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

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

The Government's economic mismanagement resulting in the longest household recession on record.

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—

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After nearly three years of this Albanese Labor government and its economic mismanagement, Australians are poorer. The truth is that we know that, historically, what happens is Australians become poorer under Labor. The Treasurer doesn't accept this. He thinks that they've never had it so good, and the biggest concession he could make in the papers this morning was that they are 'feeling' worse off. Those damn ingrates! How can they 'feel' bad about things when he's the Treasurer? The reason is simple: because they are worse off under Labor.

It's worth going to the facts, because the Treasurer doesn't rely on the facts very much. But I think we're going to spend a little bit of time on the facts, because this is more than feelings. This is way more than feelings; these are facts. The Employee Living Cost Index—this is what people who are in working families are paying for their cost of living—is up 18.9 per cent since Labor came to office. That $1 coin that we heard the Prime Minister talking about earlier today is worth close to 80c now, having fallen 18.9 per cent. Interest rates have gone up 12 times. We know a typical family living in South-Western Sydney—in my electorate—are paying $35,000 more than they were just a couple of years ago in after-tax income. But they're only 'feeling' worse off after that $35,000!

Meanwhile, interest rates are coming down in the US, the UK, Canada, Europe and New Zealand—not here. We are absolutely at the back of the pack in fighting and beating that underlying inflation, which is hurting families so much. Personal income tax payments being made by Australians are up 25 per cent since Labor came to power. Meanwhile, labour productivity in this country has fallen by 6.3 per cent. Actually, the member opposite wrote a book on this—the three Ps—and he made the point that productivity is the most important of the three Ps. It's 6.3 per cent down. It's in absolute freefall under this government because this Treasurer is hopeless and hapless, and all he is prepared to acknowledge is that Australians are feeling worse off under him. We also know—and we heard today—that business insolvencies are at a record high.

Opposition members: Shame!

And it was shameful the way the Prime Minister dealt with the facts that were outlined by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The truth is—and it's worth going through these facts again because the Prime Minister is in denial; those opposite love a bit of denial—that there were 1,364 insolvencies in the last month alone. That is a record; that is not ambiguous. It's ASIC data. It comes out each month. That is the highest that number has ever been, and that now gets us to a total of 24,700 businesses that have gone under. Australians who run small businesses are the hardest-working Australians around. There is nothing tougher than running a small business. It is a tough game, and they are in enormous pain. This Treasurer and this Prime Minister will not even accept that there are record levels of insolvency.

Sitting underneath this is something truly calamitous, and that is a collapse in Australians' standard of living. The real disposable income per person in Australia has collapsed under Labor—8.7 per cent since those opposite came to power. I have an apology to make to the House because a couple of weeks ago we had a little bit of an interaction with the Speaker over whether or not this was the worst Labor government since Whitlam. And the Speaker pointed out that this maybe is something we shouldn't be saying. It turns out he was right because this is the worst government since records began on real disposable income.

An honourable member: Never! Leave Whitlam alone! Leave Whitlam alone!

It is worse than Whitlam's government. It is worse than the absolutely disastrous Whitlam government, which I remember. I am old enough to remember standing on the polling booths to get rid of that government, and I'll be standing on the polling booths to get rid of this government, as will everyone here and all good Liberal supporters across the country, because this is absolutely disastrous. It's worse than 'the recession we had to have' in the early nineties. We didn't see anything like this collapse in living standards at that time. But we've also broken another record, and it's not a record we want to break. There have been six consecutive quarters of household recession. A household recession is GDP per person going backwards. We have never since records began seen six consecutive quarters of household per person going backwards.

The Treasurer of course, as he likes to do, spins it. He doesn't worry about the economics; he just focuses on the spin. He says that it's all okay because immigration has been at record levels. It's all okay. We've had a million people, as the shadow minister here knows, in two years, so it's all okay. A household recession is not okay. It is one of the reasons why Australians are hurting. He loves to talk about a soft landing. The only landing I see under this Treasurer is a crash landing. What we are seeing is completely unprecedented—an 8.7 per cent reduction in standards of living with no pathway to restoration of that standard of living any time soon. We have a household recession with six consecutive quarters, and, sadly, we see Saul Eslake saying today he expects another quarter of that as well. It's going to keep going as their record levels of immigration continue, and we of course see a sclerotic economy with a collapse in labour productivity and a Labor government and a Labor Treasurer that simply have no idea how to deal with these ailments.

Now, we also learned today that there are deficits coming as far as the eye can see. We have seen that in their budgets, but it's getting worse. Despite personal income taxes going up by 25 per cent, Deloitte Access has told us that the Treasurer is presiding over the biggest slump in the budget, outside of COVID, that we've ever seen—$49 billion. It's no wonder that he is raiding the nation's nest egg. It is no wonder he's decided to become the investment-allocator-in-chief for this country. He's coming after the Future Fund. And it's no surprise that the founder of the Future Fund, the first chairman of the Future Fund, the most recent chairman of the Future Fund and former prime minister John Howard have all come out saying that this is truly disastrous for this nation, as this Treasurer, as he runs out of money, raids these nest eggs.

But we know where he's going next. He'll be going to the industry super funds and saying, 'I want your money too.' It's not Australians' money, as far as he's concerned; it's his money to allocate and spend as he sees fit.

This is a guy who spent six months in the private sector and says it was the worst time of his career! But he wants to become the investment-allocator-in-chief. Even the member for Parramatta has spent a lot more time in the private sector than that.

An opposition member: He should be Treasurer!

Maybe he should be their shadow Treasurer. This is a Treasurer who has no idea.

Now, there is a better way, and that's getting back to basics; that is getting this country back on track, with outcomes, not gestures; delivery, not meetings; actions, not just promises; fighting inflation, not just alliteration. With this guy, it's three Rs, two Fs, four Ds—you know, he thinks he can fight inflation with alliteration! Well, you can't. You've actually got to do the real work.

That means getting rid of the reckless spending. That means making sure we're investing in the supply side of our economy and getting more houses built—500,000 houses; we've laid out how you can do it. It means getting rid of the bloated bureaucracy that is driving up inflation and making it harder for businesses to do what they want to do, making it harder for businesses to invest and grow and create jobs, which we know is the key to prosperity in this country, not sending more of them broke. Australians cannot afford another three years of Labor.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a wander through some of the pathways of the shadow Treasurer's mind that was! Certainly, in our 2½ years in office, our government has been laser focused on supporting Australians. We do know that times are difficult in Australian households—that people are under the pump from cost-of-living pressures and from higher interest rates.

It is important to look at the facts, because, when we came to office, inflation had a six in front of it and it was rising. It now has a two in front of it. That is not an accident. It is a result of very deliberate policies that our government has crafted, to support Australian households with cost-of-living relief without adding to inflation; to ease cost-of-living pressures; to help people earn more and keep more of what they earn.

And, while times are difficult, we are seeing progress. Real wages are now growing again, and they have grown for four consecutive quarters. The gender pay gap is at its lowest level on record, and that is a result of deliberate government policies: the pay rises that we have provided to aged-care workers, the pay rises that we will provide to those in the early education sectors—highly feminised workplaces where women, for too long, have been underpaid and underappreciated.

Our government has provided cost-of-living relief: a tax cut for every taxpayer—everyone, not just the wealthy; energy bill relief for every household; cheaper medicines and cheaper child care. We're cutting student debt. We are introducing fee-free TAFE as a permanent measure. And of course—unlike the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, who, when opposing this policy, said: 'You don't value things if you don't pay for them'—on this side of the House, we see education as a pathway to prosperity, and we want everyone to be able to benefit from it.

We've been rebuilding our health system—and didn't it need rebuilding after the almost-decade of those opposite! Once again, as we know, this is their track record when they get into government: they try and rip out the heart of Medicare.

We have been doing the work to rebuild our health system to make sure Medicare is strengthened and sustainable into the future. We have opened 75 new Medicare urgent care clinics around the nation, including one in Heidelberg, in the heart of my community. We have been boosting bulk-billing so more people can see a doctor for free when they need to. We have made sure our health system is based on having your Medicare card, not based on having your credit card, which was the policy under those opposite.

We do know that without the tax cuts, without the investments we were putting into our health system, without all of the ways that we are supporting Australians with cost-of-living help, Australian households would be much worse off. Every single one of these cost-of-living measures that we have brought to this place has been opposed by those opposite. They even suggested we go to an election over our plans to deliver tax cuts. That is why it is such a risk for Australian families, for Australian households, to look to those opposite to get us through these difficult times. They are not the people who will support households, who will support these pressures. We have seen their record—falling real wages, much higher inflation, huge deficits and much more debt—and that is what makes them risky. We will continue to do the responsible work to support Australians with cost-of-living measures and we will do it in a way where we are not adding to inflation so as to make Australians' lives easier not harder.

It has been a bit of a slog for our government because those opposite have opposed us at every step of the way. They opposed the tax cuts; they said they would reverse them. In fact, they threatened an election over tax cuts for every taxpayer. If I look at the impacts in my electorate, there are 77,000 taxpayers just in Jagajaga with an average tax cut of $1,762 who stand to lose under those opposite. Those opposite voted against cheaper medicines. There have been 601,528 prescriptions in Jagajaga so far as a result of that policy. Those opposite voted against cheaper child care, which is providing savings for 6,600 families in my community of Jagajaga. They voted against increasing the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance, which is benefitting 3,285 households in Jagajaga. They voted against debt relief for students, which is benefitting 22,263 people with a HELP debt in my community. They voted against power bill relief and of course they are voting against our fee-free TAFE measures. They voted against a Future Made in Australia. They voted against the HAFF; they don't want Australians to have houses.

Every step of the way those opposite have tried to block our government's efforts to make life easier for Australians. And while they have done this, they haven't really given us much of a sense of what they would actually do in government. We haven't seen their positive vision for how they would support Australians at this difficult time. One small piece we have, I suppose, is the fascination with nuclear energy, the plan to install nuclear plants in communities that don't seem to have been consulted at a cost of $600 billion to produce just four per cent of Australia's energy by 2050. This is pretty much just climate denial wrapped up in yellow cake. This is not policy. This is not something that is going to support Australians with the cost of electricity. This is a folly and that is pretty much it when it comes to policies that aren't just saying no.

Their track record of the Liberals and Nationals is to block and cut. They want to cut what is helping; they want to punish people who are struggling. They want to claw back the tax cuts we have delivered, close the Medicare urgent clinics we have opened. They want to stop the housing projects we have started, push up the price of medicines, and take away the increases to rent assistance we have provided to Australian renters. Today we have again had confirmation from the shadow minister that they will remove the Help to Buy scheme, the scheme that will help 40,000 Australians into homeownership. At this time, after all they failed to do when they were in government to solve the housing crisis, after the work they failed to do to make sure that we have the housing supply this country needs, they are looking to rip away that support from 40,000 Australians and to rip away the pay rises and improved conditions of Australian workers.

In the absence of them putting positive policies on the table, I suppose we have to look to those opposite's track record from when they were in government over that very long nearly a decade. If we look at the 2014 budget, I am not sure if we would call it the golden years. In fact, it's widely regarded as the worst budget this country has ever seen. After then prime minister Tony Abbott promised Australians no cuts to education, health and other areas on the eve of the 2013 federal election, what did he then want to deliver? An $80 billion cut to health and education spending and a $7 co-payment for visiting the doctor, a special straight from the then Minister for Health and now the Leader of the Opposition.

Particularly, at that time those opposite went after older Australians. They went after older Australians and those who rely on the pension. They wanted to increase the pension age to 70. They wanted to cut $1 billion from pensioner concessions. They tried to cut pension indexation. They axed the $900 seniors supplement to self-funded retirees receiving the Commonwealth seniors health card. They reset deeming rates thresholds, a cut which would have seen half a million part-pensioners made worse off. Then, just a year later, the Liberals and Nationals shamefully did a deal with the Greens to cut the pension to around 370,000 pensioners by as much as $12,000 a year by changing the pension assets test.

Older Australians have not forgotten that record. They have not forgotten that those opposite looked to cut the pension and that older Australians would be worse off under those opposite. They would not be supported with the cost-of-living relief they need and which this government is delivering. This government will continue to do the important work to support Australian households. We know that Australians cannot rely on those opposite, who just continue to block, to oppose and to fail to put any positive proposals on the table when it comes to delivering for Australians and our future.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Whether it's households, whether it's farms, whether it's factories, whether it's small businesses, right across society Australians are worse off now than what they were prior to the election in May 2022 with the Albanese government. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition and member for Farrer asked a very good question in question time today when she queried the Prime Minister about the record number of Australian business insolvencies of any month ever. There are 1,364 businesses going up the spout. Since this Prime Minister took office, more than 24,700 Australian businesses have gone insolvent. The Prime Minister disputed those figures, even though they were the Australian Securities and Investment Commission's figures, even though they were the official statistics.

We have a government that is promising to build 1.2 million Australian homes. Amongst those insolvencies, the second-highest sector is the construction industry. If you look at the figures—and this again is ASIC data—for construction companies going insolvent, and these are for the first time a company enters external administration or has a controller appointed, in 2021-22 there are 1,284. In the following year, there were 2,213, and then there were 2,977 for the financial year 2023-24. Those figures come on the back of Labor saying that they're going to build 1.2 million Australian homes, come on the back of the Victorian government trying to shut down the timber industry, coming on the back of the Victorian government, where the member for Jagajaga lives, telling new homeowners that they can't put gas appliances in their homes. How, in goodness's name, are we going to get that number of houses built?

They did a cosy little deal yesterday with the Greens. Love is back in the air when it comes to Labor and the Greens. The romance never really browned off. They just—

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wrong.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, it's not wrong at all, Member for Eden-Monaro. It was always there. They just feigned: 'Let's have this little lovers' tiff so that everybody thinks we're not together anymore, but you know what? We'll still accept your preferences and, just in the death throes of the parliamentary sitting schedule, we'll reunite. We'll get back into bed.' That's exactly what happened yesterday: Labor and the Greens back in cahoots.

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Liberal preferences.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I hear 'preferences' from the member for Eden-Monaro, the regional development minister. That is so true. It's all about preferences, because that is how Labor will get back in. Rest assured: if we are in a minority government situation after the next election, the figures on insolvencies, energy costs, grocery prices and bowser costs for everybody who ever goes to fill up their car, their ute, their truck, their motorbike or whatever are going to be up and up and up. Let me tell you: if the Labor government is going to be led by the nose by the Greens political party then we are all in trouble, because the Greens don't just have an environmental agenda. That'd be fine if they did, but they have an economic agenda to dismantle the traditions of this nation. That's before they even start on social norms and fixing up everything they think is wrong with society.

But don't just take my word for it on the construction side. Look at CreditorWatch chief economist Ivan Colhoun, who said:

On the construction side, interest rates do reduce construction, and there's the well-publicised cost pressure that businesses in the building industry have faced for a number of years now.

Construction had the second-highest business failure rate, with a 12-month average of 5.3 per cent, and it is a terrible indictment on this government that hospitality and construction have the largest number of businesses with debts to the tax office and the largest number of businesses failing. That leads to pressures on households, which are already crippled with debt, are already wondering how they're going to put Christmas presents under the tree for the kids come 25 December and are under pressure because of this government, which in its first few months did nothing but worry about a divisive referendum that failed. They didn't look at cost-of-living pressures at all. (Time expired)

Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mark Twain once said, 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.' Mark Twain wasn't saying we shouldn't look at statistics, of course, but, in a typically beautiful turn of phrase, what Mark Twain was arguing against was the use of statistics without understanding, without interpretation and without context. I think that, if Mark Twain had heard this debate today, he would have said, 'I've heard a lot of statistics from one side of this debate, but a lot of those statistics haven't been given the proper context.'

Let me give you just one example. One of the statistics raised in the first speech of this debate was that the $1-an-hour increase in the minimum wage would be worth less than a dollar now; it would be something more than 80c. We all understand the way that inflation works over time in terms of purchasing power, and I haven't gone and double-checked those statistics, but let's take that at face value. But, of course, what that statistic doesn't tell us is that that $1-an-hour increase in the minimum wage was stridently opposed by that same person. So, of course, we get this partial statistic, but it's almost meaningless without the full context. When that $1-an-hour increase in the minimum wage was put forward by those on this side, and in particular by the Prime Minister when he was opposition leader, those opposite described it as reckless and said that it would ruin the economy and that the Prime Minister was, in the words of Scott Morrison, a 'loose unit' for supporting an increase in the minimum wage. The abuse kept coming and coming, but now the shadow Treasurer wishes to complain because that dollar isn't worth exactly a dollar now, without conceding the fact that, if he were in charge, that dollar would have been 0c, not something a bit more than 80c. That's a classic case of a statistic that means something totally different when you look at it in the full context.

Similarly, those opposite relentlessly complain about where wages are at. Real wages now increasing, and those opposite will constantly say, 'But not by much.' But, then, when it comes to each individual case of wage rises, when it comes to every single case before the commission, when it comes to the 15 per cent increase for aged-care workers and when it comes to the 10 per cent increase for early educators, which will come about in December, those opposite oppose. So, again, when you look at statistics in context, they mean something totally different.

Those opposite complain about taxes, but what they don't say is that 87 per cent of the taxpayers in my electorate are better off under the tax plan that we put in as opposed to the one that they wanted to have continued to be legislated. If you look at a household earning $45,000 in my electorate—and there are many in my electorate and, indeed, many in the electorates of people right across this chamber—they are $804 better off because of the tax changes that we put through and that those opposite complained about bitterly all the way through the debate in this chamber. So those opposites will say to a household earning $45,000, 'You're paying too much tax,' but what they won't say is, 'But we would have had you paying $804 more tax.' Similarly, somebody earning $73,000 received a tax cut of $1,504 compared to $800 under them. Again, those opposite will say: 'We think you're paying too much tax. Income tax is too high.' What they don't say is the next part of that sentence—'But we would have had you paying an extra $700.' This is another case of those opposite cherry-picking their statistics or giving a statistic without its real meaning.

What's probably worse is when those opposite go on and on about wasteful spending. They say that there's hundreds of billions of dollars of wasteful spending. Here is where there is a real intellectual dishonesty that is going to be found out at the election. When they say there's hundreds of billions of dollars of wasteful spending and they're asked, 'Are you going to cut payments for veterans, are you going to cut the pension or are you going to cut basic government services?' they obfuscate. They never answer the question. When we get to the election in the first half of next year, those opposite will have to answer at some point. That's when statistics will become reality. They will have to give the full answer, and that's where their hollow rhetoric will become all it is.

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

I note that the member for Fraser started with a quote from Mark Twain. Mark Twain, of course, had a number of quotes. He also had one that said, 'It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you're a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.' Similarly, when the member for Fraser is saying we are somehow talking about statistics, I will tell you right now, Member for Fraser, there is a difference between numbers and statistics. There's a difference between facts and statistics. These are two facts. These are numbers—

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He knows statistics.

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

I note the interjection from the member for Paterson. I wonder how many of the 1,364 insolvencies we have had in a month were from the electorate of Paterson and I wonder how many of the 24,700 businesses that have gone under under this government were from the electorate of Paterson. Quite a lot of them have been from my electorate in Hughes in the south and south-west of Sydney. That is because, in my electorate, there are a lot of construction companies. There are a lot of tradies, and they have been doing it very tough under this Albanese Labor government. This government talks about its bold, ambitious plan to build 1.2 million houses, but, underlying that, they have not provided any avenue. I have not heard one member on that side talk about how they are going to get more roofers, more tilers, more electricians, more plumbers and more bricklayers.

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Fee-free TAFE.

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

'Fee-free TAFE' I hear from the member for Eden-Monaro. Fee-free TAFE, Member for Eden-Monaro, does not even go partly towards addressing the massive skills shortages that we have in the construction trade. I know it. Go out and speak to some of the construction companies in your electorate—

Deputy Speaker, could I be allowed to finish? Go out and speak to some of them in your electorate—

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My husband's a plumber.

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

Yes, and my son's about to be a plumber, but what are you doing about getting more roofers?

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How about you direct your comments through the chair, and I'll ask the minister at the table not to interject, and, if you don't keep responding and you talk to me, we should be able to knock this on the head, so let's go.

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

Deputy Speaker, as always, I'm guided by you. There are other issues that I'm hearing about in my electorate. I'm hearing from government members that they are doing a lot for families, but I'll tell you what the presidents of the sporting clubs in my electorate are telling me. They are saying that the families can't afford $1,000 in registration fees, whether that was for soccer, rugby league, netball, softball or cricket. They come up quietly to these presidents because they are embarrassed because, for the first time in their lives, families and parents are saying, 'We can't afford to pay for our kids to play sport because we've just had to pay'—for example—'an energy bill.' We're hearing that renewables are the cheapest form of energy. I'll you what: in my electorate, they don't believe it. In the south-west of Sydney, they know it's not true, and they know it's not true on your side as well. They are saying the same things to you in your electorates that they are saying to me. When families in Australia can't afford to be putting their kids into sport, they can't afford to be putting their kids into child care. They are taking them out of child care in my electorate. They are begging grandparents to look after them. They are trying everything else because they can't afford childcare places.

When I hear members on this side talking about statistics, it's simply not true that we are just talking about statistics. We are talking about real people, we're talking about real families and we are talking about a Labor government that is the worst this country has ever seen—not just the worst Labor government but the worst government full stop. We must get this country back on track under a Dutton-led government.

Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

CHARLTON () (): The shadow Treasurer is so desperate to talk down the Australian economy that he is even making up things that don't exist. Friends, his favourite imaginary calamity at the moment is something that he calls 'a household recession'. There is such a thing as a recession, but there's no such thing as 'a household recession'. The thing is that you can't just take anything that has been declining over time and put the word 'recession' in front of it to make up a new term. When migration falls for two quarters, we don't call it a 'population recession'. When it's been raining for two weeks, we don't call it a 'sunshine recession'. When we go two days without his colleagues backgrounding against him, we don't call it an 'Angus recession'. Friends, you can't just make up any kind of recession you feel like, although I do quite like the idea of an 'Angus recession', to be honest. I like it. I would define it, if I had to, as 'a significant lack of economic imagination going for over two quarters'. Or maybe an 'Angus recession' would be two months in which Angus doesn't get a question in question time or two months without dodgy, made-up statistics about Clover Moore. That could also be an 'Angus recession'. The more I think about it the more I think we should be creating this. So, friends, when the shadow Treasurer says that we're in a 'household recession', I say: 'Great work, Angus! Great creativity! A+ for making up something, but unfortunately, it doesn't exist.'

This is relevant for the following reason: even though a 'household recession' is not a defined concept, I'll tell you what is a defined concept: a recession. A recession is a defined concept, and there are many countries around the world that have experienced a recession over the last two years when they have been battling against exactly the same challenges that Australia has been facing. Think about Britain. Think about Japan. Think about New Zealand, Finland and Ireland. All of these countries have faced rising global inflation and the challenge to get that inflation down, and every single one of those countries went into recession as part of that battle. I don't know if those countries have been in a household recession or not, because, once again, as I said before, it's not a thing and, unless they have an imaginary shadow Treasurer in those countries making up that concept, we'll never know. But they have been in an actual recession and, friends, that is what distinguishes them from us.

Despite how much the shadow Treasurer might want Australia to be in a recession, despite how much he might think it's in his political interests for us to be in a recession and despite how much he's desperate to talk down the Australian economy, the truth is that the Australian economy has been one of the more remarkably resilient economies around the world. We have halved inflation without a recession. The Reserve Bank has brought interest rates up by 400 basis points, and there has been no recession in Australia. The problem is that the shadow Treasurer has been poor this term and has been unable to lay a glove on the government. He has delivered two years of franchise-killing performance in the course of this parliament, so now he's desperate to make up for it with a win.

Unfortunately, the record speaks differently. The record speaks of an economy that has halved inflation without a recession by maintaining record levels of employment. If you had gone back two years and you'd lined up a group of economists and you'd said to them, 'What do you think Australia's chances are of bringing inflation down from something with a seven in front of it to something with a two in front of it while maintaining employment at the current levels?' let me tell what you those economists would've said to you. They would've said 'Good luck! It's never been done before.' Never in Australian history have we managed to slow the economy in a way that brings inflation out of the system so quickly that it brings inflation down by 500 basis points without a recession while maintaining a robust labour market. That is what distinguishes Australia from other countries. That is what is the defining feature of these last two years. You can make up a household recession, a population recession, a sunshine recession or an Angus recession, but the reason you have to make up those things is that we're not in an actual recession, much to your chagrin.

That is the record of the Labor government. It's a record that is unparalleled in Australian history. That achievement has never been delivered before, and that's a record— (Time expired)

Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I admire the member for Parramatta's attempt to defend the indefensible. Maybe, for the benefit of this discussion, it's worth the member for Parramatta looking at some other indices. If we look at the Selected Living Cost Indexes for the last quarter—this is an ABS figure—we see that there was an annual rise in the employee living cost index of 4.7 per cent. Yet at the same time wage growth was at 3.5 per cent. So, on average, employees in this country over the past 12 months have gone backwards by 1.2 per cent. That's in addition to all of the other quarters and all of the other months where the cost of living has far exceeded any wage growth that has eventuated. Therefore, households in real terms have gone backwards. That is exactly the point the shadow Treasurer is making. Households in this country have gone backwards over the past 2½ years of this government.

Those opposite seem to forget that they took from the Australian people the low and middle income earner tax offsets. They promised the Australian people that they would take $275 off their power bills, yet their power bills have gone up by well over 10 per cent. They have said, 'Well, we've given you back some tax relief.' That's fine, but your mortgage repayments have gone up in total by some $35,000 a year, so you're well underwater on your mortgage repayments. There is not a single piece of economic data other than the broad economic context which maybe provides some fig leaf of cover for the government. But the real everyday Australian people that the member for Braddon spoke about yesterday are feeling the pinch. They are not feeling better off under this government. Why is that? Because for three years we've seen this government make poor decisions and have wrong priorities.

At the last election, the Labor government, led by the Prime Minister, promised that under them Australian households and businesses would have cheaper energy, cheaper mortgages and a better life. Instead, we have seen the Labor government consistently make a bad situation worse. Over three budgets we've seen the government keep inflation high and for longer.

As the shadow Treasurer has well pointed out, we have seen that GDP per capita has gone backwards for six consecutive quarters. That's reflected in the figures I just read out. This is now the longest GDP per capita recession on record. I say to those opposite, when I'm speaking to households and to small businesses across my electorate, they are feeling the pinch; they are definitely feeling the pinch, and they are feeling the impact of the government's failed decisions and failure to deal with these issues. That's what we mean by a household recession—people are feeling worse off, because, in reality, despite the government's attempt at spin, they are.

Australian families have seen their living standards fall off a cliff. Families have seen the cost of essentials go up and up not just for the big ticket items like mortgage repayments but for basics. Food, energy and household goods have all increased. For many families, they feel like they are going backwards—and, sadly, in many cases they are actually going backwards. And the latest data confirms this. Over the last two years, Australians have seen their real disposable income and their standard of living collapse by some 8.7 per cent, the largest collapse in living standards since records began in the 1950s and bigger than any other developed country. Australians are not better off under this government; they are worse off than they were 2½ years ago.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

More in sorrow than in anger I have to report that the member for Hume apparently can't count or read, unless it is an article in one of his favourite newspapers. Perhaps he could benefit from a back-to-basics course.

Let's examine the problem. We need to look at the balance between the costs people face and their ability to pay for them. The Liberals are fond of blaming all economic problems on the Australian people, the Australian Labor Party, the unions—or all three. They see a rise in wages or salaries, unless you are a CEO, as a disgraceful thing to be opposed.

Let me explain something to you. When wage and salary earners call for a rise in their pay, it's almost invariably because they're resisting a decline in their living standards. They see the cost-of-living rises and they understandably want to ensure their standard of living doesn't fall. That's when the unions and the Australian Labor Party go into bat for them, because we get it. And that's when the Liberals and the Nationals scream no. They use the word 'inflation' like a magical word from a children's tale. Inflation is a big hairy monster created by bad or thoughtless people who have incomes under $100,000, and then they have the nerve to want higher pay! Top executives can and should have whatever pay they want, plus the bonuses on top of that, especially if they reduce the size of their workforce—that is, to sack people. When prices go up, inflation occurs. It is never, never the fault of the Liberals and their friends.

It was under the Liberals that income inequality soared in Australia. Let's look at the time the Liberals don't like to talk about—the nine years they were in power federally between 2013 and 2022. Just to be fair, let's concentrate on their last full financial year in office: 2020-21. Average incomes fell. The poorer you were the higher the percentage of the fall. The average income of the 20 per cent at the lowest income level fell by 3½ per cent. The average income of the 20 per cent at the highest income level fell by 0.1 per cent.

When we came to office in May 2022, the 20 per cent at the highest income level held 82 per cent of the value of all Australian investment property and 78 per cent of all the shares and financial investments. Their average wealth was $3,240,000. The average wealth of the 20 per cent at the lowest income level was $36,000. When costs rise for them, life is hard, and I mean frighteningly hard. That is why the Albanese Labor government is fighting inflation,. That's why we have gone into bat for ordinary Australians. That's why we are taking action on the cost of living by getting inflation down and with a rise in the minimum wage, tax cuts for all taxpayers, cheaper medicines, cheaper child care, more support for bulk-billing, Medicare urgent care clinics, free TAFE, better pay for childcare workers, better pay for aged-care workers, significant reductions in student debt, paid practicums for teaching and nursing, indexation of pensions and benefits, record increases in rent assistance, better funding for government schools and energy bill rebates.

At the time of the 2022 election, real wages had also been falling substantially for five consecutive quarters. Inflation was over six per cent. We are working to clean up a decade's worth of your mess, and it's not easy. You did quite a job of neglecting infrastructure of all sorts and ignoring anything that looked like a problem. You do, however, have answers. Here they are in a nutshell: according to the Liberals, the Australian people should work longer hours for less pay.

We take a different position. We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. We want that to happen while we're building a strong, resilient nation that will be able to provide good, secure lives in a world undergoing rapid change, and it's starting to work. That's why the Liberals are becoming more and more shrill and more and more desperate. Inflation is less than half what it was when we came to office. That's called 'bringing prices under control'. Perhaps the member for Hume hasn't noticed. In less than three years, we have $150 billion less debt and $80 billion less in interest repayments, and in today's world that is outstanding. I'm proud to stand with those who stand up for Australians and their future.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I turn my full force to this excellent MPI, if the rumours are right, this is my last chance to speak before you, Deputy Speaker Andrews, so I will take the opportunity to say what a pleasure it has been to serve with you and how well you've done in the chair.

The longest household recession on record—goodness me, how did we get there? I want to take you on a journey back in time to what I will call 'the golden age' of the Albanese government. It lasted about 18 months. The golden age was right at the start, about January 2023, and things were great. The blue carpet was still fresh with new shoes running over it. The Voice was there to be won. Remember when the No. 1 focus of this government was the Voice for 18 good solid months. Polling was about 70 per cent for it. That was a good time. That must have felt fantastic. The misinformation bill hadn't been withdrawn twice at that point. It was still there to be won. They were going to tell us how to talk. This was the honeymoon period; it was a great time.

It was during this time that the Treasurer of this great nation decided to bestow on us a 6,000 word essay on how he was going to remake capitalism and reshape our economy. It's 6,000 words. It's interesting reading, if you can chug your way through it. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're without sleep and at a desperate point.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take your recommendation.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do take the recommendation; it's good. It's all about values based capitalism. There's a great line in that article:'2023 will be the year we build a better capitalism'. How did that go? Let's have a look. It was a big claim. It was a mighty claim. It is a claim you can only make when there is so much hubris and arrogance in that honeymoon period that not a single journalist will actually hold you to account for the claims you make. But let's look have a look now with some runs on the board and see how this played out.

It's the longest GDP per capita recession since we've recorded these figures—the worst performance we could possibly have. That's not a great start. Real disposable income has collapsed by 8.7 per cent. As the member for Hume pointed out, that dollar coin that the Prime Minister held up during his campaign is now worth about 80c—great job! Remaking capitalism really worked. Household savings have collapsed 10 percentage points. What does that mean? It means that 21- to 29-year-old kids who are looking at the price of housing go through the roof have no ability to save for that deposit. There was a great cartoon early in this term of government. There was a young child chasing a balloon in the shape of a house as it was blown away from her. That's exactly what remaking capitalism has done for us.

We have the highest number of business insolvencies on record, and I'm happy to say that. It's a number from ASIC. I know the Prime Minister didn't like that number. Unfortunately, it's just a fact. The highest number of business insolvencies on record: remaking capitalism. That's what they meant. This is on purpose. This is what they were trying to do. Labour productivity has fallen 6.3 per cent. We're producing less, we're less effective and, incredibly—think about this—there is a productivity fall in a skills shortage. So we have people who could be doing more while we have a shortage of people and there are more skills that we need. Fantastic! What a remade capitalism!

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a double whammy, isn't it?

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a double whammy—fantastic! Energy prices have increased by 30 per cent: remade capitalism. Enjoy that one. The highest immigration ever in the middle of a housing crisis: remade capitalism. I thank the Treasurer on behalf of my kids for the world that has been created for them.

Here we are with the best bit of the whole lot. This is the one that's really going to hurt: the soft landing that we were promised. We were promised that all of this was worthwhile because of the soft landing. I will read the headline of today's AFR article by Michael Read: 'Chalmers presides over $49b budget slump, biggest outside the pandemic'. This is the worst turnaround in a budget ever. We got two surpluses and then we read in the budget papers hidden away in the details that we won't return to a structural surplus until 2035. Who sells you two surpluses for 10 years of deficit? That's remade capitalism. We're not here by accident. We're here at the direction of our Treasurer and his 6,000 word treatise on how to treat a nation with disdain.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Groom, I'm sure the Treasurer will be thrilled to hear that you read his essay. Let's be honest: that speech was full of mixed metaphors and cynical politics. I'm personally really sick of cynical politics, and I think Australians are sick of it too. Certainly people in my community can see right through it.

Let's be real here and understand what those opposite have done with the opportunity they've had to support meaningful cost-of-living relief. We've seen those opposite oppose pay rises for the lowest-paid workers in the country. We've seen those opposite say no to packages to deliver cost-of-living relief. We've seen those opposite say no to housing and say no to opportunities for young people through free TAFE and through easing pressures on young people by making changes to the way student debt is calculated. It's time for those opposite, instead of coming in here and behaving in such a base manner, to get serious and to support sensible policy that supports our communities, such as energy bill relief, which they had the opportunity to support and did not.

We know households are feeling pressure. We are focused absolutely on fighting inflation without ignoring the risks to growth. In fact we want to grow our economy and grow industry. That's why we're putting forward a plan for the Future Made in Australia after we saw the decline of manufacturing under the watch of those opposite. We know inflation was higher and rising under the Liberals and that it's lower and falling under Labor. Interest rates started rising under the watch of those opposite. Our economic plan is all about easing cost-of-living pressures for Australians. We know that, even with the quite remarkable progress that has been made in the national data, it does not always immediately translate to how people are feeling and faring in the economy. That is why it is important to come in here to the chamber and, instead of these cheap stunts we see every day with these MPIs, actually seriously talk about what we can do to improve the lives of Australians who live in all of our communities that we are really privileged here to represent.

We know that real wages have been falling substantially under those opposite, so we are working really hard to ensure people's wages increase. In fact, one of the very first things our government undertook was to increase wages for some of the lowest-paid workers in the country. We have lifted the wages of aged-care workers, lifted the wages of early childhood educators and ensured there is a tax cut for every taxpayer by reforming a pretty dreadful plan that had inequality at its heart. We are making sure we entrench free TAFE, and we are doing what we can to grow our economy and industry through our plan for a Future Made in Australia.

In my electorate, 23,000 people with student debt will be better off under our plan. People in my electorate have already saved over $7 million because of our intervention with prescriptions to offer 60-day prescriptions. We fought hard for and we won an urgent care clinic in my electorate, which means more people can go to the doctor when they need to and do not have to think about how much it will cost them.

We know there is more to do. I am out every day, as I'm sure my colleagues on this side of the House are, talking to people in our communities about the issues that matter to them. We know that people are still under substantial pressure. We know we have a lot of ground to make up. I wish we did not have the 10 years of waste and neglect that we saw when those opposite were in power. But we are doing what we can in responsible ways to help everyday Australians in our community.

We know the enormous risk that exists if those opposite, heaven forbid, ever sat on the Treasury benches again. We know there will be billions and billions of dollars in cuts. We know what happened when Peter Dutton—sorry, the Leader of the Opposition—was our health minister. He was rated Australia's worst health minister in the history of this country. We know that he proposed to increase costs to people receiving health care. We cannot risk it in our community of Chisholm and I don't think anyone in any of our communities in this country can risk the Leader of the Opposition ever becoming Prime Minister.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has concluded.