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

I have received a letter from the honourable Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The collapse in living standards under this Government.

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—

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

If you were at home today tuning into question time, you would understand from this Treasurer that there's nothing to see in relation to problems that families and the economy are facing at the moment. You would have heard from this Treasurer, today, that he was prepared to take the responsibility for decisions that he says have been taken that have been beneficial to the Australian people, but he produced no evidence of that.

What we saw from the government today was significant hubris, a government which is telling the Australian people 'there's nothing to see here'. These are families that have faced, over the last two years, 12 interest rate increases. People are paying a thousand dollars more for their electricity bills. Their insurance premiums have gone through the roof. People are paying more and more and more when they go to the supermarket, when they go to the butcher's and when they go to the fruit shop. And this Treasurer and this Prime Minister today tried to tell the Australian people: 'There's nothing to see here; the job's done. Be grateful. Be grateful for what this government has done for you. Be grateful that over the last two years in real terms your wages have gone backwards. Be grateful for the fact that you're paying more for your mortgage.' The Treasurer gets up and says, 'It's okay, because we've passed on savings to families and we've somehow made the situation much better.' They haven't. This government couldn't be more out of touch.

There are families at the moment who are taking their kids out of schools because they can't afford to pay the fees. There are families across the country and there are pensioners across the country who could not afford to heat and eat—they can do one or the other, but they can't do both—over winter. We know that there are families who are in distress and have gone onto payment plans with energy companies, and this Prime Minister and this Treasurer make no mention of that whatsoever. There are people who are in discussions with their bank right now to work out how it is they're not going to be sold up by the bank because they're missing their mortgage repayments. The Reserve Bank governor has pleaded with this government to stop spending as much money in the economy as they do. What the Australian government—the Albanese government—wants people to believe is that getting $10 from this government somehow is going to compensate you for paying $100 more each week to the bank in increased mortgage rates. The interest rates in Canada and in New Zealand have already come down, and you would have expected that interest rates would already have come down in this comparable economy as well. But they're not going to, because the Reserve Bank governor has warned the Prime Minister and the Treasurer that the path this government has put us on is not sustainable.

Let's be clear about it. The first responsibility of the government is to keep Australians safe. This Prime Minister has failed that first test. The next test is to make sure that you do no harm and you take care of Australians and help them through their lives. This government is making it harder and harder and harder for Australians, particularly those on fixed incomes—pensioners and self-funded retirees and people who are on part pensions. Small-business owners across the country are feeling the pain as well. When you look at your electricity bill tonight at home and ask yourself, 'How on earth are we going to pay this bill?' or when you look at your insurance premium and say, 'How on earth are we going to pay this bill?' it's small-business owners who are saying the same thing.

People who have got small stores that hold their goods in cold storage—their electricity bills have gone through the roof. In some cases—as we've moved around the country, there have been endless examples of this—those bills haven't just gone up by $1,000; those bills have gone up by tens of thousands of dollars in some businesses. Can those small businesses, because their overdrafts now have gone up to double digits under this government, afford to absorb that cost? No, they can't. They can't, because they're paying more and more for every input cost. This is why, when you go to the supermarket, when you go to the butcher or when you go to the fruit shop or wherever it might be, people are paying more and more for groceries. We know that inflation is running at 3½ per cent, it's persistent and it remains well above the two to three per cent target range. We know that, on comparative inflation, Australia's core inflation is 3.8 per cent higher than in the Netherlands, higher than in the United Kingdom, higher than in the United States, Germany, Spain, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Italy, Canada, France and the entire Euro area. And yet this Prime Minister and this Treasurer in question time today say to you that there's nothing to see here, that you've never had it better, that since the Albanese government has been in power over the last two years it has never been better. Well, I've got a wake-up call to this Prime Minister and to this Treasurer: get out of this parliament, and go and speak to average Australians in the suburbs. Go and speak to people who are having their houses sold up. Go and speak to people who are in the manufacturing industry.

Under this government over the last two years, there's been a threefold increase in the number of manufacturing businesses that have closed their doors. Now, Australians aren't consuming less. Those businesses have gone to Malaysia. They have gone to Wyoming and elsewhere around the world, where it's cheaper to produce because there's a government there delivering an energy policy—for example, in Ontario, with the use of 70 per cent nuclear power in the system, they're paying one-third the electricity cost that we are in our country. We're importing those end products, those finished products, back into Australia at a higher cost with more emissions, and Australians have lost the jobs and economic productivity. And yet the Treasurer says, 'Nothing to see; you've never had it better.'

We know that the government's renewables-only energy policy is contributing to inflation. We know this because people see it in their power bills. The independent Energy Regulator is saying to the Australian public—this is not someone employed by the Liberals or by the National Party; this is somebody who is an independent statutory officeholder, telling the Australian people that we're going to have blackouts in this country. We're going to have brownouts. There will be rationing of power. There will be continued growth in the cost of electricity, and Australian families can't afford three more years of this government. That much is obvious. Australians are barely holding it together at the moment in terms of their own budgets, and all this this Prime Minister and this Treasurer can offer is more of the same.

And it's not just in relation to economics and not just in relation to security. This government goes from one issue to the next where they frankly don't have a clue how to manage issues or how to resolve problems. They have a situation at the moment where they are absolutely obsessed with the Greens party's policies, philosophies and approaches. It means that every decision they're taking is based on how they can win votes or hold votes from the Greens in inner-city Melbourne and Sydney. What is happening here is that those people are being treated more fairly, it seems—or they are certainly being prioritised—than people in regional areas and people in outer metropolitan areas. We've seen it in relation to the agricultural sector. Farmers have marched on this parliament for the first time in 40 years during the course of this week. We've seen it in relation to the mining sector. The mining sector is here in town this week, and they are belling the cat here. They are absolutely clear about the fact that this Prime Minister and the Minister for the Environment and Water have taken decisions which have detrimentally impacted the mining sector. Without that money from the mining sector, we don't have schools been refurbished in this country. We don't have new roads being opened in capital cities. Without the WA economy doing well, the whole Australian economy is suffering.

When we say to the Australian public, by way of this very important debate today, that the collapse in living standards under this government is real, it is real. Australians are feeling it, and that's why they're losing faith in this Prime Minister. That's why this Prime Minister's numbers in every poll that you look at at the moment are through the floor. Australians aren't stupid. They're not going to accept the hollow assurances from this government, and this Prime Minister and Treasurer should stand condemned.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not really sure what that was. It was kind of all over the shop. It felt like his heart wasn't in it. It had the normal kind of expected, de rigueur division, complaint and signature negativity—not as much nastiness as we might be used to. It did sound like he had a bit of a cold! But I would say it's not consistent with the Leader of the Opposition's 'smile a bit more' strategy—'try to make people think you're a little bit nicer!' He's going to have to run back to the office and work a little bit harder on that. But maybe it's for another purpose. Maybe that little rant was for his TikTok account. That's right: the Leader of the Opposition, the guy who spent years huffing and puffing and railing at young Australians for scrolling down their TikTok, has got amongst it. He's actually joined TikTok.

He was talking about the numbers.

I had a look—well, I got my staff to have a look because it's not in my parliamentary phone; let the record show—and at 3.19 pm this afternoon, one week in, the Leader of the Opposition now has 26 followers on TikTok. You can find him under the category of hashtag #rwnj, hashtag #desperate, hashtag #nasty. But I'll give him a little tip—I'm very popular on TikTok; I've got 145,000 followers—you've got to put your heart into it. You've actually got to mean what you say.

I know it's Thursday at the end of a difficult week, and I'll start on a conciliatory note. It gets a bit testy on Thursdays; it gets a little bit testy in here, but this is astounding—miracles do happen. The opposition actually brought forward a topic for debate of some relevance to Australians. After month after month after month of studiously avoiding asking questions about the economy and about the cost of living—they talk about any topic except the cost of living and the economy—they've shown a little bit of interest this week. I'll give them that. They're kind of getting back on the game. They weren't very good at government; from what we've seen in the last two years, they're not very good at opposition. They're certainly not very good at being the alternative government and actually having any policies, but they're starting to figure it out. You've got to at least pretend to care about the things that Australians are worried about. Let's be very clear: the government's No. 1 priority is helping Australians doing it tough with cost-of-living pressures. It's coupled with the core economic challenge of getting inflation down.

I had a community morning tea last week and was talking to people, mainly older people, who know what inflation does to an economy. Left unchecked, inflation destroys the incomes, savings and wealth of ordinary, everyday Australians. Actually, the people with a lot of wealth do really, really well in an inflation crisis. The people that the opposition represent—their core supporters—actually do really well in an inflationary crisis because their assets go up in value. But everyday Australians take a hit.

But they don't want to ask about—I still haven't heard a question on it this year—the tax cuts. They don't want to talk about the government delivering two back-to-back surpluses, the first time that's happened in this country for nearly 20 years, putting downwards pressure on inflation. They don't want to talk about the $300 energy rebate going to every household and to small businesses across the country. They don't want to talk about the progress that we're making with Medicare bulk-billing and restoring bulk-billing. For the first time in a very long time, we've seen bulk-billing rates rise—they don't want to talk about that. They don't want to talk about cheaper child care. They certainly don't want to talk about fee-free TAFE. They said fee-free TAFE was a waste of money. Well, try telling that to the now more than 500,000 Australians who, in the last two years, benefitted from Labor's fee-free TAFE.

They don't want to talk about cheaper medicines, the 60-day scripts. Now, I'll make a little confession. My daughter doesn't really think that much of politics. She keeps a bit of an eye on it, but she actually called me on this one last year. She rang me and said, 'Dad, you've finally done something useful.' I said, 'Oh, what's that, darling?' She told me that these 60-day scripts, which put downwards pressure on and cut the cost of medicines, benefit her. It's not just older Australians; she's on lifelong blood thinners for DVT. There have been hundreds of millions of dollars saved, but they don't want to talk about that. But, of course, if you want to talk about the standard of living or the cost of living, it's not just money out; it's also money in. That means wages.

In their time in government—in nearly a decade of decay, division, dithering and dysfunction—they had a deliberate policy. Their deliberate policy was to oppose wage rises at every turn and keep wages low. When the now Prime Minister was asked in the election campaign—the journalist thought it was a gotcha question—'Will you support a $1 rise in the minimum wage?' he said, 'Absolutely.' The former prime minister and this rabble over there dithered for a couple of days till they realised maybe that actually wasn't a very good idea.

The government is getting wages moving. If you want to talk about the cost of living and the standard of living, then getting wages moving is key. The government has backed minimum wage rises for 2.6 million low-paid workers—a third consecutive pay rise, opposed by those opposite. The caring professions and the gender wage gap in particular are a real focus of the government's work, as is backing wage rises for aged-care workers and backing wage rises for early childhood workers.

But I do give them credit. In that whole wasted decade, they did actually achieve something. One of their policies worked. Real wages went backwards in their decade in office, and they can't blame COVID. That's the thing. They can't hide behind the pandemic and say, 'It's all because of COVID.' Between 2013 and 2019, before the pandemic, real wage rises were, under their watch, 0.7 per cent lower. In their first six years in government, they sent real wages backwards. That was their deliberate policy, and they achieved it. They were punting for the wooden spoon in the OECD. They almost got there. They were in third-last place, on their watch, out of 35 OECD countries. So it sets up a very clear contrast, doesn't it? The government, Labor, wants Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. The Liberals, the opposition, want Australians to work longer for less.

I'm really happy to talk about the economy and the cost-of-living pressures that all Australians are feeling. I see it in my community in Bruce, which borders your electorate, Member for Isaacs. The human diversity in my part of Melbourne, south-east Melbourne, is our defining characteristic. It's one of the most multicultural places in Australia, with people from more than 150 countries, speaking more than 200 languages, and with more than 100 faith traditions every day. Go to the Dandenong Market. You'll see the whole world there.

As a government, our No. 1 priority is delivering cost-of-living relief for every Australian—and I mean every single Australian. My new role in the ministry, looking after citizenship and multicultural affairs, means that I get out right across the country now and talk to every Australian—every kind of Australian, not just the Bob or the Karen or the Russell or the Anne or the other Anglo folks that the coalition always talks about, such as the Cecil. We had Cecil today—safe Cecil. 'We'll give Cecil another run.' It is something curious that I've observed over quite some time now about those opposite. In question time, the opposition often ask ministers about people they claim to have heard from in their electorates, raising an issue. 'Fred from my electorate says you're awful. What do you say?' 'Jane, from a microbusiness in a small town in my electorate, says everything is terrible and it's all your fault. Why are you so bad?' It is that kind of vibe. But it's funny how they never seek to raise an issue on behalf of Mohammed or Mateo or Mozhgan or Chen or Amrit or Ezekiel or Leila or Dikran. Do Australians from non-Anglo backgrounds not exist in coalition electorates, or do they never go and talk to those people and hear about their cost-of-living pressures? Maybe they just don't speak up to them. Could it be that they just make up their fictitious questions from constituents and never think of non-Anglo Australians? Hmm. Every single time they come in here and tell stories, it's always people with Anglo-Celtic names that they're raising. Have a look.

But, in talking about cost of living and standards of living, I want to be very clear. When it comes to modern multicultural Australia, it's always important to remember that we have far more in common than we have difference. Everyone cares about a strong economy. Everyone is getting a tax cut because of this government, and it was the right thing to do. We took a political whack to the head earlier in the year when we made that decision to restructure the tax cuts and push more money to low- and middle-income earners. Under their proposal, low- and middle-income earners would have got nothing, while all the benefits went to high-income earners. What's their policy on that now, I wonder? Does Bob or Russell or Anne or Cecil or Mohammed or Mozhgan or doing-okay Dylan get a tax cut still, or are you going to roll them back still? Is that their policy? We'll see.

Inflation, though, is trending down, and that benefits every Australian. Everyone cares about Medicare—our universal health system. It's something people new to this country find miraculous and become rightly proud of. That's a Labor legacy. No-one comes to this country wanting to be poorer. Everyone comes to this country wanting a better life for their kids through education. I hear this day in and day out in my electorate, every weekend, when doorknocking, out on street stalls or going to events. I actually go doorknocking because it cheers me up. It's a bit like going to the gym sometimes. Getting there's a little bit hard, but then, once you're there, it's actually pretty good. It cheers me up because you actually talk to normal, everyday people. You get outside your toxic emails and the social media bubble.

The government is on the side of every Australian getting a fair go. Of course, if the opposition were fully upfront in this debate, they'd tell their fake constituents that they've opposed every single cost-of-living measure that the government has put forward over the last two years to make their lives better, whether it's tax cuts, energy rebates, pay rises for low-income workers or, now, the Future Made in Australia policy. (Time expired)

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, more drivel from the member for Bruce. This guy continues to play the class clown. Here we are, talking about the collapse in living standards under this government, and he starts saying that we only mention Anglos. Maybe he should have mentioned Zahid Safi, who's the Liberal candidate for Bruce running in his seat against him, who was born in Afghanistan. This guy failed to mention Zahid, the Liberal candidate who wants to take him on. Instead, he goes on about Peter Dutton's TikTok account. I'll tell you what: Zahid Safi has 280 likes on his Facebook. So if you want to criticise him, Member for Bruce, come back down and do that. You want to talk about Anglos and all the rest of it.

Maybe what you, Assistant Minister—and well done on your promotion—and all of those opposite should be doing, including the minister with his back to the dispatch box, is concentrating on the living standards that have fallen in Australia over the last two years.

If you think about what's happened for people in the gallery, for people in my electorate, for people right around the country, just two years ago people did have a lot more money, a lot more disposable income. Right now, since this government was elected, living standards have fallen through the floor.

You just have to look at what the assistant minister said about what this government, the Albanese government, is somehow going to do to help with the cost of living. What did he mention? He mentioned tax cuts and he mentioned a $300 electricity rebate. What he failed to tell you is that the Prime Minister, prior to the last election, promised the stage 3 tax cuts that the coalition had legislated and that they, at the time, had approved: 'My word is my bond. I won't change them.' And then he went and changed them, and now they want credit for it. They wouldn't even be delivering tax cuts if it wasn't for the coalition.

Then he mentioned a $300 rebate but failed to tell you that the Prime Minister had promised a $275 reduction in your electricity bill. I haven't met anyone around the country yet who's had their electricity bill fall by $275. So what have they done? They've said, 'We'll give you a $300 rebate, a one-off thing for one year,' but your electricity bill has been continuously going up.

People in my electorate have written to me. Carol from Mango Hill asked, 'When is Labor going to stop wasting money on renewables, which in most cases are worse for the environment, and start investing in our own resources?' Today, the minister for the environment was asked about the environmental damage that has been done by resource projects around the country, and all she could say is, 'Oh, in some cases, there's a little bit,' or, 'We're working with people to prevent environmental damage.'

Sandeep from Griffin said, 'The cost of living is impacting everything, especially interest rates.' But what does the Prime Minister get up and say in parliament today? At 2.21, he said, 'Australians understand that I lead a government that gets things done.' But what are you getting done? What are you actually getting done, besides higher mortgages, higher rents, higher insurances and less disposable income? I mean, he spent $500 million on a Voice—and ran around for months carrying on about it—that 68 per cent of the country voted no to. Not one state voted for it. That was his priority in the last two years, not the people of Petrie that I represent or Australians right around the country.

The Treasurer was just as bad. At 2.37 today, the Treasurer was asked about interest rates, and what did he say? There have been 12 interest rate rises in a row under them, but he focused on the coalition and said, 'It started under you.' We had one interest rate rise in nine years. In two years, they've had 12 interest rate rises. For someone with a mortgage of $730,000, it's gone up by $30,000 in interest. They carry on about women going back to work. No wonder they're going back to work. Their mortgage has gone up $30,000! This isn't just the case in Petrie. It's right around the country.

I'll tell you what really illustrates how bad this Albanese Labor government are and what an appalling job they're doing with the collapse in living standards, and that is the level of homelessness right around the country. Anywhere you go at the moment, you will see more and more rough sleeping. Statistics don't lie. Under the coalition government, rough sleeping fell at the last census. Under this government, it's doubled. It's gone through the roof and it will continue to get worse. Homelessness is up, cost of living is up— (Time expired)

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Listening to the last two speakers from the opposition, all we heard were lots of things about the cost of living. It's true that it is tough out there at the moment, and I speak to lots of my constituents about it, but I haven't heard any solutions. All this week and all this year—in fact, for the last two years—those opposite have been very good at raising the issues but not giving us solutions. Governing is a lot more than just whingeing. We know that Australians are doing it tough. I was out last week. I held four street-corner meetings. We did doorknocking and telephone polling. People are telling us that it's tough out there—it's extremely tough. That's why the priority of this Labor government is to ensure that we can assist those people and that we can help those people as much as we possibly can. We are putting things into action and have put things into action.

The opposition would let you think that the world began on 19 May 2022 and nothing existed prior to that. When we look at their track record, where was their housing policy? Where was their energy policy? There were 29, 30, 40—I don't know how many—energy policies they had. They kept on flopping and failing, therefore not putting the structure in place to allow people to invest in renewables and in energy so that we could have more players in the market to bring down prices. The only solution we've had from that side is nuclear power plants, this monstrosity that will cost billions and billions of dollars that, whether it's a private investment or whether it's a government investment, will have to be recouped from someone at some stage. Where will that money get recouped from? It will be the people that pay the energy bills—the mums and dads, the families. That shows that energy prices will absolutely skyrocket under a Liberal opposition government.

Our economic plan is a plan about helping Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn, and our policies are making a difference—there is no doubt. In the first two years of this Albanese Labor government, compensation of employees rose at its fastest two-year rate in 16 years. When we talk about compensation of employees, we're talking about wages. It's an annual average of 7.7 since the election. Prior to the election, we were going backwards, compared to 4.5 per cent under the coalition. Inflation now has a three in front of it. What was it prior to 19 May 2022? It had a six in front of it. We've nearly halved the rate of inflation, and we know that you need to keep a lid on inflation. That's what we're tackling every single day here. If that genie gets out of the box, it will absolutely destroy the lives of Australians. We know that inflation has to be managed, and that's what we're doing. We've halved it since we've been in government.

Nominal wages are growing at almost double the average of what it did under the former government. We're delivering cost-of-living relief, including tax cuts for every single taxpayer and energy bill relief for every household. I make the point: we don't want to take lectures from an opposition who left us with inflation that was rising and had a six in front of it, with real wages going backwards by 3.4 per cent, a decade of deliberate wage stagnation and suppression and tax cuts which gave more to the well off. This is their track record. They would have continued to give more to the well off had they won the last election.

These are the same people who'd have us in recession right now with less help for people on lower wages—the same people who can't tell us where their $315 billion in secret cuts are coming from and what that means for Medicare, for pensions and for the economy. We saw when they last came to government that those three items—Medicare, pensions and things in the economy—were absolutely slashed by former prime minister Abbott. These are the same people, who still don't have a credible or costed alternative economic policy well into their third year of a three-year term.

Those opposite want higher interest rates and higher inflation so no-one notices that they have no policies or credibility. They left us with much higher inflation, huge deficits, and, in the third year of a three-year term, still have no costing— (Time expired)

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

I was here in question time today when I heard the Prime Minister say, 'Australians understand that the government I lead gets things done.' Well, the Australians that I speak to know that, under this Prime Minister, what this government has done is demolish and decimate their standards of living. Australians are experiencing a collapse in living standards under the Albanese Labor government that has been brought about by the Albanese Labor government and yet continues to be denied by the Albanese Labor government. Recent polls have shown that Australians now know that the cost-of-living crisis that they are experiencing is directly attributable to this government and to this government's gross overspending and absolute failure to rein in inflation.

In question time today, we heard some commentary by the Treasurer that I could not believe. When asked a question about whether he would take responsibility for the 12 interest rate rises that have occurred under his watch, he went straight back to the one interest rate rise that occurred under the former coalition government. For those Australians who would've listened to that or those Australians who will see it tomorrow in the news, on their newsfeed or on social media, they know that they are now experiencing a far worse standard of living than they were two years ago.

When I'm out in my electorate, through southern Sydney, the Sutherland shire and south-western Sydney, regardless of where I go—whether it be Bangor, Bundeena, Ingleburn, Illawong or Hammondville—they are all telling me exactly the same thing. Their mortgages are up by $24,000 a year. Their insurances are right up. When they go each week to the supermarket, the butchers, the fruit and vegetable shop or their local cafe to buy a coffee, they know that they are paying a lot more now than they were two years ago. That is just one of the impacts.

The major impact that this is having is on Australian's way of life. I've had so many families say to me that sport is a massive part of the community in the seat that I'm privileged to represent, and parents have now had to reconsider whether or not their children will play summer sports this year. They are saying to me that they are considering how much insurance they continue to take out. They're cutting back on insurance. This is not the Australia that was here two years ago. This is the Australia and the way of life that is now being delivered by this Labor government, and it is disgraceful. It is disgraceful that we have seen this tearing apart of the fabric of Australians' lives.

I speak to small business in my community regularly. Households will say to me their energy costs have gone up by $1,000 or more. Small businesses will talk about the tens of thousands of dollars more that they are now paying for energy costs, and that is directly attributable again to Albanese Labor government policies where they would look at nothing but renewable energy. They have refused, because of ideology, to look at a more pragmatic approach and to say: 'Maybe we've got this wrong. Maybe we should be considering other options, such as more gas or nuclear power, to work together with renewables to address our energy crisis.'

I was also here today when I heard the member for Adelaide say that those on our side have no solutions. We do have solutions. We would absolutely fight inflation. We would bring inflation down, and that would then allow the Reserve Bank to bring interest rates down. We would cut red tape. We would assist small businesses with instant asset write-offs. We would get this economy back on track. (Time expired)

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor has worked hard to help Australians with the cost of living, but we know there is still more to do, particularly in regional and remote Northern Territory. Offering tax cuts, energy rebates and wiping student debt are important in our Labor budget of delivering cost-of-living relief for every Australian, including people in my electorate. I work hard in the electorate to build strong and sustainable communities that provide relief to those most in need at times when they need it the most. That is why it's so important that the many Territorians in Lingiari benefited from a tax cut from 1 July 2024. The Albanese Labor government is focused on easing the cost-of-living pressures and is committed to ensuring every working Australia keeps more of what they earn.

The cost of living remains a major issue of concern for everyone, particularly in my electorate. My constituents are feeling the pressure from higher global energy prices. From 1 July we are delivering $300 of energy bill relief for every Australian household, including those in my electorate of Lingiari. We're also providing small businesses with an energy rebate of $325, which is good for local business and local consumers. This is on top of extending for a further 12 months the $20,000 instant asset write-off, and there has been good feedback from some of those small businesses in my electorate. We're also hearing from farmers and pastoralists on the federal government's On Farm Connectivity Program, which provides farmers and pastoralists with rebates of as much as $30,000 for investing in state-of-the-art agricultural technology.

I wonder if members on the other side tell their constituents that, when we talk about fighting inflation and easing the cost of living, they have voted, for the last two years, against every cost-of-living relief measure. They have never supported any of the cost-of-living relief measures, and they stand up and say they have solutions to offer, but I have yet to see any of those solutions come forward. And it's not just about a few electorates; it's about the whole of Australia, including those in my electorate, where we see the most disadvantage.

Labor is building on last year's budget investment for all Australians relying on the social security safety net. From this year, the Albanese government is increasing maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistant by a further 10 per cent to help relieve rental stress.

In the last six months before the last election, the financial viability of general practice was in serious trouble, particularly in my electorate of Lingiari, after the coalition's six-year freeze on the Medicare rebate. Bulk-billing was falling off a cliff. That's why Labor tripled the bulk-billing incentive from 1 November last year, with the largest investment in bulk-billing in history. In my electorate, we have seen a 3.4 per cent rise, from 75 per cent of all GP visits being bulk-billed in October to 79 per cent in May, a huge increase in the electorate of Lingiari. When I talk to a lot of the GPs, they say that bulk-billing has increased by about 4.8 per cent. The residents in my electorate of Lingiari have also made 11,000 visits to the Mparntwe—or Alice Springs—and the Palmerston Medicare urgent care clinics.

We're making it easier for parents to manage finances with 26 weeks of paid parental leave with super now included, as we saw today. So cost-of-living measures are part of Labor's long-term economic plan. We are helping all Australians right now by working to bring down inflation and planning a future made in Australia.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Everywhere I look, the cost of living is hurting families in my electorate and around Australia. All the fundamental costs that families and individuals face seem to be going up. The pressure that families and businesses are under because of what this government has done is unbelievable. They start thinking that subsidising processes that drive the economy will make the fundamentals cheaper. But no amount of subsidy will make the fundamentals cheap if we create shortages. At the source of many things in the economy, the basics are food production, clothing production, manufacturing and energy costs. All of those are going up.

You've only got to look at what our inflation figures are. The current inflation rate in Australia of 3.8 per cent is remarkably not budging, and that is because we have a lot of extra government spending subsidising industries like the energy system, which is getting huge subsidies, making our electricity system unreliable and expensive. They're subsidising more and more renewable energy. You've only got to look at the subsidy-go-round. There are certificate values for large-scale generation of $4 billion a year. Along with the small-scale subsidies we've got $19 billion of Rewiring Australia subsidies baked in. We've got subsidies for batteries. We've got subsidies, through interest rates that governments are paying, for green energy bonds.

The irony of it is that we are now subsidising, in New South Wales and Victoria, coal plants to not close. Their business cases have been destroyed by the market rules which restrict them operating because of renewable energy targets. But, hey presto, people have got to realise that this mantra we've heard day in, day out that renewables are the cheapest form of energy only refers to the generation cost at the solar panel or at the wind turbine. It doesn't include the levelised full system costs of energy—the extra costs of all the subsidies, the extra costs of all the batteries, the extra costs of all the poles and wires for the grid and the extra costs of the backup systems that you need because solar only generates 20 per cent of the time. It's got to have a gas plant or a coal plant just sitting there waiting for if the sun stops shining or when it's night-time. So you've got multiple other system costs which mean the costs of the electricity from a renewable based system, once it gets to your power point and onto your bill, are totally different from the generation cost. We need a system cost cost so people understand the full cost.

Look at the cost of cars. The new EV push has put a system in place, through fuel standards, that's putting the cost of a Toyota RAV4 up at least $11,000. Even a cheap Chinese MG is going to go up $12,000. The cars that all the tradesmen drive—HiLuxes and Ford Rangers are two of the biggest selling vehicles in Australia—have gone up: $17,900 for a Ford Ranger and $14,500 for a HiLux.

Insurance is going up. Mortgage repayments are going up. There are these huge mortgages in the cities. People are having to pay up to $30,000 more because of this loose government spending without any productivity growth. The economy's growing because we've got unbridled immigration. There's a shortage of housing that's exacerbated by too many migrants, way more than our housing can provide for. Everywhere you turn, costs are up.

We need a change of government. At the election next year we'll get back to fundamentals. We're going to make the fundamentals cheap and get tax cuts in that mean we don't have people paying more tax. We're going to bring back the original stage 3 tax cuts and get rid of the 32½ per cent tax rate so people are paying 30 per cent only up until they get to $200,000. Then they'll have enough income to pay their way and get ahead again. (Time expired)

Quorum formed.

Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about how the Albanese Labor government is addressing the pressing issue of the cost of living in Australia. We have just heard from the Leader of the Opposition, we have just heard from members of the opposition, and I say one thing: actions speak louder than words. That's why I'm on this side of the House. When I'm out and about in my community in Pearce, which is one of the fastest- and largest-growing areas in the nation, with a median age of 36 and approximately eight babies born per day, the most significant and appreciated measure introduced by the Albanese Labor government is the tax cut for every taxpayer. My constituents are so appreciative of not just a one-off payment but an ongoing pay increase every fortnight in their pay packets. Starting 1 July 2024, every taxpayer has received a tax cut, including those earning $45,000 or less who previously received no benefit under the previous government's tax plan.

Given the previously mentioned demographics of Pearce, my community's also very appreciative that the government has reduced childcare costs and enhanced the government paid parental leave. From 1 July, parents have received 22 weeks of paid parental leave, resulting in more support as parents take time out of work to care for their newborns. The scheme will continue to expand each year until the government's Paid Parental Leave scheme reaches 26 weeks in July 2026. When fully rolled out to 26 weeks, families will receive around $24,000 in government-funded parental leave.

The Albanese Labor government has also raised the Medicare levy low-income threshold, benefiting more than a million Australians. This ensures that more low-income earners either pay a reduced levy rate or are exempt from it altogether, further enhancing their financial situation.

In addition to tax relief, the government is also providing energy bill relief. From 1 July, every household should receive a rebate of $300 on their electricity bills, while one million small businesses will benefit from a rebate of $325. This measure is critical, providing relief from rising global energy prices. By offering these rebates, the government aims to help families manage their expenses, while simultaneously exerting downward pressure on inflation.

Another critical area where the Albanese Labor government is making progress is in wages. After a decade of stagnant wages under the previous government, the Albanese Labor government is taking decisive action to get wages moving again. This includes supporting consecutive increases in the median wage and delivering a historic 15 per cent rise for aged-care and early childcare workers, increasing the payment for these essential workers and acknowledging they are taking the time and they are absolutely valued.

To further enhance the quality of aged care, today the Albanese government has announced a $5.6 billion package of investment and reforms towards high-quality, safe and compassionate care. This will allow our older generation to live independently and to live with dignity and respect as they age.

Healthcare affordability is also a priority. The government is committed to making medicines cheaper. In the recent budget, $3 billion has been allocated to support pharmacies and reduce the cost of medications. The maximum cost for PBS prescriptions will be frozen at $31.64 a year. For those with pension or concession cards, the price will remain at $7.70 for five years. This ensures that essential medications remain accessible to those who need them most. I had a community member make a beeline for me in the shopping centre recently so she could thank the Albanese Labor government. She realised she could now afford to get her full prescription at the pharmacy rather than having to pick and choose what she could and couldn't afford.

Furthermore, the government is committed to ensuring a fair deal for consumers by strengthening the competition watchdog and introducing a mandatory grocery code of conduct. The government is working to hold supermarkets accountable and to secure fairer prices at the check-out. This is an essential step in combatting the rising cost of living and in ensuring that people are not unfairly burdened.

The Albanese Labor government is actively addressing the cost-of-living crisis through comprehensive measures that support taxpayers, provide energy relief, boost wages, make health care affordable, invest in education, ensure fair consumer practices and support families. Without doubt, the Albanese Labor government is supporting our communities and is committed to building a sustainable future for all Australians, and that's why I sit on this side of the House.