House debates
Thursday, 27 June 2024
Statements by Members
Cost of Living
1:42 pm
Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Yesterday, Australia's inflation rate rose from 3.6 per cent to four per cent. I'm tired of Labor's self-aggrandisement, their reference to the fundamentals and an imagined, oft-repeated prospect of a soft landing. There is nothing soft about what my constituents are feeling. An interest rate rise later this year is now a firm and realistic probability. Already those with mortgages are paying on average $25,000 a year more in interest repayments. Each month, it gets harder for Australians to pay the bills and make ends meet. Each month under this Albanese government, simple goods and services are priced beyond the means of the average pay packet. Since the election, vegetable oil is up 28 per cent. Insurance is up 27 per cent. Pet food is up 16 per cent. Chicken is up 10 per cent. And cheese is up by 23 per cent. Cakes cost 19 per cent more. Jam costs 11 per cent more. Soft drinks cost 14 per cent more. Takeaway food costs 15 per cent more. Spirits cost 14 per cent more. Ice cream costs 17 per cent more. Cereal is up by 20 per cent. Eggs are up by 22 per cent. Milk costs 19 per cent more than before. Seeing a doctor or dentist is up by 11 per cent. Stationery is up by 15 per cent. Spare parts for your car are up 18 per cent. Books are up 10 per cent. Hairdressing is up 14 per cent. Postage and parcels are up 21 per cent. As we approach the school holidays, family travel in Australia is up by 19 per cent, and overseas travel is up by 37 per cent. I see it every week. People are doing it tough.
1:43 pm
Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It is four days until 1 July, and that means it's four days until every Australian taxpayer gets a tax cut—all 13.6 million of them. It's four days until our $300 energy bill relief begins, and it's four days until 2.6 million low-paid workers get their third consecutive pay rise backed in by this government, because we want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. This isn't the beginning of our cost-of-living help, and it's certainly not the end. We're strengthening Medicare, continuing the freeze on the cost of PBS medicines. We're building more homes more quickly and helping put downward pressure on rents in the regions. And we're adding two weeks of additional government-funded paid parental leave. We're also delivering HECS relief for everyone with student debt, from the university student in Torquay to the supermarket worker in Grovedale to the nurse in Waurn Ponds. And we're strengthening the food and grocery code to get better deals for farmers and fairer prices for consumers.
Under the Albanese government, more Australians are working, more Australians are earning more and more Australians will keep more of what they earn.