Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has broken promises to cut electricity bills, to provide cheaper mortgages and to ensure that families will be better off on the cost of living. The price of electricity is now up by 22 per cent. We've endured 12 mortgage rate hikes, and the prices for food and groceries are up by more than 11 per cent. Isn't it clear to Australians that this government has lost its way because of this Prime Minister's lack of economic management and experience and general incompetence?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition asked me about cost of living, and there's one thing that is consistent about our cost-of-living measures: they have all been opposed by those opposite. Even last week, they opposed the tax cuts that we gave to every Australian taxpayer. Those opposite were against that. They opposed the energy price relief plan that we put in place. They were against that. They were opposed to fee-free TAFE. They were against that. They were opposed to cheaper child care. They were against that. We know they were opposed to wage rises, whether it be the three increases to the minimum wage or the additional wage rises for people who work in aged care or who work as early educators in our childcare system. We know that that was the case.

But we also know that those opposite, when it comes to economic policy, do have some half-baked plans. They have a plan for nuclear reactors, sometime in the 2040s, but they won't tell us how much they will cost. What we do know is that they are the costliest form of new energy. We know it will take too long and we know, even after all that, it will produce something like four per cent of the energy needs that Australia has.

We know also that they have a plan to break up supermarkets. Now, I'm not sure who will buy the Coles supermarket at their local shopping centre next to Woolworths, but I suspect it will probably be Woolworths. There's nothing, of course, to stop IGA setting up anywhere in the country. But that's what happens when you have the Nats running their economic policy.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But they came out with something else last week: zonal taxation. Depending upon where you live, you will pay a different rate of tax under this Leader of the Opposition.

Opposition members interjecting—

This is the troika of economic irrationality: zonal taxation depending upon where you live; breaking up private sector companies through forced divestment, and nuclear reactors, owned by the government, sometime in the 2040s. The party of Menzies is a long time gone. (Time expired)

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

Order! There is far too much noise on my left. The Manager of Opposition Business and the Leader of the Nationals are continually interjecting. We're just going to have a bit more silence during the answer to this question.