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

When Labor came into government last year, we knew Australia was facing a period of economic uncertainty and global uncertainty. We know Australians are doing it tough and that's why we have been working hard at finding solutions to this cost-of-living crisis. Global oil production cuts, the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East are contributing to price pressures globally and here at home, and many Australians are seeing the impact at the bowser.

The Albanese government is providing help to ease some of the pressure on people, at the same time as it will help ease inflation in our economy. We all know that with inflation, it means that every dollar a person earn travels a smaller distance. The centrepiece of our second budget, of Treasurer Jim Chalmers' second budget, was the $14.6 billion cost-of-living package designed to ease pressures on Australians while putting downward pressure on inflation—not a cash splash. It was carefully designed.

Our measures include spending $4.9 billion to increase the base rate of several working-age and student income support payments, like the JobSeeker payment and youth allowance, by $40 per fortnight for eligible recipients. We're extending eligibility for the existing higher rate of the JobSeeker payment to single Australians aged 55 to 59 years who've been on the payment for nine or more continuous months to match that applying to those over 60. And we've expanded eligibility to single parents who are principal carers whose youngest child is under 14 years of age, the majority of whom are women. Most sensible people realise this is a policy we needed to get right.

Changes to pharmacy maximum dispensing quantities has reduced the cost of medicines by up to half for at least six million Australians—something that the coalition voted against. Some patients have already received two months worth of their medicines after a visit to their pharmacy. This measure will actually save $1.6 billion in out-of-pocket costs over four years. We also introduced legislation for cheaper child care that will help 1.26 million Australian families. And we've provided relief on electricity bills, in partnership with state and territory governments, through the Energy Bill Relief Fund to take pressure off households and small businesses. And again, those opposite voted against it. It's good to see that some of the injection of renewable energy into the energy grid is now starting to lower prices—maybe not at the retail point yet, but the energy market is certainly starting to have some of the pressure taken off.

From 1 November, we've seen our 10-point cost-of-living plan ramp up, which includes tripling the bulk-billing incentive, which has made it easier for more than 11 million Australians to see a bulk-billing doctor with no out-of-pocket costs. This is the largest investment in bulk-billing incentives since Medicare was introduced by Labor to Australians. It's obviously designed to try to keep up with those cost-of-living pressures. We don't want them worrying about finding affordable medical care while making decisions about sick kids and the like. And we don't want people going to emergency departments. We want people to use our GPs.

Although it was six months late because of the Greens, our Housing Australia Future Fund started on 1 November to support the delivery of 20,000 social homes and 10,000 affordable homes across the country. The Housing Australia Future Fund adds to the work of the $3 billion New Homes Bonus and the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator.

As someone with a wonderful TAFE in Acacia Ridge, which is in my electorate, I was very pleased to hear that our plan to train, retrain or upskill Australians and tackle the skills shortages that so many businesses are complaining about is a raging success with 180,000 fee-free places filled within six months. It means that more people can afford to be well trained for secure jobs in the future and, obviously, it doesn't add to inflation.

One in four jobs in Australia are linked to trade. It's important as a trading nation that we make sure we get the settings right—especially when it comes to dealing with China, our biggest trading partner. A quarter of our trade jobs are linked to China, so we know we've got to get the setting right. We need a good relationship with our biggest trading partner because it helps our workers and it helps our farmers to keep their jobs. Last year, the trade of those industries that had impediments placed on them during the term of the coalition government was worth around $86 million. Under the Albanese government—under Senator Penny Wong's leadership as the foreign minister and under Prime Minister Albanese—these figures have gone up to $6 billion, and that doesn't include wine and barley.

Our investment in renewables, like the $11 million to back in Australian solar technology developers to manufacture the world's most efficient solar modules, means we're making cleaner and cheaper solar energy even more affordable while creating jobs right here at home. Investments like this, and Labor's National Reconstruction Fund, are about making more things here, which means more jobs and avoiding those supply chain issues that we saw during COVID.

The government's closing loopholes workplace relations reforms aim to close those loopholes that undermine pay and conditions, which basically had been flatlining for nine years under the coalition. Our closing loopholes legislation means that every worker can enjoy the pay and conditions they deserve, rather than being undercut by a person doing the same job alongside them. Whether it's bulk billing, energy rebates, cheaper medicines, cheaper child care, better working conditions or better wages, we're doing everything we can to responsibly ease the cost-of-living pressures facing the people of Moreton and the people of Australia.

Sadly, we don't see a positive plan from those opposite. We haven't seen a positive plan come out of the member for Dickson. He's very good at saying no—he's an expert at saying no—but he doesn't have a positive plan. In the last few days, we have started to see a world of gutter politics emerge—to the extent that some of those opposite are bringing out the furniture to make themselves comfortable because they feel they're going to be there for a very long time. That's not what the nation needs. When there's a cost-of-living crisis, you need leadership, and that's what the Albanese Labor government is demonstrating.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Albanese government's failure to deliver for Australians and its failure to deliver for my electorate of Hughes. I say that now as we are 18 months into this government's first term. It is now an appropriate time for us to consider what the government has achieved, based on the election promises it made.

I'll start with Anthony Albanese. When he was opposition leader, on 17 March 2022, he said, 'A Labor government will lower the cost of living.' That was a promise. It was a core election commitment; it was made eight weeks out from the election. At the Labor campaign launch, he spoke about cheaper mortgages and cheaper electricity, about making housing more affordable and about increasing real wages.

Let's look at how some of that has turned out. Let's particularly look at cheaper mortgages. In my electorate of Hughes, home ownership is very important. Close to 70 per cent of my electorate own their own home, either outright or—about half that number—as mortgage holders. These mortgage holders have now endured 12 interest rate rises under this government, under the leadership of a prime minister who promised cheaper mortgages. An Australian family with a mortgage of $750,000—and many in my electorate have mortgages far higher than that—is now paying $24,000 more per year than it did under the former coalition government.

The government has made all sorts of excuses about interest rates and particularly espouses the independence of the Reserve Bank in setting interest rates. That is correct: the Reserve Bank does have that independence and the Reserve Bank should have that independence. But the Reserve Bank's underlying concern is about inflation, and this is something that the government, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, can influence. Just yesterday, RBA Acting Assistant Governor Marion Kohler said:

… domestically sourced inflation—in particular, services price inflation—has been widespread and slow to decline.

She also said:

underlying inflation is higher than expected a year ago

The Reserve Bank has only one very blunt instrument to deal with inflation, and that is interest rates. This means that Australians with mortgages have had to carry the responsibility for government's failure to rein in inflation. The government can influence inflation through its own spending. By cutting wasteful spending and prudent fiscal management, the government can control inflation, but the OECD economic outlook forecast has predicted that inflation will be higher for longer under Labor.

Turning to another one of the Prime Minister's election campaign promises, that of cheaper energy—the Prime Minister said on 97 separate occasions that a Labor government would bring down power bills by $275. Since being elected, I have conducted many mobile offices throughout my electorate, I have doorknocked and I have yet to find anyone in the electorate of Hughes who is now paying $275 less than in May 2022. If we look at some of the figures, in March 2022 an average annual power bill was $1,393. Now, in November 2023, it is $1,827—nowhere near a $275 reduction.

I mentioned energy costs not only because of the Prime Minister's broken promise on this, but because Minister Bowen has gotten the entire energy policy wrong. The government has rightly committed to net zero—this is supported—but the minister will not consider a hybrid mix of baseload power. Therefore, he cannot assure my electorate or the rest of the country that he has the right policy to ensure affordable, renewable, reliable energy into the future. Independent reports are now providing that his transmission line rollout is well behind schedule and an independent review has forecast a blowout beyond the amount forecast of $1 trillion. Communities along our Eastern Seaboard, from the Illawarra to the Far North Coast, are questioning the environmental basis of offshore wind projects and regional communities are concerned about impacts on agricultural land. Minister Bowen, when asked question after question about looking beyond renewable energy only, has refused to answer the questions or sticks to his renewable energy zealotry. It cannot be that we can transition to net zero relying on only renewable energies. No other country in the world has managed this. Many countries in Europe, though, have embraced modern nuclear energy as net zero technology. Even the Greens in Finland have now endorsed it. In my electorate, with an only nuclear reactor in the country, my constituents understand the importance of nuclear sites. Many of them are employed at ANSTO in Lucas Heights. With the AUKUS arrangement and future nuclear-powered submarines, Australia will significantly increase its nuclear expertise in the years to come. It is, therefore, inexplicable to me and inexplicable to my electorate why Minister Bowen refuses to consider any other options to address our future energy supply.

Housing policy remains another spectacular failure of this government. During the election campaign, and in the 18 months of this government, my constituents constantly raise housing affordability. This was a priority concern during the election and remains one today. Those under the age of 40 are concerned that they will never be able to afford a home within my electorate. Their parents and grandparents who have grown up there are similarly concerned. Minister Collins finally had to succumb to the Greens in order to have a Housing Australia Future Fund Bill passed. We heard nonsense from the Greens at the time about rent controls, which demonstrated their collective failure to understand one of the underlying tenets of Australia's strong history of economic growth and prosperity—that of private home ownership, the Great Australian Dream. Australia's rate of homeownership has been declining since the baby-boomer generation bought their homes. At the moment, homeownership among Australians under 40 is at its lowest rate since 1947.

Being able to afford a home is becoming harder and harder for younger Australians not only in my electorate but throughout our entire country. The Labor government leaving private homeownership out of its housing policy means it has failed to understand the way the housing sector in this country works. Halfway through its term, the government has failed to deliver policies and legislation that will assist Australians, particularly younger Australians, into private homeownership. This is an intergenerational equity issue, but it significantly shows the government's failure to understand the importance of how our country has been built on the back of private homeownership. In my electorate, with median home prices around $1.5 million and $1.6 million, first home buyers now need more than $300,000, or closer to $400,000, as well as an income level of beyond $250,000 to service their loan. That is simply unaffordable. To great fanfare the minister declared that there was a housing fund that would deliver $10 billion for housing. It was not that. Instead, the minister could and should have incentivised state and local governments to increase urban densities in appropriate locations—those areas well serviced by transport infrastructure.

Now we come to infrastructure. Heathcote Road, within my electorate, is 24 kilometres in length. It joins the western end of my electorate in Moorebank to the eastern end at Heathcote. There are more than 30,000 car journeys per day on this road. It joins Western Sydney to the Illawarra to the South Coast. Most of it is one lane each way. Former state and federal coalition governments commenced duplication programs. At the last election I committed to studies to investigate the full duplication of Heathcote Road for the safety and convenience of long-suffering commuters. This project now appears to have been abandoned by Minister King. This is an infrastructure investment that could have increased productivity, as those involved in the trades and the construction industry utilise this road every day. During the election, the Prime Minister said that Labor would put the focus back on nation-building infrastructure. He said, 'I will use the Infrastructure Australia model I created as minister.' Where is that model? Minister King announced a 90-day review of infrastructure projects committed to by the previous government. We are now at more than 200 days of that review, and it appears an important project for my electorate will be scrapped.

On productivity growth, the Prime Minister said we were going to embark on a new era of economic reform with productivity growth at its centre. Unfortunately productivity is in freefall. It's now fallen for three consecutive quarters. It's the first time this has occurred since 2005. Therefore, cost of living, housing, infrastructure, inflation, productivity and energy prices are key markers of the government's failure halfway through his first term to have addressed those issues important to Australians and important to my electorate of Hughes.