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:

Under this Government, Australia has experienced the largest decline in living standards of any advanced economy in the OECD.

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

Right now, things are increasingly tough for hardworking Australians who are trying to get ahead. As they approach Christmas, they're making tough decisions as they try to work out how they're going to make ends meet, how they're going to pay for gifts for their loved ones, pay for the Christmas meals and pay for the Christmas holidays. But we know: things are only getting worse right now. We've learned, just in the last week, that Australians have seen the largest fall in living standards of any advanced country in the world—the largest fall in living standards. Of course, economists measure that from disposable income per person, and Australia has seen over the 12 months to June this year a five per cent reduction in those living standards—a five per cent reduction in living standards!

If we compare that to other countries around the world, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Belgium, Finland and Hungary have all gone forward. We hear from those opposite, on a regular basis, that this is all someone else's fault, that this is all from international factors—that it's all stuff that's happening right around the globe! But the truth of the matter is that we're worse off than all our peers. We're worse than Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Sweden and Norway—all of them! This is a report card that the economics team opposite must be really pleased with. They must be really happy about this! But let me tell everyone who isn't happy—those hardworking Australians who are trying to get ahead and who are trying to work out how to get through not next year, but Christmas—that sitting beneath those numbers is a truly awful set of underlying numbers.

As we've seen, there have been 12 interest rate increases under this Labor government. They keep telling us that they're going to stop, but they keep going up, time and time again. In fact, Australians are paying for this in their housing costs, in their mortgage payments or their rental costs—it all flows through. And it's going to keep flowing through, according to the markets. If we look at the long-term interest rate, which is a measure of what we expect over the coming years, then, again, we're the worst of the major countries in the advanced world. Australia's long-term interest rate term is sitting on 4.7 per cent. Of course, Australians, whether they're small-business owners or households, pay significantly more than that; that's the underlying rate. The US is below that, as is Italy and South Korea. Spain is down at 3.8, Portugal is 3.4, France is 3.3, the Netherlands is on three, Germany is 2.7 and Japan is down at one per cent.

Before COVID and throughout the period of COVID, we saw long-term interest rates of around one per cent—now we're sitting on 4.7 per cent. This is the handiwork of a Treasurer who simply doesn't have a clue. It's a Treasurer who's a doctor of spin, not a doctor of economics. The doctor of economics has just left the premises—and this one here at the table, the member for Whitlam, isn't a doctor of economics either, I can tell you! But the doctor of spin has delivered these truly awful outcomes.

If we look at inflation then, again, we're amongst the very worst in the world when you look at the advanced countries. Our core inflation is at 5.2 per cent, but Germany is at 4.6, France at 4.6, Italy at 4.6, the USA at 4.1, Japan at 2.8 and Canada at 2.8. Again, we're at the wrong end of the table, and that is a pain that every Australian is paying for, with real wages going backwards. We know that for hardworking Australians on wages, real wages have gone back by six per cent. Again, we see this as amongst the very worst in the world. Labour productivity is in absolute freefall, with a 6.7 per cent reduction in labour productivity since Labor came to government. And we have an economy that is only growing because of rapid population growth—almost half a million people came into the country in the last 12 months. That's the only reason that the economy is growing: we've had two quarters in a row with GDP per person going backwards.

Those opposite try to tell Australians that they're okay, that they're better off. Well, Australians are no better off, because this is a government that's distracted. This is a government that has had its eye off the ball. This is a government that has been obsessed with other issues, when the only issue that has mattered for hardworking Australians is how to make ends meet. That's what they're talking about around their kitchen tables, but it sure isn't what this lot is talking about around their cabinet table. All of this amounts to a monstrous broken promise. Before the election, the Prime Minister said:

Australians are being hit with a triple whammy of skyrocketing costs of essentials, falling real wages and now an interest rate hike. They need a government with a plan to ease the cost of living.

It turns out that this was an extraordinary broken promise. He promised cheaper mortgages on many occasions. Instead of that, what we've seen is the average household with a $750,000 mortgage paying an additional $24,000 a year in mortgage repayments. This is the worst mortgage affordability in Sydney since 1990. I'm old enough to remember the pain that that caused so many people at that time when we saw skyrocketing interest rates.

This is a government that promised a $275 reduction in electricity prices. There's no sign of that. In fact, under this government, we have seen electricity prices increase by 18 per cent and gas prices go up by 28 per cent. More generally, of course, they said there was going to be reduction in the stress on the cost of living, but we've seen food go up by 8.2 per cent. In terms of housing costs, rentals have gone up by 10.4 per cent. The cost of insurance has increased by 17.3 per cent. The price of everything has been going up for hardworking Australians. Charities like Foodbank and Vinnies tell us they're seeing record numbers of families reaching out for help. I've seen this in my own electorate. I've seen it wherever I've gone across Australia. I made a point of going to food banks across this great nation. What we're seeing now is a different set of people going into those food banks. They are often double-income families—the kids will be there—as they simply try to put food on the table. I can be absolutely sure that, in the lead-up to Christmas this year, we're going to see many, many Australians relying on those wonderful services that are provided by so many wonderful Australians across this great nation.

We know that the government's policies have made a bad situation worse. Whilst the Reserve Bank has been trying to put its foot on the brakes, the government has been putting its foot on the accelerator. Former Reserve Bank member Warwick McKibbin has said that the RBA was left to fight inflation with higher interest rates because the government didn't do the work. At the last RBA meeting, Michele Bullock noted that the risk of inflation remaining higher for longer has increased because there is no meaningful plan from this government. At the heart of this is a government that is distracted and is not focused on the job at hand. It has a Treasurer who is a doctor of spin, not a doctor of economics, who writes 6,000-word essays on remaking capitalism. If this is remaking capitalism, I tell you what: leave us with the real thing! We need a government that is focused on those hardworking Australians who are trying to get ahead, getting inflation down across the board and making it possible for them to have a Christmas with their loved ones that they can enjoy without worrying about how to pay the bills.

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is true that Australians are doing it tough, and it is true that cost-of-living pressures are bearing down upon families and small businesses across the country. What is also true is that the answers to these questions do not lie in the drongo economics that were practised for nine years by those opposite and then espoused for another 9½ minutes by the shadow Treasurer. It is true that the causes of inflation are coming at us from around the world. Energy prices kicked off again because the energy cartels in the Middle East and in Russia have restricted supply, putting pressure on the bowser price of petrol and diesel in this country and in every other country around the world. It is true that the inflationary pressures, which are still bearing down upon us, are because of the war in Ukraine and the uncertainty created in the Middle East. They didn't start in Australia, but they are being felt by households and small businesses in this country. It is absolutely true that those international pressures are bearing down upon households in Australia.

It is also true that there are domestic causes of this inflation. The No. 1 cause of domestic inflation is the abysmal state in which the coalition parties left the country and left the budget when they departed from government in May last year. We were incredibly poorly prepared to deal with supply chain shortages that are now bearing upon industries across the economy, particularly the building industry. The former government chased offshore what remained of manufacturing businesses in this country, and they were not ashamed about it. In the words of the former Treasurer: 'They can leave.' It wasn't just the trade and goods sector. It was everywhere across the economy.

It took a lot of chutzpah for the member for Hume to talk about energy prices, because there is not another person in this parliament who is more responsible for the high price of energy that Australian households and businesses are experiencing today. And I'm not talking about the fact that he authorised a significant increase in the wholesale price of energy immediately before the election but hid it from the Australian people. I'm talking about the fact that there's not another person in parliament who is more responsible for destroying every single energy policy that they attempted to put together from that side of the parliament when they were in government. Is there any wonder why we saw a capital strike in this country? Is there any wonder why we saw a massive decrease in the amount of scaled electricity production in this country? Is there any reason why we have a transmission and distribution system in this country which is a decade behind where we need to be? It is because of the policies of the member for Hume and the coalition parties in particular.

A skills crisis and a skills shortage. You can't fix them overnight, but the Minister for Skills and Training is doing a valiant job at putting in place the policies to train the next generation of apprentices and trainees to ensure that we are not reliant on the lazy response that they left us with, where the answer to any skills shortage was to bring people in from overseas. Yes, it is important. We've always been a nation that has relied on immigration, but we should be training our own and using our own first. The entry price to credibility on the cost of living is to have done something about it when you had the opportunity.

They talk about the problems that we have with housing affordability and rental affordability. You would have thought that a party that was concerned about these things would have voted in favour of a policy that was going to deliver 30,000 additional affordable homes in this country. Did they vote for it? No, they voted against it. You'd think that a party that was concerned about cost-of-living issues would have voted for cheaper medicines. Did they vote for them? No, they voted against them. You would have thought that a party concerned about energy bill relief would have voted in favour of the government's policies to provide energy bill relief for small businesses and for households. They voted against it. The credibility of this mob over here is zero when it comes to the price of living and the cost pressures bearing upon households across this country.

You don't just have to deal with household relief. There are two parts to affordability and cost-of-living issues. There's the expense part but there's also the income part. That mob have opposed every single wage increase—and I'm not just talking about the last 18 months; I'm talking about the last 120 years of wage determinations in this country. There is not a pay rise that has flowed to workers, particularly low-paid workers, in this country for the last 123 years that that mob have not opposed. The same was the case when it came to the last two pay rises awarded by the Fair Work Commission—supported by the Labor Party and opposed by the coalition.

The entry price to a discussion on the cost of living is to have done something about it when you had the opportunity. They had an opportunity for nine years in government and they made the situation worse. They had the opportunity to do something about it by supporting our policies, but they opposed them. In question time earlier today the Minister for Early Childhood Education gave an example of how our childcare policies are actually significantly decreasing the price that households are paying for child care. On their watch they went up 40 per cent and on our watch they went down 18 per cent. That's what a government does when it is focused on cost-of-living relief.

In fact, let's look through the raft of policies. There's fee-free TAFE. You had an opportunity to do it for 10 years while in government, but you didn't do it. Then there is building more affordable homes, expanding paid parental leave and more Medicare. The biggest single investment in bulk-billing in our nation's history was led by the minister for health. These very same policies were opposed by the current Leader of the Opposition when he was the health minister. These are the sorts of things you do when you're concerned about providing household relief.

I want to say something about fiscal management, because this is the big one. They had nine years to balance the budget—under the Abbott government, under the Turnbull government and under the Morrison government. Year after year after lonely year they promised to do it, issued press releases and even minted coffee mugs, but did they produce a surplus? In fact, the member for Riverina has the surplus coffee mugs but he didn't get the budget surplus. There was a surplus of coffee mugs but no budget surplus. In our very first budget we turned the budget around from a $78 billion deficit to a $20 billion surplus. They promised it for nine years and we delivered it in our first budget. That is what a government that is more focused on policy outcomes than press releases does to assist on cost-of-living issues.

You don't have to take our word for it. The member for Hume had to go back not one or two governors of the Reserve Bank but actually three Reserve Bank governors—the Reserve Bank board from three terms ago—to find somebody who agreed with his policy. You don't have to go that far back. Just listen to what the current Reserve Bank governor has had to say about the Labor government's policies. She has acknowledged the fact that the government's fiscal restraint—the fact that we are returning over 78 per cent of new government revenue to paying down the debt we inherited from the mob over there—is actually taking pressure off inflation and making the Reserve Bank's job easier than it would otherwise be.

It's not about press releases and it's not about coffee mugs. It's actually getting on with doing the job.

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

The Assistant Treasurer needs to be a little bit careful when he disparages Drongo. I know it's a popular term in the Australian vernacular, but it was a very good racehorse in the 1920s. Indeed it was. It was by the Melbourne Cup runner Lanius. It came midfield. It also ran in the Melbourne Cup. It ran second in the Victoria Derby, if my memory is correct.

Speaking of horses and the Melbourne Cup, last Tuesday we had the rates that stopped the nation. Another rate rise on Labor's watch. That makes it a dirty dozen. That makes it 12 rate rises under those opposite. Those opposite, who came into power promising that life would be better. Those opposite, who came into power promising that life would be cheaper. Those opposite, who came into power promising a $275 household power bill cut. How did that go? We know how that went. Under the coalition, in our last term, power prices went down eight per cent. Under those opposite, they've gone up a thousand dollars per household. It's just not good enough.

The Assistant Treasurer can disparage us all he likes and disparage former racehorses—he can do whatever he likes—but the facts are clear: those now in government have done a pretty dodgy job when it comes to the cost of living, and a pretty dodgy job when it comes to making sure that the economy runs efficiently.

But don't take my word for it, because all politics is local. A constituent, Kylie Downes, a Parkes mum, phoned my office the other day. She contacted my office and told my staff that she upgraded her electrical appliances to more energy efficient versions. She swapped from electric hot water to gas. She's having to do all of these things to try and make ends meet, and yet her quarterly power bill from the end of April to the end of July almost doubled. It almost doubled, from $717 in 2022 to more than $1,200 in 2023. Kylie's wondering where her $275 power bill cut is. She's wondering where that is.

But it's not just Kylie. It's people right across Australia. It's people those opposite are not listening to, and they'd be in each and every one of your electorates. You should get out a little bit more often and not just talk at your constituents but listen to them. Listen to them and what they are saying about their power bills. Listen to them about what they're saying every time they go to the bowser and fill up with fuel. Listen to them every time they go to the supermarket and get a trolley full of groceries, because it's costing more. Yet you're putting in policies that are just going to cost everyday, ordinary Australians, like Kylie and so many others besides, more and more every time they reach into their purse and every time they reach into their wallet. They're having to shell out more and more. This Christmas it's going to be so tough for so many people.

Again, don't just take my word for it. Listen to the advice from the Chief Executive Officer of the New South Wales Council of Social Services, Joanna Quilty. She said, 'We knew things were bad, but this is the worst we have seen in many years.' The member for Hume, the shadow Treasurer, was right when he said more and more people are looking to the services provided by St Vinnies, looking to the services provided by the Salvos and looking to the services provided for each and all of our communities. Ms Quilty said people are hanging on by a knife's edge. This isn't necessary. It's because of the policies of those opposite.

Our farmers are doing it tough. Just the other day sheep, which were once worth more than $200 a head, sold in Wagga Wagga for a dollar a head. How can farmers sustain that? How can they live on that? Yet those opposite are going to put a ban on live exports. They want to take the water away from our farmers and make it so much tougher to grow food and fibre. Have a rethink. Stop, pause and reflect about what you're doing to the Australian economy and what you're doing to the Australian people—mums like Kylie in Parkes and people in your electorates. Start listening.

Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am never disappointed by the performances of the member for Riverina, but what I want to tell this chamber here today is that the federal Labor government is helping to ease the cost of living and improve the living standards of Australians right across the country but, in particular, in my home electorate of Robertson. This is in stark comparison to that group of people on the other side of this chamber that claim to represent Australians. They continue to fail the Australian people. They continue to fail them because they continue to fail to isolate what causes and issues people are talking about on the ground. What I would say to the member for Hume if he were still in the chamber, because this is his matter of public importance, is that maybe he should get out and doorknock and talk to his constituents. I'm glad the member for Riverina talks to his constituents. I know everyone on this side of the chamber does. But it would appear that the member for Hume is simply incapable of talking to his constituents and finding out what is happening on the ground.

If those opposite were talking to real people rather than just watching the 24-hour news cycle over and over again, they would understand our cost-of-living measures are actually making a real difference to Australians in communities from the east coast to the west coast, to the Territory in the north and down south to Tasmania. I am proud to be part of a federal Labor government that has delivered on a broad range of cost-of-living measures that are bringing relief to Australians right now.

Let's talk about the tripling of the bulk-billing incentive. That is going to help over 73,000 people in my electorate alone. People in Robertson can see a bulk-billed doctor on the Central Coast. That's over 200,000 people that can get access to primary care instead of going into the emergency department and seeing me in the middle of the night. There are so many other areas where our cost-of-living measure are making a real difference for Australians. This month we will be opening the Robertson Medicare urgent care clinic, which will see patients with non-life-threatening but urgent conditions, taking pressure off our emergency departments, taking pressure off our GPs and making sure people can get the health care they need and the health care they deserve. The Peninsula Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will ease that pressure. People will be able to see a doctor when they are sick. All that you are going to need when you walk through the door with that problem is your Medicare card—not your credit card, your Medicare card. Making it easier to see a doctor is bringing real relief. That is raising the standard of living for Australian families in my community.

The Albanese Labor government has delivered and committed to improving general practice in other ways through our Strengthening Medicare grants as well, which will have follow-on effects for families in Robertson but also right across the country. Those general practice grants have assisted our doctors and nurses in primary care on the Central Coast to the tune of over $1 million. I am ecstatic that 38 practices in my electorate are going to benefit from this investment. We are looking at upgrades to IT. We are looking at upgrades to their practices and making sure that patients can get the care that they need.

Just the other week I was fortunate to have the Hon. Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, visit my electorate. He helped me officially switch on the Narara community battery, the second community battery to be switched on in Australia. This important achievement marked a significant turning point for people living on the Central Coast and for our renewable energy policies. It means eligible people living in Narara with solar panels can now store excess solar electricity in that community battery. This electricity can now be used during the night-time and by others in the community who may not have the ability to have solar panels on their rooftops. This community battery does many things. It helps the local electricity grid, it helps reduce our carbon emissions and it helps reduce the cost of electricity for eligible households.

The federal government is also delivering energy bill relief in the form of energy rebates quarterly to eligible low-income households, including pensioners, families and carers. That's something that the opposition voted against. With every single form of cost-of-living relief we have put forward to this parliament, they continue to vote against it. It is absolutely shameful that they continue with this behaviour. On this side of the chamber, we are looking after Australians right across this country.

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

I want to thank the member Robertson for his contribution and references to doorknocking. I think we can never do enough doorknocking, whether we are humble backbenchers in opposition or on the other side or the Treasurer. I suggest that the Treasurer do some doorknocking this summer not just of houses and households in his electorate and other electorates but in particular of small businesses. I think he might learn a lot. I think he might, if he does that, spend this summer doing different tasks than he did last summer.

I remember, in February, reading the Treasurer's essay; it was dated 1 February 2023, so I take it he wrote it over the summer. It was an interesting essay that referred to Greek philosophers and Guernica in Spain; I can only presume he was wishing he was in Greece or travelling through Spain. It also made him become quite a radical. He said things like this: 'It's not just our economic institutions that need renewing or restructuring, but the way our markets allocate and arrange capital as well.' He then criticised the neoliberal model and had all sorts of radical ideas. That was quite an interesting insight into the Treasurer.

Let's judge the Treasurer on his record. At the end of the year, how has that essay played out? There were three records broken this month. The first is, as revealed by the shadow Treasurer, that the OECD revealed Australian households suffered the largest decline in real per capita household disposable income of any advanced economy—down 5.1 per cent. Compare that with Chile—up 5.6 per cent; Spain—up 6 per cent; and the US—up 3.5 per cent. But there were two other records we broke. We saw the lowest rental availability among our peers—0.9 per cent. That number is a percentage of the stock available for rent. Of course there's a rental crisis; it's the one thing the Greens actually get right. There is a crisis in rental and housing accommodation. Compare that to 6.3 per cent in Singapore and Hong Kong. No-one who's been to Singapore and Hong Kong would say they're struggling for supply. They've got a lot less land than we do in this country, but for some reason we can't build the stock and have housing available for people who need it. And No. 3 is that the Economistnot exactly a right-of-centre magazine anymore—ranked Australia No. 1 for entrenched inflation. Those three records don't bode well for this essay.

Can I suggest that a different essay be produced over summer by the Treasurer, that he turns his mind to small business and asks: 'What is it like to start a small business? If I have some capital of my own or some from a bank, how do I start a small business?' Let's turn to some of the obstacles. We've seen in this parliament the 'closing loopholes' bill, which runs to 278 pages and has an explanatory memorandum of 305 pages. How's that helping small business start a business! It's got a definition of 'casual' that runs to three pages. It's got a definition of 'employment' that runs to seven pages. We talk about productivity and competition, but these are productivity and competition killers. That's 278 pages and 305 pages on top of the 1,098 pages of the Fair Work Act. Tell that to a small-business person or an aspiring small-business owner, on how they're supposed to start a business.

Then I take the Treasurer to the Corporations Act; it runs to 3,661 pages. The Income Tax Assessment Act runs at 11 volumes to 4,842 pages. We've got the GST Act at 655 pages—and on and on it goes. You have to ask yourself, and the Treasurer should ask himself: how can aspiring small-business and medium-business owners think this is a good place to start a business? You know what's going to happen? They're going to go to their financial adviser and they're going to say: 'It's too hard. Put your money in property and put your money in an exchange traded fund.' What will that mean for this country, where, right now, 42 per cent of people employed in the private sector are employed in a small business, compared with 34 per cent in a large business? When you add together small and medium businesses who employ people in this country, the economy doesn't work without them.

I implore the Treasurer to do some reading and some doorknocking over the summer, and to write another essay where he puts himself in the shoes of aspirational Australians, aspirational families and aspirational future small-business owners. The generation of this economy relies on him doing a new essay and doing his homework over the summer.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was interested to hear the member for Menzies's vision of a lawless country, apparently, with businesses out there growing on their own, with no laws around that, doing what they need to do and presumably not paying their workers. There is no doubt Australians are facing very real cost-of-living pressures, and our government is absolutely aware of that. And Australians are aware of that, in my community and in others.

The other thing that Australians are aware of is that our government is investing in the things that make our community stronger. We're investing in health care, in child care and in education—in the things that we all value in this country and which were, for too long, under nearly a decade of those opposite, neglected. It's not untrue to say that when this government came into office Medicare was on its knees. It's not untrue to say that we were facing a crisis, with GPs around the country saying they couldn't go on because of the policies of those opposite. It was because of the now Leader of the Opposition, who, when he was the health minister, ranked as the worst health minister in living memory. He tried to introduce a Medicare copayment. Those opposite did nothing to save Medicare.

Australians know that we, on this side, built Medicare and that we will always invest in Medicare. Since coming into office, we've made record investments in bulk-billing. Those record investments needed to be made; without those investments, which had been neglected for nearly a decade by those opposite, we were facing a health crisis. So we've tripled the bulk-billing incentive for key groups: children under 16, pensioners and Commonwealth concession cardholders. That was a crucial investment so that people in our communities could see a doctor. It was the biggest increase to Medicare rebates in more than 30 years. And we're making medicines cheaper. Again, I have received much correspondence from people in my community about the very real difference that is making for them.

We're putting Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in right across the country, including one in Heidelberg in my community. Again, I've had direct feedback from people in my community about how helpful this is been; the reviews are in about our Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Heidelberg. Kelly said: 'We had a late Sunday morning visit for a knee injury, post holiday. We were greeted by friendly reception staff and seen to by an obviously experienced RN before seeing the doctor. The care was efficient, friendly and of an excellent standard.'

Svetlana said: 'Our youngest son had an injured toe, and your team made the whole process a breeze. When we arrived, the doctor was prompt and efficient, guiding us to get an x-ray. What's even more amazing is that we had the results and a plan in less than an hour.' Terence said: 'From start to finish I was treated with absolute respect and dignity. The nurse I saw prior to the doctor left no stone unturned, and was kind and compassionate. The doctor was equally as kind and thorough, and it all felt very genuine. This is what health care should feel like.' That is what this government is doing: investing in health care in our communities, making sure that people in my community and around the country can see a doctor when they need to and that they get health care that is affordable.

Another area that I want to concentrate on where our government has put a lot of effort into relieving the cost-of-living pressures is when it comes to one of the particular pressures that families, and particularly working women, face in this country: child care. We know that Australians have one of the most expensive childcare systems in the OECD. Our government knew that when we came into office, so we came in with a plan to do something about it. We came in with a commitment to make child care cheaper for Australian families, and we have delivered on that commitment.

On 1 July this year, we introduced changes to the childcare subsidy, helping 1.2 million families right across the country, including 6,600 in my community. This is good for families, it's good for kids and it's good for our entire country. Again, we get it on this side of the chamber. We understand that child care is one of the biggest expenses that Australian families, and particularly Australian women, face. And, just like we said we would, we've invested in it. This government takes a serious approach to supporting Australians with cost-of-living pressures. We're investing in the things that matter: in health care, child care and education right around our country. We have a plan; those opposite only have negativity. They do not have a plan for our future.

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

I rise to speak in favour of this matter of public importance, and I thank the shadow Treasurer for bringing it forward: that under this government Australia has experienced the largest decline in living standards of any advanced economy in the OECD.

I've just been present in this place to hear from the member for Jagajaga, who said that she was rising to speak against this MPI. The member for Jagajaga went through a whole range of areas in which she says that the government is improving the lives of Australians. What she failed to address though was the whole topic of this matter of public importance, which is: if the government is doing such a fantastic job, why is it that we are now facing the largest decline in living standards of any of our peers across the OECD?

I'll just remind the member for Jagajaga of what the then opposition leader now Prime Minister said on 17 March 2022: 'a Labor government will lower the cost of living.' We are now halfway through this government's first time, and what do we have? We have some of the worst economic indicators, not just in recent Australian history but when compared to the rest of the world, to other OECD nations, to our peers. I'll mention just some of them: Spain, Chile, the United States, Slovenia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Denmark, France, Belgium, Finland, Hungary.

Despite promising to ease cost-of-living pressures, under this Prime Minister Australians are going backwards and will continue to go backwards. In the 12 months to June of this year, Australian household income slumped by 5.1 per cent. It was the biggest fall amongst OECD nations. And there are three indicators for this: high inflation, declining real wages and falling productivity.

Australians' inflation is also higher than almost any other advanced economy. This includes the US, Canada, France and Germany. So, when the Prime Minister turns around and says: 'Oh, the inflation rate? A lot of these factors are from matters going on overseas, from conflicts overseas', why is it that our OECD peers are not so affected? We are affected more because it is not anything to do now with overseas conflict; it is instead due to the government's financial mismanagement and inability to rein in inflation. It's its spending in the wrong areas. It is spending that is not improving the lives of Australians, and it is not doing anything to increase productivity in this country.

Another pre-election promise of the Prime Minister was that Labor has 'real, lasting plans for cheaper mortgages.' Well, mortgages have now increased and housing prices have increased by more than 9.6 per cent. And I know in my electorate of Hughes average mortgages of $750,000 are, now, after 12 interest rate rises under this government's watch, $24,000 a year more than they were in April of last year.

While we're talking about inflation, I am reminded of a certain episode in The West Wing. There are probably many in this place on my side and on the other side who enjoyed The West Wing. I'm reminded of Josh Lyman getting himself caught in a bit of trouble. He ended up having to admit that there was a president's secret plan to fight inflation. Because of the silence on the other side about inflation, I'm wondering if there is, in fact, a prime minister's secret plan to fight inflation and, if there is that secret plan, when the Prime Minister will share it with the country and with those of us here.

It's not just us saying this—independent economist Chris Richardson told the Australian newspaper, and this is to do with conflicts overseas: 'inflation has locked up, and it's not just petrol, it's not just the Middle East; it is popping up in new areas of the Australian economy and that makes it a bigger juggle.' Under this government, Australia has experienced the largest decline in living standards of any advanced economy in the OECD. This is a national disgrace.

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

Look, we all know that the shadow Treasurer is not a real-economics details guy. He never has been. He's a big picture kind of guy. He made his name that way. Who could forget when he walked in here and he'd been on the phone to his stockbroker or something. I think he'd been trying to check the price of spread. He meant interest spread, but, of course, they gave him the vegemite price! He didn't quite get it right. He misheard, he misremembered and he misreported it. He brought in the annual price and tried to claim to the Australian people that it was the monthly price. Of course, it was entirely incorrect and entirely misleading. Again, I think that sums up the quality of advice and contribution that the shadow Treasurer regularly makes in this place. I doubt he's a vegemite guy. He wouldn't have bought a jar of vegemite recently. I'm not sure exactly what the shadow Treasurer puts on his toast before he goes out for his game of polo or whatever it is he does on the weekends. It's probably a rich cod roe or something like that—

I think, Member for Groom. It would be something along those lines, I suspect.

There's absolutely no doubt—and those of us on this side of the House aren't in any doubt—that Australians are doing it very, very tough out there. The challenges in terms of cost of living are very real. Indeed, it's many of the electorates represented by those on this side of the House that feel that most acutely, including mine. My electorate has one of the highest rates of mortgage home ownership in the country, the fastest growing community with the greatest of infrastructure pressures and the biggest challenges in terms of jobs and job security. So we, on this side of the House, are acutely aware of those challenges. Every day we have a laser-like focus on facing and addressing those challenges and on supporting our communities and the Australian people to deal with those household economic challenges.

The data that was released by the OECD has been well and truly fudged by those opposite. I'm not accusing them of dishonesty but more of incompetency on this particular front. The information that was released by the OECD is about inflation-adjusted disposable income. The most important factor—the shadow Treasurer didn't mention this once—in calculating inflation-adjusted disposable income is wages. Wages are the most important factor when calculating any kind of household income.

Australians suffered a decade of the Liberals opposite pursuing an irresponsible and ideologically flawed approach to suppressing the wages of Australian workers. They haven't been dishonest about that either. They've been upfront. They were very clear that it was part of their economic plan to suppress the wages of Australian workers.

During the pandemic, we did see a rapid rise in this particular inflation-adjusted disposable income category. To answer the former speaker on why Australia is now seeing the greatest correction in that, it's because we did have a very large inflation-adjusted disposable income growth through COVID because of JobKeeper. But at the same time that we were seeing JobKeeper rolled out—and, indeed, a whole bunch of large corporations and large businesses in Australia enjoyed government support at taxpayer cost—we saw those same businesses retrenching and sacking workers. Qantas sacked 1,700 workers illegally. They then fought those workers all the way through the courts. The Supreme Court found it was illegal. Qantas then took it to appeal in the Supreme Court. The decision was upheld on appeal. They then took it to the High Court. The High Court found that Qantas had acted illegally.

What we have now is an economy that has been left booby trapped by those opposite. We have a trillion dollars of Liberal debt. We had a decade of deliberate wage suppression. They smashed our supply chains and they've left our manufacturing sector in ruins. Our government is getting on with the task of addressing these issues. We have wages moving and we will rebuild our manufacturing sectors and supply chains accordingly.

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

What a joy it is to be here speaking on this MPI, following my good friend the member for Hawke, although I can't help but take up some of his issues. I think there's a certain joy to this. Let's start with him criticising the shadow Treasurer for being across details. I'm old enough to remember when Mr Albanese stumbled on the cash rate. What was that—day one or day two of the campaign? I can remember when he had to ask the Treasurer what the fuel excise rate was. That was a slightly embarrassing one on details. I also think the point on wages is a tough one. I'll come back to this, but when real wages are falling, and falling very hard, I find that a very difficult position to take.

I also want to raise this, because I think this is important: watch just how quickly Labor are running away from Qantas. They were very happy to stand close to Qantas when they wanted their support during the Voice campaign, and very happy to support them during the issue on the slot allocations in Sydney. Now they want to run away from Qantas. I'm sorry; I'm going to call those things out as they're raised.

Australians are in to for a very tough Christmas because, as this MPI very clearly points out, the kinds of living standards that we are experiencing in Australia are being felt right across the board. People are having to make some very tough choices. For some, it's: do they take a holiday this year? For some, it's: do they get that extra gift? For some, it's: what food are they able to put on the table? Sadly, this situation doesn't get better on the other side of Christmas. Things are not looking good, whether it be fuel, groceries, mortgages, rent, electricity or gas. All of these things, unfortunately, look like they're going to continue to go up. We had the RBA governor taking the extraordinary position, just last week, that inflation looks more likely now to remain 'higher for longer'. Things are getting worse. For those backbenchers here today, I think I can offer you a little vision into the future, because there's going to be a question asked at the next election: are you better off today than you were when Labor came to government? And I think that's going to hurt.

Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Cheaper child care!

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

You want to talk about cheaper child care? Absolutely! Let's go through a few of the other promises that have been made that haven't come about, for all of those things that I've talked about: fuel, groceries, mortgages, rent, electricity and gas. When Labor were coming into government, they promised that all of these things would go down and they haven't. All of those promises have been broken. Are you better off today than you were when Labor came into government? That question will come back to haunt each and every one of them, and the silence across there indicates that. There were, of course, challenges. There were challenges across the world, and we were part of that—

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

You certainly were!

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

Absolutely; every country was! But here's the question: why have other countries been able to face up to those challenges and manage them better than Australia? That's the important question. Inflation in Australia is higher than in almost every other advanced economy. Those opposite have had two budgets and Australia has suffered the largest fall in living standards of any advanced economy. This is an important point, because other countries have focused on the challenge. Other countries have committed to the promises that they made of addressing inflation and making it their No. 1 focus. What's the difference between Australia and these other countries? A lot of them didn't waste 18 months focusing on a Voice referendum that no-one wanted. A lot of those countries didn't try to take their countries down a path of division when they were warned against that, when the issue confronting every household was the cost of living.

Are you better off today than you were when Labor came into government? This will come back time and time again, because—this is the message to Australians—inflation is an issue for you because it wasn't an issue for this government. They've been focused on other things; they've been focused on the Voice for 18 months, when there were many things that could have been done. I can remember—it was the first meeting with the RBA governor during this term of government—the pleading that monetary and fiscal policy continue to work together as they had under the previous government. We've got to remember that every dollar the government adds to the economy is another dollar that the RBA has to take out with interest rate rises. This is why we're seeing interest rate rises continue and why inflation will continue: because the government continues on its path of spending $185 billion extra. We are now spending more than we were pre pandemic. This is an incredible response from a government at a time of cost-of-living pressures. I've said it many times, and I think everyone here is going to hear this again and again and again: are you better off today than you were when Labor came to government? The answer is a resounding no. Australia knows it, and I'm sure every backbencher here knows it too.

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

I have to say that I fundamentally disagree with the member for Groom. What we are looking at right now is a federal Labor government that is in touch with people and is looking at targeted cost-of-living relief. I recognise that households are doing it tough right now. This is something that we on this side fundamentally understand. We are a party that is in touch with people. We speak to our constituents. We go doorknocking. We understand this.

The other thing I describe is the concept that I call business as usual. Business as usual is the trajectory of an organisation or a government. If we look at the last nine years of mismanagement under the coalition government, their business as usual was, frankly, not good enough. It was a wasted decade. They were asleep at the wheel. They weren't looking at what households actually need. The truth is that billions of dollars were wasted on rorts and there was nothing to show for it except for a bank balance that was heaving with $1 trillion of debt. It wasn't just incompetence; it was a train wreck. In March 2022 we saw the greatest jump in inflation in a century, and that was under the coalition government. It came after that wasted decade.

Here we are again wasting time instead of looking at practical ways that we can help households. The truth is that Labor has been looking at practical measures—fee-free TAFE, cheaper child care, paid parental leave, cheaper medicines and real wage growth. What has the coalition actually been prepared to support? I feel like it's all mug and no coffee; all noes and no real, tangible ideas that will help households on the ground. We know that this coalition is used to basically not putting practical ideas on the table. They didn't have a plan for the future. The truth is the Albanese Labor government has.

We know that previously they were intentionally favouring a policy of low wage growth, so basically screwing over workers' wages was an intentional design principle of their economic policies. How is that fair? That is fundamentally not fair. Additionally they were focused on targeting their energies on the most vulnerable. That was through robodebt. They scapegoated people through their miserable and cruel robodebt scheme. It will never happen again. Never will people be treated by a government as second-class citizens. Labor is committed to putting people back at the centre of what we do as a government—a government that fundamentally improves the lives of working people and doesn't punish them.

Since coming into office the Albanese Labor government has been working hard to fix what went wrong under the coalition government. Instead of going backwards we are moving forward. Labor have promised and we have delivered. I'm an engineer and I love numbers. The facts and the figures do not lie. It is evidence of what we have been working on. We have implemented a raft of measures, such as fee-free TAFE places. We promised 18,000 fee-free TAFE places in WA and we delivered. In fact, there was so much demand that there were almost 36,000 places. This is a success story and it will make a difference. Access to good quality education without needing to pay fees is making sure we are addressing our skills shortage now and in the future and also providing education opportunities for Australian people. It's one of the many success stories of the Albanese Labor government.

We have 111,000 WA families that have benefited from cheaper child care. I am a mother. I have one child who is currently in child care. I know that this is something that parents have been waiting for and have welcomed.

Western Australians have already saved $18 million on 1.6 million cheaper scripts at pharmacies since 1 July. It was the first decrease we have had in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. It was at $42.50 and now it's down to $30. This has made a tangible difference. (Time expired)

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

The time for the discussion has now concluded.