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 fight inflation first.

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

It is a privilege to lead this MPI, because this MPI is about those hardworking Australians who are trying to get ahead. They are the absolute beating heart of our country, of our economy, of driving the prosperity that we all benefit from. But it is also true that those hardworking Australians wanting to get ahead don't want to become the working poor. They need a government that treats fighting inflation as not just its first priority but its second priority and its third priority.

There is no issue more important for this government than fighting inflation. It's important to start with the facts on this issue, as we always should. The reality of the situation we're facing in this country right now is that inflation is stubbornly persistent, and we are facing amongst the highest level of core inflation in the advanced world. We love to be world-beaters in this country, but this is not one where we want to be a world leader. And yet, we are facing amongst the highest inflation in the advanced world. Meanwhile, at the same time we have rampant inflation, the economy is shuddering to a halt. In fact, in the last quarter, the economy only grew at 0.2 per cent, barely above zero. It has essentially stopped. But it gets worse when you look at the economy from the point of view of Australians, because the growth in GDP per capita is not growth—it's shrinking; it's going backwards. Right now, we have negative GDP per capita in this country and part of what is driving that is, in fact, essential to that, and that is labour productivity that is in absolute freefall.

It is shocking to know that, since this Labor government came to power, labour productivity in this country has fallen in a single year by 4.6 per cent—in one year! Productivity is absolutely key to prosperity. If you want higher real wages, you need to have strong labour productivity. In fact, it's -4.6 per cent, in a single year. The bad news about this is that this is the worst we have ever seen of labour productivity since the data began back in 1978. We've never seen anything like it. But that's because we've never seen a government like this since before 1978. Gough Whitlam was a strong rival, I would say, of a similar mindset. But -4.6 per cent is an absolute collapse in labour productivity. That means that for a business trying to produce something, it needs 4.6 per cent more labour than it did a year ago. And those opposite are pushing through toxic industrial relations legislation that will make the situation worse. Meanwhile, the government is proposing rapid population growth without a plan—and this is the key—for the housing services and infrastructure to make population growth achievable, manageable and positive for this great nation.

All of that leading to a situation where real wages are going backwards. We've seen the minister stand up—he did it again today—and crow about wages. Well, here are the facts. The WPI, the wage price index, went up by 3.6 per cent in the last 12 months. But we learnt yesterday that the inflation faced by hardworking Australian families who are trying to get ahead was 9.6 per cent in the last 12 months. That's for working Australians—9.6 per cent. Do you know what that means? Real wages are going back by six per cent in a single year. We will go back and look at the record books, but I reckon we're going to find it pretty hard to find any time that could rival that atrocious outcome. That is why Australians feel like they are going backwards—because they are.

Meanwhile, under this government we have seen 11 interest rate increases and a 4.1 per cent cash rate. Of course, month by month more and more Australians are falling over that mortgage cliff—150,000 this quarter hit by a $95 billion mortgage cliff. Since Labor was elected, a typical family is paying over $1,800 more a month on their mortgage. That's after-tax income. I don't know where they're finding it. They're working harder; there is no doubt about that. They're taking on second jobs. They're giving up all sorts of things, including for their families and their kids. They're making the sacrifices they have to make because the government is overseeing an economy that is going backwards at a rate we haven't seen for a long, long time.

The fact of what this is leading to is really stark—incredibly stark. The NAB has shown that two-thirds of Australians under the age of 50 say that the cost of living is their greatest source of stress. DFA reveals over 43 per cent of households in Queensland, the Treasurer's home state, are facing mortgage stress. That's almost half. We are getting to the point where it's almost half. Roy Morgan Research says that in the three months to June 2023, 1.4 million Australians were at risk of mortgage stress. We hear Lifeline telling us terribly stark realities about what is going on on the ground, with over 80 per cent of the calls now coming into Lifeline because of cost-of-living pressures. This is the human toll. Ben Phillips at the ANU has said that the last 12 months is perhaps the toughest in living memory. We see time and time again the pain being felt on the ground. Good local members like those behind me are all seeing it in their own electorates, and it's certainly what I see in my electorate.

You would have thought that under all those circumstances the government would be doing everything it can to tackle inflation. Meanwhile, we learn in Senate estimates that the lead economic adviser to this government, Dr Stephen Kennedy, has said that after more than a year in office the Prime Minister has not requested a single personal briefing from him on inflation or any other economic issue. Not a single briefing. He is too busy doing all these other things. He is not interested in the cost of living. Meanwhile, the Treasurer, instead of focusing on what really matters to Australians, is ignoring what matters. Just last week we saw him put out his signature document, a public document talking about a wellbeing budget. But when it came to mortgage stress, the latest data he could stomach in the report was from 2020. This report, like this Treasurer, is out of touch and out of date.

They are ignoring what matters. They are completely out of touch with the issues that Australians are facing. We have, in fact, a Treasurer of this great nation who is not a doctor of economics but a doctor of spin. He is more interested in writing a history of his great hero, Paul Keating, than he is on focusing on the hard issues that Australians are facing. He spent last summer not working out how to fight inflation but writing a long diatribe. If any of you get the chance to read it, I assure you: it's a bad idea—don't bother—because it's about remaking capitalism. Those hardworking Australians who are trying to get ahead are not interested in a treasurer that remakes capitalism. They're interested in a treasurer that gets inflation down, gets interest rates down, helps them to make ends meet and makes sure that they've got rising real wages because that's what matters to them.

There are many things that government can do to fight inflation. The first is: don't leave it to the Reserve Bank. The second is: commit. Their fiscal strategy in the last budget dropped budget balance as an objective—completely gone. That hasn't happened since the Charter of Budget Honesty came into place. The reality of this situation is that we have a government that is not interested in fighting inflation. It's far more interested in its Canberra Voice. It's far more interested in its symbolic focus than it is in the real issues that are facing those hardworking Australians who want to get ahead. The reality they are all facing is that they are on the way to becoming the working poor under this government.

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

This government was elected to get things done, and we have continued to deliver and get things done despite the fact that we have faced huge opposition from those opposite. They said no when it came to energy price relief, no when it came to cheaper medicines, no when it came to the Housing Australia Future Fund—in fact, they oppose it so much that they're going to come up and say no on the Housing Australia Future Fund twice—no on the National Reconstruction Fund, no to fee-free TAFE, no to Startup Year loans and no to so much more.

I don't think it will surprise anyone in this place that I'm not going to take priorities advice from the shadow Treasurer and those opposite. While we were elected to get things done, we were also elected because the Australian people saw an absolute mess in the former government and we were elected to clean up that mess—a cabinet so bad that they gave us secret energy price rises and secret ministries. They left $1 trillion of debt as they were walking out the door. But we've been reminded this week once again of their very public support for robodebt. We've just had a 10-minute lecture from the shadow Treasurer about what the government's priorities should be. The lecture is one thing; I look at the actions that we've seen from the coalition this week in terms of what their priorities are.

They started the week with a big splash in the papers, telling us that their priority coming back to parliament was to oppose additional payments for 1.1 million Australians. They wanted to block payments for single parents. They wanted to block payments for the unemployed. They wanted to block additional rent assistance. Then, by the end of that Monday, we found out that their other big priority was actually to defend their legacy when it came to robodebt—again, attacking single parents and attacking people who are relying on benefits from Centrelink. That tells us so much about the priorities of the opposition and what comes to form the basis of their political offering to the Australian people.

When it comes to policy development, from what we're seeing from those opposite, there's one big missing pieces of the puzzle, which I think many in this place are waiting to see the answer on. I calculated it: it's been 424 days that the member for Hume has been the shadow Treasurer. I thought: 'That's a substantial piece of time. How many policies has he put the costings out for?' I thought: 'Maybe he would have costed one policy a week.' That would be 60 policies costed by the opposition—by the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is available to every member of the opposition. So I thought there would maybe be 60, which is maybe one a week. But, no, maybe that's too many. I thought: 'Maybe I'll be more generous. Maybe they might have costed one policy a month.' That would be 13 policies. But, no, it wasn't 13. I thought: 'Maybe they've costed one policy a year. That would give them one costed policy.' Nope, we haven't seen one costed policy.

There has been a big fat zero costed policies from those opposite after more than 400 days in opposition. I was actually amused, and I think even those opposite will be amused, that the Greens party have costed more policies than those on the opposition benches. So we are seeing a huge gap in policy development. There were big long lectures but no actual policy development by those opposite.

Then we get to the things that they still defend. We heard the member for Hume in his speech of defending the 10 years during which they sat in government arguing for lower wages as a deliberate design feature of their policy agenda. As the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations highlighted in question time, they presided over the slowest wage growth since the Second World War. It was both welfare recipients and wage-earners who were under attack from the previous coalition government.

I look at some of the things that have changed for the Australian people. We're asked why we come to this place. It's because we want to change people's lives for the better, to implement and deliver policy that improves the lives of all Australians. Here are some of the things that have happened to the people of Australia only because they chose to elect the Albanese Labor government. We've seen the minimum wage increase by nearly $3 an hour since the change of government. We've seen 250,000 aged-care workers get a 15 per cent pay rise, changing their lives. That means that nurses who are on the award can earn an extra $10,000 a year if they're working full time. That changes people's lives, and it happened only because the Australian people chose a different government last year. There are also half a million more Australians in work since Labor came to office.

Things have changed in local electorates. There's been a lot of discussion about the big changes—for example, the 1.2 million families who benefit from cheaper child care. For the electorate of Cunningham that means 5,700 families are better off. Our cheaper medicines policy means that people in Cunningham have saved $597,000 as a community. If you look at the great electorate of Lyons, in Tasmania, you'll learn that 1,700 families are better off because the Australian people chose to elect a government that is committed to cheaper child care. The community of Lyons have saved $249,000 in total in cheaper medicines, and there is more to come. If you look at Swan, my neighbouring electorate, represented by the member for Swan, cheaper child care means 6,900 families are better off.

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

Give us a stat about Macnamara!

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

I'm asked for a statistic about the great electorate of Macnamara.

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

It's so well represented!

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

It is so well represented. I commend the member for Macnamara for being part of the government and for his vote for cheaper medicines—$702,000 was saved in the electorate of Macnamara and 6,100 families are better off because of cheaper child care because the people of Macnamara know good policy, they know good representation and they sent the member for Macnamara here to stand up for those families and to deliver for all of those people who wanted to see a government that wants to get things done, not those opposite, who constantly say no.

Let's talk about what's in the future for the electorate of Corangamite and all over Australia. We want to deliver more social housing, and that's the question in front of this parliament right now. Both chambers of this parliament have in front of them housing legislation to deliver 30,000 new social and affordable homes. I know that the member for Corangamite is 100 per cent committed to delivering more affordable homes for more Australians and proudly does not stand part of the Greens-Liberal-Nationals coalition. What we see when it comes to housing is a big fat no from those opposite. When it came to action on climate change they came in here and said no. We saw that today, when it came to whether they could commit to truly supporting an increase in wages. Do you actually believe in stronger wages? We've put legislation into this parliament to give people more secure jobs and more wages in their pockets so that they can actually pay for things they need. Again, it was opposed by those opposite. We get to this point where, while there are all these things that are opposed by those opposite, we still have the big lie from the Leader of the Opposition. When he marked his own homework his self-assessment was: 'I think we've been a constructive opposition.' I don't think even his backbench wants him to be a constructive opposition. I'm not even sure if that's still the plan to be a constructive opposition, but that was his own mark of his homework.

I end with this. Those on this side of the House came here to fight for cheaper medicine. Those opposite opposed it before they even knew the details. We came here to fight for cheaper child care. Those opposite said it was not the policy they would have introduced. We came here to fight for an increase in the minimum wage. Those opposite told us it would wreck the economy. We came here for 30,000 new affordable homes. They told us that our priorities were all wrong. We came here to raise the standards of the Australian government, and those opposite defend the member for Cook week after week.

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

I wouldn't mind it so much that the member for Perth mentioned—424 days, was it?—costing policies. The Australian public would just love 424 days of not costly policies, because that's what Labor has produced.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

That's a good one, isn't it! I thought of it just then as I looked at all you Labor members. It's a zinger—I came up with it. They are costly policies. Whilst we might all have a bit of joviality right here and now in this matter of public importance debate, out there they're hurting.

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

That's right.

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

'That's right,' I hear from the member for Corangamite. It's Struggle Street at the moment for many people who, when they go to the supermarkets, are finding it tough to pay for their groceries. When they go to the bowser, they're finding it difficult to pay for their fuel. When they get their electricity bill in the mail, they are finding it very, very difficult to be able to afford that, like a constituent who wrote to me. I'm not sure whether this person is necessarily a Nationals voter. She's in the Riverina, and I'm sure she probably may well be, but she writes: 'As you know, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to cut power bills by $275 for households by 2025 at the last election. He isn't making good on his promise. I am urging you to hold Mr Albanese to account. I opened my electricity bill for this quarter and was shocked to find it had more than doubled—more than doubled. I hold no faith in renewable energy sources, and alternative policy on energy needs to be prosecuted more broadly now. We need to consider nuclear energy.'

That's just one view. It may not be shared by everybody in this chamber right here and right now, but it is indicative of what many people on Struggle Street in regional Australia and elsewhere are now encountering with their power bills. The now Prime Minister, when he was the Leader of the Opposition, promised on 94 occasions no less that there would be a $275 power bill cut. Where is it? I notice they've all gone quiet. I would ask the members opposite: where is that $275? Where is that power bill cut? Inflation has just gone up and up, and it's gone up and up on the watch of those opposite. It has indeed. The latest CPI data shows inflation is still running rampant at six per cent. That is making it so tough. You only have to read the Daily Telegraph online today:

Sydney home prices could end up 2023 up to $60,000 higher than they were at the start of the year as the ongoing housing market recovery continues, new modelling has revealed.

We hear those opposite talking about their policy—whether it's costed or uncosted matters not—and the amount of money, billions upon billions of dollars, that is going to go into this housing proposal they've got before the Senate. They talk about 30,000 homes. It was a million not that long ago, and now it has gone down to 30,000. Irrespective of whether it's thousands or in the order of hundreds of thousands, you can't find people to build houses to save yourself, let alone building supplies.

We're joined by the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. I'm glad he walked in. I won't be too hard on him, because it's his birthday. Happy birthday to the member for Fenner! Last week he got into the writing stakes—just like the Treasurer, who wrote the thesis, the epistle, on re-energising and remaking capitalism. It puts Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace to shame. It was a great piece.

The member for Fenner has written an op-ed. To quote Michelle Grattan:

… an assistant minister in the Albanese government, has launched a swingeing attack on the stranglehold the factional "duopoly" has on the Labor Party.

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

I think it's called swingeing. Swinging is something else.

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

Swinging or stinging, it makes no difference. She continues:

Leigh says the factions' power is at an all-time high, which suppresses ideological debate, distorts preselections, and discourages people joining the party.

So we have the Treasurer talking about remaking capitalism. We have the assistant minister—who should be on the front bench; his talent is being ignored, and more's the pity; I mean that genuinely—writing about factionalism in the Labor Party. And out there on 'Struggle Street' they're finding it difficult to pay their bills. So stop writing op-eds, stop writing epistles, and get on with the job that you are elected to do.

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

The member for Riverina is finished and wrapped up for the week, and we wish him well on his travels back to wherever he comes from.

We are here to talk about the MPI and I am so pleased that we've got all of the opposition members coming in to support the shadow Treasurer. Look at them all there! Hundreds of them coming in to support the shadow Treasurer. But the shadow Treasurer's not here to support himself on the MPI. The shadow Treasurer is so committed to his own MPI he didn't even turn up to it. Anyway, we move on. It is a bit hard to take seriously the shadow Treasurer, when he comes in here and talks about inflation, because the shadow Treasurer gets confused from time to time.

I don't mind waking up on a Sunday morning and putting a bagel in the toaster, cutting it in half, of course, and then putting a bit of butter and Vegemite on the bagel. Obviously, you need to keep an eye on the cost of Vegemite. The shadow Treasurer keeps a very close eye on the cost of Vegemite. The shadow Treasurer is a real student on the cost of Vegemite. He's learning about the cost of Vegemite every single day. He's smearing Vegemite all over the place.

Here's a quote from the shadow Treasurer. He said, 'In the last month alone'—that's an important part of the quote; I'll come back to it—'the price of Vegemite has increased by eight per cent, peanut butter by nine per cent and yoghurt by 12 per cent.' That would be alarming had it been happening in the last month. Unfortunately for the shadow Treasurer, he's getting confused between one month and one year.

It wasn't just us taking a little bit of a shock to the fact that the shadow Treasurer is getting confused between his months and his years; it was also those great Labor defenders at Sky News who were shocked by the fact that the shadow Treasurer—the head bean counter from the opposition—was unable to work out the difference between a month and a year. Andrew Clennell called it 'deeply embarrassing' that he couldn't do it. Sky News had a headline saying that there was a monumental gaffe and that it bemuses colleagues. You can just imagine the shadow cabinet: 'Oh, no!'

Angus Taylor had an absolute nightmare when he came in and said that Vegemite was going up by eight per cent in a month. There was another great headline about the shadow Treasurer: 'Angus Taylor slammed for deeply embarrassing Vegemite claim in parliament'. This is the man leading their charge on inflation. You could take them seriously if they came into this place and put their money where their mouth is.

These people opposite like to come in here and complain about the price of energy, yet they vote against lowering the cost of energy. These people come into this place and complain about the cost of housing, yet they come in here and vote against the construction of more housing to bring down the cost of housing and increase its supply. These people come in here and complain about the cost of living, yet at each and every turn they have opposed support payments and the lifting of the social safety net for those people who are doing it tough.

They come in here and complain about the cost of living, yet under them not one incentive, policy or effort was made to lift the wages of working Australian people—not one thing. Do you know why? It's because it was a deliberate design feature of the way in which those opposite manage the economy. They come in here and complain about the cost of living, yet they oppose every single wage rise that we on the side of the House have helped to bring in since coming into government. They complain about the cost of living, but they oppose wage rises to aged-care workers. They oppose wage rises for those on the minimum wage. They oppose a wage rise at every single chance that they get to put their money where their mouth is.

So we won't be taking lectures from those opposite. Instead of voting and using their power as representatives in this great place to help the people who are struggling with the cost of living, those opposite come in here to complain. That is their MO. They want to use every opportunity to make a political issue while we on this side of the House are going to do everything we can and use every single day we have to lower the cost-of-living pressures for the people we are privileged to represent.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have a toxic brew in the economy at the moment. I know that it's Thursday and everyone is keen to get out of here, but this is a really serious issue, because people are hurting in Australia. Everywhere you look, inflation is eating away at the value of their savings and their assets. The year-on-year CPI issued by the Ai Group was seven per cent for the last year. Inflation is eating away any wage rise that people get. Admittedly, it may finally be working. The monetary policy that the Reserve Bank governor was basically sacked for has had its effect, and that monetary policy is slowing things down. But, yet again, today we see that house prices are taking off already. The interest rate increases may not have ceased. We will watch closely.

But, as inflation is galloping away, what do we have from the other side? The last budget saw the low and middle income tax offset removed. There are increased taxes on superannuation. Franking credits—the lifeblood of many retirees in my electorate and around the country—are being limited by changes in the rules. There are workforce shortages as a consequence of COVID. Yet, despite all this, we don't see anything, beside what the Reserve Bank governor has done, to stop inflation eating everything away.

We know that inflation happens when you spend money without any productivity or anything to show for it. What we got in the last budget was mind-boggling. You would think that the fundamental economic theory of reducing government spending to reduce the amount of unproductive capital in the economy would be followed, but the Treasurer just threw fuel onto the fire. An extra $185 billion of government spending has come out of COVID.

We were cutting back. We were putting the brakes on. The former Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, was described as 'cruel' by members on the other side, yet they wanted to spend more during COVID. We put the brakes on and started removing all the supports, and then they came in and inherited a booming economy. Now it's all going pear-shaped because they put an extra $185 billion into the economy with nothing productive out of it. They've just let the unions loose on the workplace. The flexible, agile philosophy of our wages and industrial policy is being wound back 20 or 30 years, and that will lead to less productivity. To improve productivity we should be allowing flexibility in the workplace, not making it rigidly controlled. All of that is a recipe for more inflation.

As well as that, coupled with tax increases and interest rate rises, the standard variable rate with one of our biggest well-known banks is varying from 6.24 per cent to just over seven per cent. Admittedly, when we were in government, rates were very low, but we haven't seen an increase in interest rates like this for decades. It's all happening on your watch, and you can't keep blaming the former government.

As I said, everywhere you look there are increased costs in business. Wages for unskilled labour have gone up. The wage structure that's been forced on the NDIA has really made unskilled labour unaffordable for lots of businesses, because you can get paid double or triple in the NDIS. It is really distorting the marketplace. No wonder there are shortages in coffee shops. You can get 15 or 20 bucks more by taking people who are on the NDIS out for coffees than you can by working in a coffee shop, or in lots of industries. Look at the electricity bills we're all facing. It's because of your environmental policies, which are shutting Tomago, just like the plant in Gladstone is going to be closed, because of the safeguard mechanism. (Time expired)

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, that was an absolutely incoherent contribution from the member for Lyne, and it just goes to show the incoherence of this MPI that we face from the shadow Treasurer. As if we didn't already know, this shadow Treasurer is somebody who should never again be handed the keys to any economic portfolio—the same man who changed the law so he could keep a power price rise secret from the Australian people, and he sees fit to come into this place to lecture us about inflation. Yet where is he? The shadow Treasurer, the alternative Treasurer of this nation, can't even stay in the parliament for the MPI he has moved—a matter that he believes is so important that it should be debated in this chamber, and he can't even stay for it

Inflation started going up under the government that he was a senior minister in. In fact, the March 2022 quarter had the single highest inflation rate in Australia this century—in 23 years. So, inflation in the March quarter of 2022 was the highest in 23 years—under the Liberal government. Inflation kept going up because his government kept spending like there was no tomorrow and failed to put a lid on a pot that was boiling over.

I don't pretend that the inflation pressures affecting Australia are all the fault of the previous government. That would be as disingenuous as their suggestion, in this MPI, that inflation now is the fault of our government. Every credible economist and commentator knows and has stated that inflation is a global issue and is affecting many economies around the world. The war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic caused economic pressure to build up internationally, and here in Australia of course we've had a number of droughts and other disasters that have affected local production. When these things happen, either the pressure can be turned down, or it can bubble over. Central banks around the world have tightened monetary policy, raising interest rates, to cool their economies. When debt gets more expensive to service, then people who are holding debt, particularly mortgage holders, have less money to spend on other things, thereby reducing inflationary pressure. Indications are that 15 months after the tightening cycle started we are seeing inflation and interest rates stabilise, both here and internationally.

It has to be remembered that the Reserve Bank of Australia started putting interest rates up under the former Liberal government. The indications were clear before the election that inflation was higher than desirable and interest rates were on the march. What did the former Liberal government do in response? What decisions did the now shadow Treasurer participate in when he was a senior cabinet minister under the former government to keep inflation in check? While the pressures are global, decisions made domestically can make a difference. Did the former government rein in spending? Did they work on bringing down the national debt, which they had doubled before COVID and then tripled to nearly $1 trillion? No, they did not. The government the shadow Treasurer was a minister in kept on spending and spending, pork-barrelling its seats, shovelling public money to its mates, wasting money left, right and centre. Every dollar of it added to the debt mountain. Every dollar of it contributed to inflationary pressure and higher interest rates. Compare that to the decisions of this government since the May 2022 election.

We knew at the election that cost of living and growing inflation and interest rates would be inherited problems to deal with. Our focus has been on providing cost-of-living relief to the most vulnerable while not adding to inflationary pressures. Our assistance measures have been targeted, measured and responsible. Our economic decisions have been about making the structural decisions we need to grow the economy for the long term. We've delivered rent assistance, energy bill relief—which they voted against—cheaper child care and cheaper medicines. Our cost-of-living relief measures are expected to reduce inflation by three-quarters of a percentage point in 2023-24. Inflation will still be higher than we'd like and more persistent than ideal, but it's down from where it would have been if those opposite were still occupying the government benches. Our measures are making a meaningful difference to families around the country.

Inflation remains our No. 1 challenge, and we have a three-point plan to address it: budget restraint—delivering a $20 billion surplus, something those opposite failed to deliver—targeted cost-of-living relief, and investments to lift the capacity of the economy. The Reserve Bank governor made it clear that our measures are not adding to inflation. I don't think the budget is adding to inflation; as he said in May, it will actually reduce inflation in the next financial year.

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

I'm looking forward to getting back home tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to one of my schools to talk to the year 12 debating team there. We've just had a really good lesson from the speakers opposite on how not to structure an argument. Some are purporting that the government is doing all these amazing things to solve the cost-of-living challenge. Others are claiming that the previous government, which finished 15 months ago, are to blame for it. Then a third cohort are suggesting that there is no cost-of-living challenge to speak of and that Australians are doing very well.

When I go out and doorknock in my electorate, which I do every week, very regularly, the No. 1 issue raised is the cost of living. Everyone says that it is very difficult to bring the household budget together at the moment. Difficult decisions are being made by families across my electorate, and I'm sure that's the case across the country. They're talking about cancelling family holidays. They're worrying about how much the next electricity bill will have gone up since the last one. To suggest that things are not tough out there indicates to me that members opposite are simply not listening to people in their electorates, because it is really tough at the moment.

Real wages are going backwards. That's something to be ashamed of, not to gloss over, not to dispute. It is a disgrace, and they should admit it. The Labor Party is in government and real wages are going backwards; they should hang their heads in shame. Rather than take responsibility for it and do something about it, they put it on a government that finished 15 months ago, being more interested in excuses than achievements. That says a lot about the priorities of a government, particularly ones that calls itself the Labor Party. They need a new name, because they're clearly not about the workers of this country when they are presiding over the deterioration of wages. Wages going backwards is appalling and something to be embarrassed about.

In my home state, electricity prices are going up by 24 per cent this quarter. We've heard members opposite brag about the changes they've made to the energy system in this country, changes that are resulting in a 24 per cent increase on the average bill in my home state. To be proud of that—

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

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

I absolutely voted against energy prices going up by 24 per cent; thank you for the opportunity to reconfirm that. The fact that the government are bragging about electricity prices under their policies going up by 24 per cent is surprising, politically, but also disgraceful, when you think about the impact that is having on family budgets. Real wages are going down. Electricity prices in South Australia are going up by 24 per cent. Mortgages are going up. Rents are going up. People are making very difficult decisions around the kitchen table. They are cancelling family holidays. Maybe they are taking their kids out of a private school that they can't afford to send them to anymore. They are making difficult decisions about budgets for Christmas presents and how they're going to make ends meet through the holiday season, the high-cost season, because they don't have the real purchasing power today that they had 12 months ago, two years ago, three years ago or four years ago, because they're going backwards. Their wages are going backwards and their costs are dramatically going up.

The most recent inflation figure is six per cent annualised. To suggest that that's something to welcome and to delight in, the fact that it has moderated from seven per cent—as if six per cent is some sort of improvement from seven per cent. That means the destruction of people's wealth has slowed from seven per cent to six per cent. They're still going backwards, just at a slightly lesser velocity than the quarter before. Bragging about that and suggesting that that's something to be proud of as a record of the government absolutely beggars belief.

It is tough times out there right now, and those opposite had an opportunity to talk about what they're doing to address it. Instead, they're either pretending that it hasn't happened or talking about a government that ended 15 months ago. Why do people go into politics and want to get into government to then proceed to do absolutely nothing when they're there? We know what the culture is amongst those opposite. They're all about themselves and not about the struggling families of Australia.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know that it's Thursday afternoon and that some people might not be very happy vegemites on the other side of the chamber. However, I would say that this is a government that fundamentally cares about people. I would agree with one thing that the member for Sturt said: the cost of living is an issue that families are grappling with. That's something that we fundamentally understand. But what we're talking about today is who the better economic managers are. Who is it? I know that we on this side are that. That's not an opinion; that's fact.

Those opposite said that government spending would result in increased inflation. They were wrong. Inflation has moderated. They said that the budget was out of control. They were wrong. The Albanese Labor government delivered a surplus budget. Who was trying to do that for how long? And who printed the mugs? All coffee, no mugs. They said that government spending would lift wages and that wage increases would reduce the rate of employment. They were wrong. Unemployment is at historic lows. Yesterday I announced to the House that in my local regional alone there has been an increase in jobs since June last year. In real terms, that means 9,000 more jobs in my local region.

Unlike the Liberals, our economic plan is working. It's not an opinion. The figures show that. The Liberals cannot put inflation first when they keep saying no to Australians. The Prime Minister calls them the 'no-alition', the 'nasty party' and the 'naysayers'. They say no to everything. With the items that we've put forward to tackle inflation, they have said no. On energy relief they've said no. On a real increase to minimum wage they said no—to our lowest-paid workers that have done so much heavy lifting during the pandemic. On the Housing Australia Future Fund they said no. On fee-free TAFE places to address our skills shortage they said no. The National Reconstruction Fund has a productivity benefit. When we found out that media reports said that they were going to vote no for this, the Prime Minister needed to fact-check it. He was like: 'Really? Really? Are they going to say no to this?' We fact-checked it and, yes, they've said no!

Instead, the Albanese Labor government moves forward and is making smart and responsible decisions to balance the demands of the economy. The Albanese Labor government is in tune with what's going on in the country. We understand the cost-of-living pressures that are affecting Australians. I know that many families are doing it tough right now. I've spent lots of time in my community talking to families about this. But I also know that the Albanese Labor government is indeed tackling the inflation dragon first. Unlike those on the other side, I've taken time to understand what it means to my community.

Ours is an economic plan that has been carefully calibrated and constructed, and we're putting it together with the aim of easing cost-of-living pressures in a targeted way and not making it worse. It's a plan that's driven by the need to fight inflation first. Our plan is reducing inflation comparatively. Our plan is a long-term strategy to balance the priorities of the nation, because the truth is that we on this side see a future for our nation. We are looking not just at that short-term things that we need to do but at the medium term and the long term. I see that those opposite aren't looking to this side because I think they agree that our plan is indeed actually working.

Our plan includes assistance to Australians where they need it first: relief to energy bills, cheaper child care for Australian families, cheaper medicine for people who need it, and rental assistance for those that are struggling to meet payments. Lower inflation will ultimately lead to comparatively lower interest rates. This is good news to homeowners. We know that we need to keep working hard on helping Australians cope with cost-of-living pressure. I know that I like my Vegemite on Turkish bread with butter, and I want to make sure that all Australians can continue to afford their Vegemite.

The inflation levels are more consistent than we would like them to be. We know that we must continue to moderate and help the inflation dragon die. We're working hard to ensure that we do the investment that we need in Australia's future as well. The measures I have outlined are fighting inflation first. Labor's is correcting the decade of Liberal mismanagement. Labor is economically credible. We will fight inflation.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I suppose it's good to speak on this debate. It is the last day of the week, and there is a bit of joviality in the chamber—Turkish bread and 'back in black' mugs and all of the rest of it. But at the heart of this debate are real Australians suffering. That's what's going on here. Real Australians are in the middle of a crisis. That's what we are talking about. It's an important and very serious topic. I get around both the division of Wide Bay and the broader nation and I speak to people. They're telling me that they're doing a tough. They're finding it hard to make ends meet.

They're also telling me how disappointed they are in this Albanese Labor government. This has turned out to them to be a government that is more interested in treating the nation as a social and economic experiment than a serious job at hand. Indeed, they tell me that the Prime Minister has betrayed them. I can't help but agree with that. This is a prime minister who sat before the nation in what is the nation's biggest job interview and made any number of claims about how he was going to ease the cost-of-living pressures, how life under him would be easier, how life under him would be more affordable. What has happened? We are not better off; we are worse off, and we are facing a crisis in relation to inflation.

The policies of this government aren't addressing inflation. Inflation is caused by too much money chasing too few goods, effectively, and this government's policies are about pumping more money into the economy and creating a scarcity of goods. It's manifesting itself in some very shocking numbers that the government can't run away from: six per cent inflation CPI. That is shocking. I know the Treasurer came in here yesterday with a big sigh of relief about the cash rate staying on hold. I'm sure he was buoyed up by maintaining a bad economy that's not getting worse, but the reality is he is presiding over a shockingly bad economy. We've got some of the highest core inflation rates amongst advanced economies. This is not me making it up. These are facts. Our labour productivity is going through the floor. Real wages—what you get for the dollar that you earn—are plummeting at a record rate. Australians are suffering. They are suffering.

The recent National Australia Bank survey into home borrowers showed that 67 per cent of Australians under the age of 50 are saying that the rising cost of living is their biggest cause of strength. That is shocking; that is really, really bad. We've got Lifeline reporting that 80 per cent of its calls relate to cost-of-living pressures.

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

The discussion has concluded.