutely screaming blue murder because they are having so much trouble trying to keep ahead of the tax man and keep ahead of just paying the bills, and we know that, for around 880,000 Australian families, their mortgage rates will go from a fixed rate of around two per cent to north of around six per cent over the next 12 months. On an average Australian mortgage, that equates to $20,000 a year after tax. But apparently, according to those on the other side, the government, Australians have never had it so good and everything is so rosy.

Through you, Madam Deputy Speaker Claydon, let me tell you this: Australians are doing it tough, and the people on the Sunshine Coast are no different.

One of the major industries on the Sunshine Coast is the building and construction industry. It is one of the largest employers in the country. It's an industry that I have worked in in various forms for over 30 years. The building industry across this country is built on subcontractors. Not content with making life more difficult with high inflation, those opposite want to amend and change the way subcontractors are dealt with at law. I can tell you one thing: right now, there are builders and subbies working on building sites right across this country, and, yes, occasionally they do have the radio tuned to parliament.

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

Do they tell you that, do they?

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's very true. I know because I used to do it. These men and women who are out there working on building sites are very, very fearful about the changes in legislation that the government have in store for them. Ladies and gentlemen listening along on building sites, at home, those of you who are driving trucks right now, this government is coming after your independence. You know you are independent contractors; you know you're independent subbies. This government wants you to be regarded as an employee. Why? Because this government wants to control you as a payback for their union paymasters. It is as simple as that.

This will have significant impacts on business people. Read the question for the MPI. What is this government doing for local businesses and homeowners? They are making their lives a misery. Rents have gone up, mortgages have gone up, food's gone up, fuel's gone up, and now they're coming after you from a regulatory perspective. We've seen this book, we've read this book before, and we know how it ends. This goes back to the seventies and eighties, back when I was a chippy—it's true!

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A good one, too!

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A good one, too, yes. It was a long time ago. This government is so driven by ideology, driven out of Trades Hall. They are coming after you and independent contractors around this country, whether you're an engineer, a subcontract carpenter or a subcontract plumber. The building industry around this country relies upon your hard work. Those members opposite know it, and that's why they're getting so upset. There is more to be said on this very issue. On this side of the House, we will stand for you and your independence for as long as God puts breath in our lungs.

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

Budget week has just passed—and this will upset the member for Fisher—and what a great budget it was for the electorate of Hunter. We are delivering serious reform and real relief for those who need it. We know that people are doing it tough. Make no mistake, this budget will make a real impact for the better for this group of people and for the whole of Australia. We are a government that cares about people. If those opposite want to talk about failing to take action to ease the cost-of-living pressures for families, let's talk about the fact that their vocabulary relies and really only expands no wider than the word 'no', because that's all they say whenever we put forward policies that will help the exact people who they wrongly claim we are letting down.

We all know who is failing people and Australian families in this place, and that's those on the other side of this chamber. Pretending to care to win a vote does nothing for those doing it tough. In fact, it seems pretty desperate if you ask me. I will give those opposite the benefit of the doubt. I'm not sure if it's short-term memory loss or selective hearing. For their benefit, let me remind them of the measures this government has made to take real action on reducing inflation and the pressures on Australian families and businesses. I know taking real action is a foreign concept to those opposite, because they rarely did it in this place in the last 10 years that they spent government, but listen up; you guys might just learn something.

The very centrepiece of our budget that was announced just a few weeks ago was a $14.6 billion cost-of-living package which is expected to directly reduce inflation by three-quarters of a percentage point in 2023 and 2024. The list goes on and on and on. I won't name everything we're doing, because I only have five minutes, but I will mention a few things. We're delivering cheaper child care, fee-free TAFE for more than 300,000 Australians, and more university positions. We're expanding paid parental leave so parents can raise their newborns without having to worry about their bank accounts. We are building more affordable homes so that Australians will actually be able to afford to put a roof over their heads. We successfully fought for a wage increase for minimum wage and award wage workers, and we're funding pay rises for aged-care workers so that hardworking Australian families have more money in their pockets to deal with the pressures they're facing.

We're delivering the biggest increase to the bulk billing incentive since its introduction by a Labor government. The number in your bank account should not determine whether you can access high-quality health care. I know those opposite tried their best to make Australians choose between being able to afford to look after their health and other necessities within their nine years of cuts and neglect of Medicare, but we will not stand for that, because they did not do any of that. We have made life easier for more than 89,000 people in my electorate and millions more around Australia who can now visit their doctors and have their doctor visit bulk billed. That sounds like taking real action to reduce pressures on Australian families to me. It does not stop there. We are making medicines cheaper for almost 50,000 people in the Hunter alone, saving Australians up to $180 each and every year so they can continue to get the medicine they need without it having to come at the expense of something else.

We know that one of the biggest pressures on Australian families and businesses is their power bills. Those opposite must have forgotten that five million eligible households and one million eligible small businesses will be able to access electricity bill relief through the Energy Bill Relief Fund. As a result, power bill increases will be 25 percentage points lower and retail gas price increases around 16 percentage points smaller because of the real action this government has taken. This is the final nail in the coffin of the arguments made by those opposite. If they didn't consider this to be real action, then I don't know what real action is.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll give you some real action. Let's get that on the table. That's a bit of fun. Let's do that. Let's have real action. The lowest unemployment in 50 years—we delivered that real action. We did that. The lowest welfare dependency in 30 years—we did that too. Small businesses—you opposite talk about middle Australia, and this is what they own. You can introduce yourself to them later on and find out about them. They're great people, so get out there and meet them. We had the lowest small business tax rate in 30 years. We dropped it from 30 to 25 per cent. That's real action. I'm pretty happy to put that on the table.

We started off today with a bit of Monty Python. I thought that was fantastic. The member for Fenner gave a very entertaining speech. I'm not going to go the full monty—there's my contribution to these puns. We did have a very Monty Pythonesque performance today once again from the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. He was trying to convince Australians that their power bills have gone down and they're paying less for their energy. It's the sort of humour that is really hard to enjoy if you're on the receiving end, but I'm sure it seems quite humorous to those on the frontbenches. In my electorate, according to AGL today, average annual prices for energy in regional Australia, and particularly around Groom, will increase by $432 next year, taking them up to around $1,900. Now, we gave the government the opportunity, pretty recently, to name a single Australian who's had their energy bills go down. Just name one. They could not do that. They absolutely could not do that. We know what's happening with energy prices. They've gone up.

I think the excellent member for Fraser, my good friend, nailed it when he was talking about the last election. It was a question of trust. There was a question of trust put, and that's what a good election should be based on. When the now Prime Minister promised Australians cheaper mortgages, they trusted him. They knew that was an issue. When the now Prime Minister promised lower energy prices, they trusted him. They were feeling that pain, they knew it was coming through, and they trusted him. On real wages, on grocery prices—I have the now Treasurer saying there's lots we can do to reduce cost of living, including reducing grocery prices. People trusted the then opposition, now government, when they said these things. They trusted them. And one after another those promises have been broken. That trust has been eroded.

The shadow Treasurer stood up and asked, 'Do you feel better off today than you did a year ago?' I don't think he means just financially. I don't think he means just economically. Yes, there's the impact on your lifestyle, on your ability to look after your kids and pay your mortgage, but I think it's also how you feel about the decision you made once you see those broken promises, one after the other, land on you. And then you sit here and watch a minister try to pretend that prices have gone down.

Going to the core of this question on inflation, we have one of the highest rates of core inflation amongst major economies. It's higher than the US, the UK, Canada and the Euro area. And whilst it's very true that the significant driving international forces pushed our inflation up and put us in the situation we're in, there are different ways to respond to it. Different countries have taken different responses and they've got different results. That's the role of government. You face the challenges that you have. And this is the question of monetary and fiscal policy: what role do they play? Do you just allow monetary policy from the RBA to whack that giant sledgehammer of interest rates down on those who hold debt and allow them to hurt more and more and more with each whack—and I note that sledgehammer, after this budget, has not been taken away. In fact, across the commentary of economists, there has been no suggestion that this has brought about an end to interest rate rises. This has done nothing to help monetary policy whatsoever. The idea of fiscal policy working with monetary policy has been abandoned by this government. That's how you get these different results across different nations. So when we come to speak about this government's actions and what it's done, let's be very clear: it's brought about a budget that has confirmed mortgages will keep going up, 175,000 people will lose their jobs and things are going to get a lot worse.

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

It's been relayed to me that there is no lonelier, no more introspective time in politics as your first budget night in opposition. It is in that moment the irrelevance sets in. And I can't imagine it gets any easier when a budget is as well-delivered and as well-received as ours has been over this past fortnight.

Time and time again, these matters of public importance provide a welcome opportunity to communicate to the country, and in particular to the great electorate of Hasluck, the measures this government is taking to reduce the cost-of-living pressures and to outline why most credible economic experts are saying the Treasurer's budget approach will not exacerbate inflation. Just the opposite. The member for Hume might be the only person who just doesn't get it.

Of course, we are not just trying to improve the lives of people living in the electorate of Hasluck. The electors of Hume likewise will benefit. Hume is not unlike Hasluck in that it is a peri-urban electorate taking in part of greater Sydney and then ranging across hills and valleys. I think many people in Hume will be puzzled to read their member's motion today, as all the budget positives that apply to my electors in Hasluck apply to Hume, over 3,000 kilometres away. This government governs for all Australians.

The motion talks about reducing inflation. This government is the very model of a modern approach to fiscal restraint, and the Treasurer's careful judgement is paying off. International observers such as Bloomberg noted the government is on the path of fiscal restraint with the May budget, and our own Chamber of Commerce and Industry praised the government's fiscal restraint. These are independent commentators who have said our budget straddles that line well—relief for those who need it most, targeted investment in public services and innovation, banking most of the surplus revenue, and paying down Liberal debt.

Peter Martin, a visiting fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the ANU, wrote recently in the Conversation:

… by cutting prices for many of us, the budget will help bring down inflation sooner.

And:

I'm yet to see a credible argument that inflation won't do as predicted in the budget.

Who should the people of Hasluck and Hume listen to: Bloomberg, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an ANU academic or the member for Hume?

But wait—there's more. Following the budget, Fitch Ratings affirmed Australia's triple-A credit rating and applauded the government's spending restraint, saying the nation's public finances had outperformed expectations. Fitch said:

The commitment in the Budget to save most of the revenue windfalls over the five-year budget horizon signals a commitment to prudent fiscal management.

This positive feedback for the Treasurer isn't new. The IMF, back in February, in response to the Treasurer's October budget statement, said:

New spending measures (in the October Budget) provide targeted cost-of-living relief and address structural economic issues by alleviating labour and skills shortages, promoting productivity growth, and facilitating the climate transition.

The IMF also recognised the government's spending restraint helps address the inflation challenge and makes the job of the Reserve Bank easier:

Near-term fiscal restraint will help support monetary policy in holding back excess demand.

The Reserve Bank, likewise, stated in February, in relation to energy policy that increases in wholesale costs are expected to be dampened by the Australian government's energy price relief plan.

So what was there in the May budget—which the member for Hume might need to read more carefully, as he doesn't seem to have understood the government's fiscal approach in the way academics, economists, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ratings agencies, the IMF and the Reserve Bank do? Many things are there; my colleagues have covered that ground. Saliently, more than five million households and one million small businesses will receive energy price relief. Combined with the earlier market intervention—which the coalition voted against and apparently would repeal if they could—these measures are expected to reduce inflation by three-quarters of a percentage point in 2023-24. Just imagine what would happen to inflation in this country if the coalition circus came to town!

The Albanese Labor government is listening to the country, from Hasluck to Hume, and we are working to deliver a better future for all Australians.

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

The discussion has concluded.