Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Is Australia in a household recession?

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

I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for her question. What we know is that many Australians are doing it tough. They have had a difficult period, and it's been a difficult period in the global economy. But let's look at what we are doing. Those one million Australians who have found additional work—so more people are working than ever before—is a result of this government's policies. When you look at the participation rate, it sits at a 67.2 per cent.

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

The Prime Minister is 40 seconds into the answer. He was reading out statistics about the economy. The question was about a specific part of the economy the deputy leader asked about.

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

How could he not know that?

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

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will need to cease interjecting so I can hear the point of order from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My point of order is on relevance, Mr Speaker. It was a tightly worded question. 'Household recession' is a technically defined term, and we would expect a yes or no answer.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The demand of the standing orders is that the answer be relevant to the terms of the question, and anything that goes to the financial situation of households in Australia is clearly relevant to the terms of the question.

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

As I was making the point, as long as the Prime Minister is being directly relevant regarding facts and figures—obviously, I don't know if he's going to give a 'yes' or 'no' answer. I can appreciate the deputy leader would like that, but, under the standing orders—

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Stop whispering answers, Jim!

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

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition is warned and won't interject for the remainder of this question. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

We understand that many households are under pressure. It's precisely why we gave a tax cut to every Australian taxpayer—all 13.6 million of them, not just some. But what was going to happen under their plan was that we were all going to get a tax cut but low- and middle-income earners were going to miss out, and they're still justifying their old scheme. We look forward to and we wait for their policy to claw back the tax cuts that they've called 'waste'.

In addition to that, of course, we have provided energy price relief for every single household. In addition to that, we have provided for cheaper medicines, which is something that those opposite also opposed and said would be a disaster. We've introduced 60-day dispensing, literally cutting the cost in half, and those opposite—

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How much did that cost you?

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

I'll take the interjection from the Leader of the National Party, who said; 'How much did it cost you—the 60-day dispensing?' What he doesn't say, and what he should interject, is: How much did people benefit? How much do pensioners benefit when they go to the pharmacy and get cheaper medicines? That's what we provided. On the one hand, they ask a question about households, and, at the same time, they interject about every single measure that we have put in place. Whether it's cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, energy price relief or tax cuts for all, all of these measures make a difference. Fee-free TAFE is making a difference. The measures that we announced yesterday they've already said they'll oppose. There's not a single cost-of-living measure that those opposite are prepared to support.