Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to address the cost-of-living crisis at home and across the country. It's clear that Australians are facing financial pressures, with families and businesses struggling to cope with the rising costs caused by this government. The Prime Minister promised over and over again that Australians would be better off under a Labor government. We are still waiting for this Labor utopia to emerge. Instead, families and businesses are facing the highest interest rates since 2011. They are struggling with the skyrocketing costs of food, electricity, gas, mortgages, school expenses, insurance and rent. People are having to make tough decisions about their budgets—fuel versus food, whether to keep up with their private health cover and whether they can take that holiday later in the year. I know many hardworking families and businesses who are digging into their savings just to make ends meet.

Young Australians are among the hardest hit. Last year, more than three million people were hit with a 7.1 per cent hike in their student loans thanks to Labor's exploding inflation. HECS debts are forecast to increase by 15 per cent. It is harder for Australians to save for a house deposit. The Australian dream of owning a home is slipping further away from future generations. I feel the frustrations of young Australians. They want to buy a home. They want to start a family. I understand that. It's a growing frustration that needs to be resolved by this parliament and this government.

I also know a lack of affordable housing options and rising rental costs are pushing people into homelessness. There are people in my community with good jobs relying on food banks. Some are seeking refuge in makeshift tent communities. We have kids living in tents and caravan parks. This is a disgrace. WA Labor's underinvestment in public housing means waiting lists are growing longer, continuing the cycle of housing insecurity. Instead of obsessing over pet projects like the failed Voice referendum, the Prime Minister and WA Labor should be focused on easing everyday pressures for all Australians.

The people in my electorate know the truth: Labor will not fight for Canning. Important projects in my region have been scrapped by Labor. The upgrade of the Peel Health campus is barely even on the drawing board. Recent Productivity Commission data revealed that Western Australia is the worst in the nation when it comes to seeing urgent patients on time. Ambulance ramping has exploded 1,500 per cent since WA Labor was elected seven years ago. Labor's healthcare record in WA is nothing less than a disaster.

It's worse, as well, on the roads. In my community, in the proud, historic town of Pinjarra—it's a beautiful place—there's a danger that runs right through the town centre every single day: more than 700 heavy haulage trucks thunder through Pinjarra, some carrying large loads of Jarrah wood and also resources and equipment to be used in the mining sector. That's a sector many of my constituents have jobs in. As our region continues to grow, that number will rise. But, back in 2017, 84 per cent of the Shire of Murray's electors voted yes in a referendum for a deviation which would divert hundreds of trucks away from the centre of town each day. With their support, I secured $200 million from the former coalition government for the Pinjarra heavy haulage deviation. But, just over a year ago in a stunning betrayal, Labor slammed the brakes on this project. Labor promised it, then they delayed it and then, after putting it on the backburner for a year, they axed it altogether. Deputy Speaker Chesters, you are a regional representative. You understand how important roads are. It was a real kick in the guts for our people in Pinjarra.

Talking to everyday Australians is something the Prime Minister does not do. It's something that the state Labor MPs in my regions—the member for Mandurah, the member for Dawesville and the member for Murray-Wellington—have stopped doing. If they did, they would be alarmed at what they would be hearing from people. Labor has forgotten what matters to Australians. The people in my community did not ask to be belted with Labor's cost-of-living and housing crisis. They did not ask to suffer under a broken health system. Labor does not listen, and it does not fight. I make a guarantee to my constituents, the people of Canning—and I understand that the member for Tangney is a constituent of mine. The Liberal Party is fighting for you, Member for Tangney. Peter Dutton is fighting for you, and I'm fighting every day to put you front and centre.