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

I've 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:

A weak and incompetent Prime Minister who has failed to deliver cost of living relief for the Australian people.

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 pla ces—

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

As every member of this place should know, Australians are facing a raging cost-of-living crisis right now. It's at times like these that they need a government they can rely on. They need a Prime Minister who is going to deliver results. They need a leader they can trust. They want to have a government and a Prime Minister that has their back and that treats their priorities as his priorities and as the government's priorities—getting that raging cost-of-living crisis under control.

Before the election that's how the Prime Minister positioned himself and the Labor Party. Unfortunately, Australians were sold a pup because, before the election, they were promised that their electricity bills were going to go down by $275. It's October and, sadly, for many Australians that's when they receive their quarterly electricity bills. I'll tell you what: they're not seeing a $275 reduction. They're not seeing a government that has their back. They're not seeing a Prime Minister they can trust. They are not seeing a government that has their priorities as their first priorities. Before the election, the Prime Minister promised cheaper mortgages. A typical Australian family with a mortgage is paying an extra $22,000 a year in mortgage payments, and there's no end in sight. In fact, even in the last 24 hours, the Reserve Bank governor has said there is still pain in the pipeline. Many Australian families are going from variable rates to fixed rates, over 800,000 this year alone, and there'll be more next year.

We know that capital markets, bond markets, are telling us that the long-term interest rate is to be over 4.6 per cent. That's higher than the current cash rate. There is no end in sight to interest rates that are high and hurting every single Australian family with a mortgage, and small businesses because so many of them have debt, as well.

We saw before the election that this government and this Prime Minister promised higher real wages. Sadly, we have seen the exact opposite. We know from the employee living cost index that a typical Australian family, a working family, have seen their cost of living in the last 12 months rise by over nine per cent, and their wages have only risen, in nominal terms, by about a third of that. Prices are rising three times their wages. That's real wages going down.

The Prime Minister doesn't understand this. He has no comprehension of basic economics—none whatsoever. He does not understand that, when real wages go down, your wages buy less. You've got fewer goods and services you can buy. But he doesn't get it. And families are hurting. They are hurting right across this great country. They're paying more for their groceries, more for their fuel—over $2 a litre for fuel—and more for their gas. We heard that in WA we're seeing sharp increases in gas prices. The Prime Minister doesn't even understand that his ham-fisted intervention doesn't even include Western Australia. He's never across the detail. He's never across the facts. He never understands what counts for middle Australia. He has no idea whatsoever.

Australians are stoic people, and they are making difficult decisions at this time. They are making decisions to work extra hours and to not drop their kids off at school the way they normally would because they have to work extra hours. They're taking on a second job. We're seeing a sharp increase in the number of Australians who are working a second job. They're putting off going to the doctor, they're allowing their insurance policies to lapse and they're not taking the annual family holiday. As we approach Christmas, they will spend less on their kids. They're buying fewer fruit and vegetables. New mums are having to go back to work sooner than they'd like to, in order to make ends meet in their household.

At a time like this, as I said, we would expect a government to treat this issue, this cost-of-living crisis, as its first, second and third priority. But the Prime Minister has spent the year distracted, so much so that we read this in the Australian newspaper, just in the last 24 hours:

… senior ministers who had developed economic, national security and social policies and strategies were instructed to put them on ice until after the referendum.

This is a prime minister who claims he wasn't distracted, but we know he was. It was all he talked about for months on end. He didn't cry about the cost-of-living crisis facing middle Australia; he focused on a completely different issue, which we all understand was his absolute obsession. Australians told him on Saturday what they thought about his obsession. They made their views on this very, very clear.

At a time like this, there is a great deal that government can do to address a cost-of-living crisis. In energy policy, they can focus on driving down energy prices by pumping more gas into the system and by opening up the energy system to all possible technologies. They can get serious about policies that can drive down prices and not continue to focus on policies that are pushing them up. We can see a government that is focused not on competition policy but on no-competition policy. We've seen them in recent months knock competitors out of the marketplace, knock Qatar Airways out of the marketplace because of their mates in Qantas, and every Australian has to pay a price for that crony capitalism. We've seen industrial relations policies that are about their union mates, about union officials, and not about middle Australia, not about making sure we've got workplaces where employers and employees can work together to drive up real wages and productivity simultaneously. We have a productivity crisis in this country. We have never seen anything like the Labor productivity collapse we've in the last five-quarters. It has never happened before, and you simply can't get real wages up under those circumstances.

Meanwhile, typical Australians have paid 15 per cent more in the last 12 months in tax. Before the election, this government promised that there would be no new taxes. But what we see is a government that is bringing in superannuation taxes; that is going after franking credits, having promised it wouldn't; that is allowing inflation to drive up income taxes for all Australians. As their incomes—their nominal incomes, not their real incomes—go up into higher brackets, they're paying higher tax. Even this week we saw the government bring legislation into this House which will reduce accelerated depreciation for small businesses. These are hardworking Australians.

These are hardworking Australians, small-business owners all over this great country who have appreciated the government in the past—not now, in the past—that said, 'When you buy a ute, when you buy a piece of equipment that will make your business more productive, it is fair that you should be able to accelerate the depreciation.' It is a great initiative that not only encourages them to invest in pieces of equipment that drive growth in the economy but increases their productivity—and at the same time it takes out red tape. But those opposite have said they don't like that. They're going to scale it back, and every small business in this country will pay a price for that.

In workforce policy, they've made all the wrong moves. They've made ham-fisted attempts to get more older Australians into the marketplace. We have laid out policies that can address that. But, again, they've failed to pursue those.

We have a weak and incompetent Prime Minister who has been obsessed with all the wrong issues. He's failed to deliver on the cost-of-living relief that all Australians want to see because he has had the wrong priorities. He has been distracted.

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

Today's matter of public importance is on the cost of living, and I could take the House through some of the statistics that reflect what the Albanese government is doing to tackle the effect in Australia of the global cost-of-living crisis. But instead I want to start by talking about some of the stories of ordinary Australians whose lives have benefited from cost-of-living measures that the Albanese government has put into place.

Our cheaper childcare measures were welcomed by Blanca Ramirez, a woman in Canberra whose daughter, Paloma, is at daycare. As a result of the increase to the childcare subsidy, Blanca has moved to working four days a week. That ensures that her productivity is up, that their household budget is improved and that Paloma has a little bit more support. As Blanca puts it, 'I can run around and I'm not like dead tired after work.' There are 1.2 million families across Australia benefiting from Labor's cheaper childcare measures.

And then there's Mia, who moved to Canberra from regional New South Wales. She's 20 years old and was working as a casual hospitality worker. Mia wanted to become a teacher but couldn't afford the fees to get the qualification to get started. Thanks to the Albanese government's support for fee-free TAFE, she's completed a course called Introduction to Education Support, and she's now been able to start her career as a teacher's assistant. I wish Mia all the best in her career. This is another cost-of-living measure, one that is helping Mia make a bigger contribution to the Australian economy.

Then there's Melanie, in my electorate of Fenner. Melanie is a single mum who's moved into a new home with her eight-year-old son. She has benefitted from the School Student Broadband Initiative, an initiative that connects households at risk with fee-free broadband in order to ensure that those families have access to the internet, which is so crucial for staying in touch with friends and family and for students being able to participate in education. There is Lauree, a woman from Tasmania who had been homeless for two years before she had access to social housing. There is Sean who was under housing stress and therefore couldn't get the surgery he needed because doctors said he had nowhere safe to be discharged to. As a result of Sean getting a social housing place, he was then able to get the operation he needs.

Many Australians have benefited from our health policies. There are over 40,000 Australians who have taken advantage of our urgent care centres. In Tasmania, Tracey, a First Nations woman, attended the Launceston Medicare urgent care clinic in early October with deep lacerations and punctures to her foot. She was seen within 30 minutes. Her wounds were cleaned and repaired. There is Melissa in New South Wales, whose daughter was injured playing soccer, and Melissa thought it might have been a fracture. She knew how long the wait times can be in emergency departments, so she took her daughter to the Penrith Medicare urgent care clinic where she seen, X-rayed—thankfully there was no fracture—and provided with a CAM boot.

Then there are the benefits of our cheaper medicines policy, our policy which ensures that Australians can get two months worth of medicine for the previous price of one month. Jonathan Smithers, the CEO of Arthritis Australia, is a 61-year-old from Sydney. He takes two medicines for his blood pressure and cholesterol, irbesartan and rosuvastatin. He said that, as a result of the government's measures, he will only need to see his doctor once a year rather than twice, and he will save at least $360 a year on the cost of his medicines alone.

The benefits to the community of Labor's health policies are remarkable. Last year we made the largest investment in bulkbilling in the 40-year history of Medicare, tripling the incentives that doctors get to bulkbill pensioners, children and other concession cardholders. That benefits some five million children and their families and some seven million pensioners and other concession cardholders. But that is just one of our cost-of-living health measures. In July last year we lowered the PBS safety net threshold by 25 per cent, meaning that pensioners and other concession cardholders will pay just $5 a week on average for their yearly PBS medicines. We have reduced the maximum copayment on the PBS to $30, the largest reduction in the 75-year history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. I'm pleased that the Minister for Health and Aged Care has returned to the chamber so that he can hear me praising his cost-of-living policies. On the cheaper medicines, two prescriptions for the price of one, just in the first month of the policy some 200,000 prescriptions had been issued, and once fully implemented some six million Australians will benefit. Patients with a heart condition, Crohn's disease, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and many other conditions will save up to $180 per year per medicine.

This morning it was a pleasure to visit the urgent care centre in Weston Creek. We were shown around the centre by clinical nurse manager Ashleigh Wilson, and Chief Minister Andrew Barr, my colleagues David Smith, the member for Bean, Alicia Payne, the member for Canberra, Senator Katy Gallagher and the Assistant Minister For Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney, heard about the benefits to Canberrans of the federal government expanding the urgent care clinics.

Now, the opposition seem to think that their only job is to oppose. They don't realise that the opportunity of opposition is to be able to think about the needs of the nation and to produce policies that will deliver. Many of the cost-of-living policies that I've talked about came out of our time in opposition. Let me go through some of the measures in the then Leader of the Opposition's first two budget replies: removing the cap on the childcare subsidy, improving TAFE funding, ensuring that one in 10 workers on government funded sites would be apprentices or trainees, onshore manufacturing for defence and rail, net zero by 2050 and Rewiring the Nation, investing in social housing, an Australian centre for disease control, a national anticorruption commission, the Housing Australia Future Fund, new energy apprenticeships, criminalising wage theft, legislating an obligation on employers to keep their employees safe from discrimination and harassment, and creating a mentoring program for 2,000 young innovators to start a business straight out of university. These are the measures in the now Prime Minister's first two budget replies.

The Leader of the Opposition has also had two budget replies. What did we see out of them? Nothing. The only idea for the cost of living that we heard from the Leader of the Opposition in his first two budget replies was that Australia should fund nuclear power. As the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has pointed out, 'If they think they can deliver a nuclear power station for $1 billion, throw in the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.' Nuclear power is too slow, too expensive, too out of sync with the competitive advantages in Australia. The fact is that the only energy policy that those opposite have is a policy which could not be delivered for a decade at a minimum—a policy which has been rejected by all the experts. The most expensive form of energy is that which is being favoured by those on the other side.

The job of the opposition is to stop opposing everything—to stop standing in the way of wage increases, to stop trying to block our energy relief package for households and small businesses, to stop being out there just saying no for the sake of no. It's no coincidence that next to the Leader of the Opposition's office is a John Brack painting with the word 'no' on it. The Leader of the Opposition must see it every day when he walks out of his office and must just think that his job is to be a nattering nabob of negativity.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That speech by assistant minister was pretty pathetic. Honestly, do you not listen to the Leader of the Opposition's speeches at all? He's got a lot of great policy. What we here are saying is that the Prime Minister is weak and incompetent—absolutely weak and incompetent. The Prime Minister has failed to deliver cost-of-living relief for the Australian people. It just astounds me that the Labor Party is so out of touch with the people whom we're meant to represent and the cost-of-living crisis that they're going through now. With everyday costs suffocating them day to day, Australians are crying out for some relief. But the truth is that their cries are falling on deaf ears. They will go unanswered. There is no relief coming for Australians under this Labor government. As one constituent said recently, never in our history have we had such an incompetent leader representing Australians. That might be a bit harsh, but that's what they're thinking.

Didn't the Prime Minister say that life would be easier under him? I guess that's just another broken promise under the Albanese Labor government. Australians are struggling. The government are out of touch with the issues that are currently hitting hard and they have no answers. The best we have had from the assistant minister, I think, would be child care, which is going some way towards helping working families with children. The reality is that a lot of childcare costs have actually gone up, so there's nothing. There's no relief coming. Instead, he's been focused for the past 18 months on this referendum, which is a failed vanity project, right in the middle of when Australians have been experiencing this cost of living. The opposition have raised that. As he correctly said in parliament today, they have asked 90 questions or something on it and have received very little in answer.

As a result, he's let down the Australian people and he's let down Aboriginal people—$450 million wasted on that referendum. In Barton, the Minister for Indigenous Australian's seat, 57 per cent voted no. How do you think she feels, with that sort of leadership from this Prime Minister? In Hasluck, the former minister's seat, 66 per cent voted no. In Gilmore, 62 per cent voted no. In Bendigo, 60 per cent voted no. I'll keep going. In Parramatta—he's over there—55 per cent voted no. In Hinkler, 80 per cent voted no. It was a complete waste of money. I won't talk about Blair; Queensland was a disaster. But the reality is that not one state got up, and this government has spent a year and a half focusing on this and not listening to Australians about the cost of living.

The fact is that, from groceries to petrol to health care, minister, to rent and housing, everything is going up. It's just not good enough. If you look at rent and housing, Peter said to me:

I'm 71 years old & have been an amputee for 43 years. Life has been tough for me … my rent increased—

under this government—

from $296 per week to $480 per week … that increase is really hurting me—

I'm sorry, Peter—

Not only do I suffer physically every day, but financially also. Is there any chance down the track, that the people in charge of such decisions will look into it & perhaps give old farts like me a financial break.

Those are the words that he said to me.

The reality is that rent is increasing because interest rates are increasing under Treasurer Chalmers. There have been 12 interest rate rises. The fact is that housing has doubled. If you're paying off a house, no matter what you're earning if you're working in this country, your housing costs have doubled, and then, of course, rents have doubled. The assistant minister spoke about social housing or some sort of housing package, but homelessness has increased under the Albanese Labor government. It's gone up. It's gone through the roof. In 2021 homelessness fell in three acute areas, and under this government it's going up. That's because they're only focused on social housing and giving to the states. They're not focused on the private sector. The fact is that we've got a housing crisis now because working families' cost of living is going through the roof, and they're running from investing in the private sector when 90 per cent of housing in this country is in the private sector.

Under the Albanese Labor government, you won't get relief. You will not get relief until a coalition government returns. In groceries, 'It is becoming increasingly difficult to provide a fresh, healthy diet for my family,' says Damien from Aspley, 'let alone support local Australian farmers and producers.' It's just terrible under this government. The reality is that the shadow Treasurer is right: the Prime Minister is incompetent, and he's failing people.

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

This matter of public importance is so important to the opposition that they've got four people in the chamber. The actual mover of the motion, the shadow Treasurer, hasn't got the grace to stay here to listen to the speeches of his own side, let alone of the government. That's why it's so important. And the previous speaker, the member Petrie, spent half the time talking about the referendum and not about the cost of living. But, if you listen to the shadow Treasurer, his answer to the cost-of-living issues, which are really affecting Australians, is nuclear power and attack the trade unions. Those were the two things he talked about to relieve cost-of-living pressures.

The reality is that this particular government is doing everything it possibly can to improve the lives of Australian people, and those opposite keep voting against it in this place. They've got political amnesia. They keep forgetting the votes that they cast in this place. Again and again they vote no to cost-of-living relief. Honestly, when it comes to the legislation that we're bringing to this place, those opposite keep forgetting. When it came to electricity price relief, they sat there all afternoon and voted no again and again. When it came to cheaper child care, they opposed it. They voted no. They didn't support it either. When it came to increased rent assistance, they opposed it. When it came to more Medicare bulk-billing, they said it was a waste of money and they opposed it. When it came to cheaper medicines, the 60-day scripts, they opposed it. When it came to fee-free TAFE, they opposed that again. They opposed again and again all the efforts we've made to help people.

They opposed affordable housing. They opposed the Housing Australia Future Fund. They opposed, once again, expanding paid parental leave. They also opposed creating jobs and getting wages moving. Remember when the Prime Minister, then the opposition leader, had a dollar coin in his hand? They thought the economy would collapse if you increased the minimum wage. They opposed extra wages for those working in the aged-care sector. They opposed extra wages for those working in the childcare sector. And then they come into this place and move this motion.

Honestly, it is completely at odds with their own actions. I thought their parents would have taught them something: actually, you do what you say you're going to do. That's what we're doing. Those opposite say one thing and do another. Again, again and again they've voted against it. The political amnesia of the coalition—they also forget that they were in government for about nine years, nearly 10 years. They've forgotten that. All of a sudden, everything that they did over here is something in political history that happened at the turn of the last century, or the century before that. They keep forgetting about it.

What about energy price relief and the 22 policies they tried to land? Some of those things, like the NEG, didn't last from the party room to question time. That's how hopeless they were when it came to that. All of a sudden the answer is nuclear. I'll look forward to putting a nuclear power plant at Redcliffe, for the member for Petrie—he must think that's a good idea—or on the Brisbane River or the Bremer River. How about we put it at Wivenhoe Dam, if you believe in nuclear power? I bet you won't do that. You will not do that, because it's all about what you say and not what you do.

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

Order! Member for Petrie, you'll be asked to leave if you do not stop interjecting.

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

I look forward to those opposite campaigning in South-East Queensland on nuclear power. I look forward to them saying, 'We'll put it near Bulimba,' or, 'We'll put it near Griffith.' How about we put a nuclear power plant near the federal electorate of Ryan? That's what they're going to be arguing at the next election, because of course that will relieve the power prices for the people of Brisbane and surrounds—not passing legislation like we did last year. Honestly, I thought they had political smarts. I thought they were pretty intelligent, those opposite, from time to time. I didn't always agree with them, but I thought sometimes they got it right. But to come into this place, vote against energy price relief and then move a motion like this today—it's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous.

And how about you turn up? I think MPIs for those opposite are a waste of time because they treat it with complete disdain. The mover doesn't even stay here. The shadow Treasurer won't ask questions of the Treasurer, and the mover, the shadow Treasurer, won't even stay. Look at the front bench there—no-one with the member for Petrie. Not one single person has turned up for those opposite. That's how much they respect cost-of-living pressures on people of Australia.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Blair's biggest complaint is that there aren't enough people on the opposition side, but we don't need more than four to put you to bed, Sunshine, I can tell you! In fact, this is an overkill; four is too many—far too many.

Coming to the MPI: what we know is there a very few tradespeople on that side. The member for Hunter is here, and I acknowledge that, as he's a former fitter and turner, there is at least one on that side of the parliament; I'm not sure about the others. I want to use an analogy. When it comes to the cost of living in this country, the people of Australia are in the iron vice. They are between the iron jaws—and this is a piece of apparatus where you turn the screw and the vice gets tighter—and they are getting absolutely screwed by the cost of living, and it is because of the policies of those opposite. This is a multi-jaw vice; it is coming from every single direction. They are paying more in interest rates—increases from those opposite. They're paying more for food because of the policies of those opposite. Inflation continues to increase, which drives up the cost of pretty much everything. In every single direction, they are getting more pressure in terms of their cost of living.

I did a piece in a Sky interview where I spoke about the impact of the increases in electricity prices under this government and the impact that would have on the individual who is trying to cook their steak of a night time. I've got to tell you that I got a lot of complaints about the fact that I spoke about steak. People came to me and said: 'We can't afford to buy steak. We are buying party pies and sausage rolls because the cost of living is so high we can't afford to buy food of that quality.' We get it. We understand what is happening to the Australian people.

If you look at the policies of those opposite that are screwing the vice even tighter, they are around energy prices; they are around fuel. We have seen those opposite, this government, spend an additional $188 billion in their budgets—$188 billion. And what's the impact we've seen? They've also increased the heavy-vehicle road user charge. Every single vehicle owner in this country who was eligible for much better rebates on their diesel has seen that increase, and it will continue to increase. What does that do? It puts up the cost of transport, the cost of logistics and the cost of the delivery of the food that these individuals need. This is one of the reasons that the policies of this government continue to impact every single Australian. They are in the vice grip of the cost of living, and it's getting tighter and tighter and tighter.

What do we see in the media this week? We see a prelim of Melbourne Cup day, and not in a good way. We see commentary that the Reserve Bank is likely to increase interest rates once again—again. Every single Australian with a mortgage is now paying more under this Labor government. Every single Australian is paying more for their food. Every single Australian is paying more for transport and logistics.

We see things that have impacts even on the social side. We see the closure of aged-care facilities. We see individuals come into this place and talk up Labor policies, but what I'm seeing is the closure of an aged-care centre in my region. It's been announced for the end of the year.

I'm pleased that the Minister for Health and Aged Care is in the chamber, because the first government speaker, the member for Fenner, spoke a lot about urgent care clinics and the great service that's being provided in a number of places. This federal Labor government committed to an urgent care clinic in Bundaberg being in place from 1 July this year. I'm quite confident that, if I look at the date today in the calendar, we have gone past 1 July. So I say to the minister for health: where is the urgent care clinic in Bundaberg? When will it be delivered for the people of Bundaberg and regions? When will they get their opportunity? It's great for others, and I'm very pleased that they have that opportunity, but it has not been delivered for the people I represent. It is yet another broken commitment from those opposite. They continue to break their promises, whether it is on electricity prices, urgent care clinics or the cost of transport and fuel.

Every single Australian is suffering because of the focus of this Prime Minister and this federal government on the weekend's referendum for a very long period of time. While the government continues to be distracted, the Australian people will pay. While the government continues to be distracted by other issues, the Australian people will have increases in their cost of living. Who can forget the Prime Minister, when he was running for the job he is currently in, waving around a $1 coin? That $1 coin is now worth far less under this federal Labor government because real costs have increased and real wages have gone backwards, and it is the policies of this government that are screwing the vice tighter on the cost of living.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to join my colleagues in responding to this matter of public importance today put before the House by the shadow Treasurer, as I watch the numbers of those opposite be depleted again as another member leaves the chamber after their five-minute contribution. I would like to raise, too, the fact that this is the same MPI that we have been doing for 17 months, day in, day out. The people on this side of the House understand the impacts that inflation is having on our communities. That's why we've been taking action. That's why this government has been delivering $23 billion of support, targeted to where it's needed most.

I'd just say to the previous speaker, the member for Hinkler, that an urgent care clinic for Bundaberg is a fabulous idea. It's a pity you didn't have that idea in your 9½ years in government, because that is one of the answers in my community. My community is home to an urgent care clinic, and in Victoria we've already had 30,000 presentations to urgent care clinics across the state. The House might be interested to know that nearly a third of those patients have been under 15 years old, nearly a third of visits have taken place on weekends and more than one in five visits have taken place after 6 pm on weekdays. Obviously, the design of the Urgent Care Clinic is to make up for 10 years of neglect and undermining of the Medicare system that saw 30 per cent of GPs leave my electorate when those opposite took away our priority area status. We lost 30 per cent of GPs in my booming electorate, which has gone up by another 11,000 people since May 2022—another 11,000 people registered to vote in my electorate in that time. But those opposite took away the priority status from my area. We lost 30 per cent of our doctors. They're very quiet over there now—very quiet! That's 30 per cent of doctors no longer in my electorate. That means that the surgeries which were doing longer hours are gone. Surgeries operating on weekends are gone. An Urgent Care Clinic in my electorate is making sure that people can access a doctor and not wait for seven or eight hours at an emergency department. This is critical.

That's the list of things that we're doing, and that's because we're fully aware of how hard people are doing it at the moment. I represent a mortgage belt; I represent people with mortgages and I know how hard they're doing it. That's why I am so pleased that 8,000 families in my electorate are paying 14 per cent less per hour for child care for every hour their children are in child care. I visited a childcare centre two weeks ago with the member for Cowan, the Minister for Early Childhood Education. I heard this firsthand from the owner-operator of that childcare centre—a small business—who said to me that their occupancy rates have gone up to 92 per cent because mothers in that community were working. Guess what? Just as predicted, they were working two more days a week. So those families were in a better position; their family budgets are working better because of the actions of this government.

Those opposite want to come in here every day and exploit the inflationary position that we're in globally and suggest that this government is distracted. We are not distracted! Let's go through the list: cheaper child care—there it is at No. 1. There are Urgent Care Clinics; increased rent assistance; more Medicare bulk-billing; and cheaper medicines. They opposed cheaper medicines. We have boosted income support payments for those doing it tough the most. We have introduced Fee-Free TAFE training, and the subscriptions are so high that we have had to increase the number of places. We heard today in question time about the extraordinary number of those places which are going to people, like the young people in my electorate, doing early childhood education. We are building more affordable homes, we're expanding paid parental leave and, most importantly, we're doing what we said we would do, which is get wages moving.

And for the aged-care workers in my electorate, when I meet with them they tell me they're very pleased to be in receipt of a 15 per cent pay rise and very pleased that their wages have gone up—as is everybody on the minimum wage in my electorate.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are in a cost-of-living crisis, and the Prime Minister has been distracted. I think that's pretty obvious. When governments put in business-unfriendly policies—that is, when they make it harder to do business in this nation—then the costs go up. And when the costs go up, those costs are passed on to consumers and the cost-of-living crisis gets worse. It's a supply-and-demand truism. It's one of those sort of scientific propositions that's hard to argue with—a bit like the fact that aluminium doesn't rust!

The Prime Minister is allowing some ministers to do some things that are damaging business and damaging the economy. That's what I am hearing in my electorate. One example is energy policy. Less exploration for gas means less gas and higher costs. If you don't have as much of something then the cost of what's left goes up. When businesses have to use that then they pass the costs on to the consumer. That's the cost of living. I got a lower electricity bill recently—and many of my constituents did that too. It's because we put on rooftop solar. I did that under the previous coalition government, so people can't come in here and say that nothing happened in the past nine years. A lot of rooftop solar went on. That saved a lot of people's electricity costs, and it reduced emissions by a lot. I saw the previous government do a lot in that area.

In industrial relations, again, it's a confusing, complex system that the minister is proposing to put in. Businesses are telling me that they're going to have to put on more people and they're going to have to pay more. They're going to have more bureaucracy, less productivity and more red tape, leading to a higher cost of doing business. What are they going to do? They're going to pass that on to the consumer, and the cost-of-living crisis is going to get worse.

These are things that are in the pipeline now, but you ain't seen anything yet. You know that song from the seventies, 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet'? It's by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Well, 'Business Destruction Overdrive' is the name of the government's band! You ain't seen nothing yet. Here's something you're going to regret. We are going to regret the dreadful policy around the Murray-Darling Basin Plan that passed this place—the worst stuff I've ever seen a parliament do—because, if you take something away from business, there'll be less of it, the cost of their inputs is going to go up, and they're going to have to pass that on.

There are things that we can choose to buy, but there are things that we have to buy, and we have to buy food. If you take away Australia's ability to grow food, and a lot of it is grown in my electorate—apples, peaches, milk, cheese—if you take away Australian farmers' ability to grow that because you wreck the business model by pushing one of the inputs too high then when Australians who don't live in my electorate go into the supermarket and have a look around at the fresh produce the prices are going to be up, or, even worse, the produce is going to be imported from another country. People might say: 'That's alright. Maybe it'll be a bit cheaper.' Yes, but it will put everyone in my electorate out of a job. So how do you think the cost-of-living crisis is going to go when they don't have a job?

Seriously, if you want to approach the cost-of-living crisis, let businesses operate productively. We've seen them do it before. It's what this country was built on. It's what my electorate was built on. People have been coming from all over the world to put some capital in and have a serious crack at creating a business. The best governments have got out of their way and said, 'We'll put a framework in, but we reckon you, the private sector, know how to operate a really productive, globally competitive business that supplies great things to people here in Australia at a reasonable cost.' But, no, this government are saying, 'We're going to make it harder for you to do business. We're going to increase your costs of doing business,' and therefore what's going to happen? The cost of business will go up, the prices of the things that they're selling to us will go up, and the cost-of-living crisis will get worse.

In this parliament we talk about child care and all sorts of stuff—and that's good—but let's focus on letting business do business.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise here today and speak on this MPI, in which those opposite label the Prime Minister 'weak and incompetent'. When you think about it, we should be turning the tables and pointing the finger at them. If we look at the past decade, we see weakness and incompetence. The opposition, which was in government then, will go down in history as being one of the governments that illegally extracted money from the poorest of the poor, through robodebt. If you want to talk about incompetence, they were warned about robodebt, they were told about it, but they would not budge. They were quite happy to extract billions of dollars from everyday Australians illegally, as it was described by the judge. That's incompetence. That's absolute incompetence.

If you want to talk about what we're doing, from day one the Prime Minister's goal has been to ease cost-of-living pressures, to ease the hardship that Australians go through every day. When we debated in this place to increase wages, those opposite opposed it. We saw that. Every time we have brought legislation in this place to ease the cost of living, they've opposed it. Remember the electricity debate that we had towards the end of last year. They opposed it. When they left government, the budget was in a very weak position. We were in a deficit. Today we see the budget in a very strong position. That doesn't happen by chance. It happens by putting measures in place, and that's what this government and this Prime Minister have been doing.

We've strengthened Medicare. They took billions of dollars from our health system from 2013. They took out billions of dollars in every budget, and therefore there was pressure on our health system. The same people who caused a lot of the pain are now complaining about it, which is like someone lighting a fire and then running off and calling the fire brigade. That is what they are doing. As I said, they opposed minimum wages. We have created 155,000 new jobs, which means 155,000 new positions so that people will be able to work, have dignity and have a wage to put food on the table, pay their mortgages and live decently I'm very proud of the 15 per cent wage increase for our aged-care workers. They appreciate it, yet those on that side opposed it and will never appreciate it because it is within their DNA to oppose any betterment of workers' rights and any increase of wages.

During the decade they were in government, they demonstrated a complete disconnect from the everyday challenges of regular Australians, and repeated attempts to slash government funded paid parental leave is one of them. That is a sign of incompetence. Wanting to increase the price of essential medicines by a copayment of $5 per script is a direct hit on people's pockets and those that can least afford it. That is a complete disconnect from the electorate and incompetence. That was really a cowardly thing to do: you attacked the sickest people in our community and tried to extract money from them.

Changing the law to hide energy price hikes before an election shows they were putting their interests ahead of the interests of the people that they are supposed to represent. That is a clear sign of not only weakness but incompetence as well. When using words such as 'weak' and 'incompetence', we should be talking about the opposition leader and also all those on the other side of this chamber for their actions when they were in government, not our Prime Minister. It is concerning that those on the other side seem to be more interested in political gains than in standing up for Australians. When they had the opportunity to lead, their focus seemed to be on policies that set Australia up for failure, and now in opposition they seem determined to obstruct progress rather than contribute to the betterment of the country.

We can't deny that there is a housing crisis in Australia at the moment, but there was not one single policy on housing while they were in government. What we saw was nothing on housing. We are acting to deal with the problems with housing, and the policy that we put through this place recently will be proof of that. In their entire time in power they failed to take any meaningful action to address our housing issues. They had their chance, but they didn't answer, and when the Albanese government recently tried to deliver it—and we did—they opposed it at every step. (Time expired)

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to commend the member for Nichols for his contribution, a wonderful contribution about the importance of supporting farmers. We need to let farmers farm. My community has a strong agricultural community, like his, and it is so important that they can do their work and grow the food that feeds the country at a very cheap price. I also want to commend the member for Hume for this important motion. The cost of living is no doubt the biggest issue that the community is facing at the moment. They feel it every day. It was quite interesting that, when I was reading the papers on Sunday, I came across an article that I thought summed up my feelings quite well, so I will take the opportunity to read from the paper:

People feel the quality of life is going down and government makes it worse, with large targets for immigration and people forced out of affordable housing. They think we haven't solved [the cost-of-living crisis] and that [the voice] was a project for elites, not for them.

The government has to focus on cost of living.

Those are very strong words, a great quote from the member for Macarthur. The member for Macarthur has laid it out quite well for us all. The article also notes that many other Labor backbenchers supported his view but weren't prepared to go on the record, so I do commend the member for Macarthur for saying what many of those opposite are thinking and feeling. It takes courage for him to come out and say that. Hopefully some others on that side will follow his lead.

That's the reality with this Prime Minister, as the member for Macarthur put so well—he is not focused on costs of living and he doesn't have any answers for the Australian people. He doesn't have solutions to the problems the country faces. You see that in question time. Whenever he's asked a question by us or by his own side, he pivots and talks about the opposition and the opposition leader. I was trying to work out who he reminded me of, and it came to me today in question time. It's Brooks. For those that haven't seen TheShawshank RedemptionI'm sure many have—go and watch it. It's a great movie.

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

Member for Hawke.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Brooks was institutionalised. After 27 years in parliament, this Prime Minister has spent 20 years of those 27 years in opposition.

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

Member for McNamara, do not interject. At any time, it is rude, but, outside of your seat, it is especially disorderly. Sorry, Member for Casey.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you. He spent 27 years in parliament—20 years in opposition; seven years in government. He has had 18 months now as Prime Minister, but six of those years were in the glory years of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era. This is the reality. This Prime Minister knows opposition. It's his natural habitat. So when he gets asked a question, he can't provide solutions to the Australian people; he just attacks and criticises the opposition. That's all he knows—being in opposition. It would be funny if it didn't actually hurt the Australian people.

There are many examples of these—and I've only got a minute and a half left; I can't go through them all—but one great example of this Prime Minister being more suited to opposition is with fuel prices. Fuel prices today in Canberra are at around $2.13 at the bowser and $2.35 for diesel. In 2021, when it was $1.79, the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister, was very happy to criticise the Prime Minister of the day for petrol prices and not doing enough to bring them down. So, apparently, when you're in opposition, and it's at $1.79, it's an issue. When it's $2.13 now for the Australian people, and he's actually in power and can do something about it, he has not a word about it, not a solution.

But what did the then government, now opposition, do when petrol hit over $2 because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? It acted. It cut the fuel excise in half and capped it at six months, a policy that gave relief to the Australian people when they needed it, straightaway, but made it limited so it didn't have long-term structural impacts on the budget. That's an action that the former government took with petrol prices. But what do this Prime Minister and those opposite have to say about petrol prices when they're at $2.13? Nothing. The Australian people know this Prime Minister can complain and his natural habitat is in opposition. He has no solutions for the Australian people, and they feel it every day.

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

I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this matter. Indeed, I thank the opposition for bringing this to the House today. I know, when I think of a weak and incompetent prime minister, my mind is cast back to the last 10 years. There's a list of names that I'm thinking of, but thank goodness none of them have been in the job since 21 May 2022. Honestly, it does seem, from these strange motions that come constantly before the House, put forward by those opposite, that there is nothing of substance that they can add to the debate when it comes to cost-of-living relief for Australian families. I urge them to do better.

For the purpose of this debate, I think it's only fair and reasonable—and let's accept that this is a sensible motion for one moment; let's pretend it is—that we take a moment to compare and contrast this Prime Minister and this government's record of delivering cost-of-living relief for Australians with that of the opposition. We know that the coalition adopted a deliberate strategy of wage suppression as part of their economic strategy, keeping workers' pay low for nine long years. This Prime Minister and this government, the Albanese Labor government, successfully put forward a case and argued for a Fair Work Commission minimum wage increase in line with inflation, delivering pay rises to the lowest-paid workers in this country. We've also ensured that there is a 15 per cent pay increase for aged-care workers. And let's not forget what the aged-care system looked like under those opposite. It was appalling.

The coalition ignored casual workers during the worst part of the pandemic, telling them ruthlessly, cruelly, to pay their own way through. I know that in my own community of Chisholm there were queues of people left behind at churches and at food banks, trying to get what they needed to survive. During the COVID-19 pandemic we extended the pandemic leave that those opposite had put an expiration date on even though people still needed assistance. The coalition ignored the rising cost of childcare, and I note that the mention of childcare was cast aside as somehow unrelated to the cost of living by those opposite, which just demonstrates how absolutely out of touch they are and that they really should have thought twice before bringing this motion to the House of Representatives.

Under Prime Minister Albanese's leadership, we've introduced legislation for cheaper childcare, which has meant 1.26 million families are better off. I know 7½ thousand families in my electorate are better off. We did more in a week, when we introduced the changes and they came into effect, than those opposite did in nine years.

On this side of the House, we know that bulk-billing is the beating heart of Medicare, and of course we actually think Medicare is a really important part of the health system in Australia. That's why our government made the largest investment in bulk-billing in the 40-year history of Medicare, with $3.5 billion invested to triple the incentives that doctors get to bulk-bill children, pensioners and other concession-card holders. On the other hand, the coalition froze the Medicare rebate for six years. Can you believe that? It is just dreadful. That made it more expensive to see a doctor than ever before.

Since 1 September of this year, the cost of medicines for six million Australians has been cut. This means $200 million is back in the pockets of Australians every year. This matters. We lowered the PBS safety net threshold, reduced the price of 2,000 brands of medicine and reduce the maximum copayment to $30. The economic mismanagement of the coalition instead left us with a trillion dollars in debt and not a cent of anything meaningful to show for it.

Our economic plan is a deliberate and direct response to the economic circumstances that were left to us. On this side of the House, we understand that household budgets are tight and that the impacts of cost-of-living pressures and inflation are being felt around kitchen tables across the country. We understand that. We know people are paying more for things they can't do without, and that's why we have a 10-point plan to address the cost-of-living pressures in our community. That's why we're delivering for Australian people. I think most Australians know what a disingenuous motion this is and the Albanese government is the government that is in their corner.