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 collapse in Australia's 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—

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

We just saw a question time where, question after question, the government refused to answer questions that Australians want to know the answer to or already know the answer to. We heard the Treasurer refuse to answer the question as to what the cost of the tax breaks is when he goes to boardroom lunches at Qantas, Woolworths and Coles. He either didn't know the answer or he doesn't want to answer the question.

But I've got to tell you that, in terms of answering questions, the most egregious failure of all in that question time was from the Prime Minister himself, because he could not answer the question about how much the cost of food has gone up for Australian families since Labor came to power. He couldn't answer that question, yet he is out there every single day telling Australians how good they have it under his prime ministership. They've never had it so good.

I am very happy to give the answer to that question, because food, since Labor has come to power, has gone up by 12 per cent. But it doesn't stop there, let me tell you. The cost of rent has gone up by 17 per cent. The underlying cost of electricity has gone up by 32 per cent. There's no price reduction coming to Australians from that side of politics over there. Gas has gone up by 36 per cent. Insurance and financial services have gone up by 18 per cent, health has gone up by 10 per cent and education has gone up by 11 per cent, and it keeps going!

It's not over yet. In fact, tomorrow, on Wednesday, we will see the employee living cost index come out. This is the cost that working families have to pay for items, services and goods. Since Labor came to power, they have so far gone up by almost 18 per cent. We'll find out on Wednesday where that's at, but the one thing I can absolutely guarantee this parliament is that it's going up, and it's going to keep going up under this government.

The truth is that under this government Australians are going backwards faster than they ever have before. We heard during question time that the standard of living of Australians has fallen by 8.7 per cent since Labor came to power. The Prime Minister and Treasurer like to tell us that it's not that bad—it's not that bad; in some kind of parallel universe, it could be worse! Well, let's look at a few parallel universes, like other countries in the world. It turns out that there is no peer country in the world—there is no other OECD country—where the standard of living has gone down as much as it has in Australia. They're the relevant measures—the worst in the world. Australia is not used to being the worst in the world. This is not something we revel in. We like to be the best in the world. But, I tell you what, when those opposite are in power, we are absolutely the worst in the world. The other comparison, the other benchmark, that I think is important when we look at our standard of living is: have we ever seen this before? Since the data on the standard of living was first collected, it turns out we have never seen a collapse in Australians' living standards like we have seen under this Labor government.

They are numbers. But what really counts is what we see on the ground. Every member of the opposition is out on a regular basis in their communities talking to people and seeing the pain of Australians under this government. I was in Queanbeyan just yesterday with our wonderful candidate for Eden-Monaro, Jo van der Plaat, and we were with Father Michael at St Benedict's Community Centre. We were talking to Father Michael about what he is seeing on the ground in his community centre, where he provides meals for people in the region who are doing it tough. He is seeing numbers that he has never seen before. On the weekend, he provided 60 families with meals, families who simply can't make ends meet anymore. It's a tough time for someone, whether it's in Queanbeyan or any other part of Australia, when they have to go into a place like this, a wonderful place like this, and say, 'I can't feed my family anymore.' The stigma they feel, the frustration that Australians feel, because they can't feed their families is truly, truly galling. Wherever I go around Australia, I try to visit similar sorts of community centres, and I'm seeing this wherever I go. I know many on our side of this House—and, I hope, on the other side of the House—are making similar visits and seeing that pain wherever we go, as I saw at Bennies with Father Michael yesterday.

We're seeing similar pain in the business community. It's small businesses we worry about most because we are seeing record levels of insolvencies—27,000 since Labor came to power. Those opposite couldn't care less about small businesses. Most of them have never worked in a business. The Treasurer himself says that the six months he spent in the private sector were truly awful. He really disliked it. He couldn't get back to the public sector fast enough. But we are seeing this extreme pain in the business sector. Of those 27,000 failures, we know 4,000 were in the hospitality sector. But those opposite show no concern for that—no concern whatsoever for that. We are seeing the pain that Labor's homegrown inflation is inflicting on those businesses. To give you an example, 45-year-old Kuldeep Singh is running a cafe in his region. He said:

… We're just surviving and it's very hard to make a profit …

… interest rates aren't coming down, inflation is too high and people aren't spending much money. The cost of living is crazy. I don't think Labor is doing enough for small businesses so I do hope they don't win the next election.

Well, we're with you, Kuldeep. We're with you. We're with you on that. We all see the pain that small-business owners are under. For families, as kids go back to school, it all becomes very real. They have to buy the uniforms, they have to buy the pencils, they have to pay those bills that are necessary to get the kids back to school, and we see what a struggle it is for so many families.

Nowhere is it more painful than for Australians with a mortgage. There's no relief for those Australians who have paid, let's face it, an extra $50,000 on average on their mortgage since Labor came to power. That's $50,000 extra over and above what they had expected to pay since Labor came to power. That has to come from after-tax income. Finding that kind of money is nigh on impossible for families. That's why we're seeing them crack open the piggy bank. We're seeing savings falling to low levels. In fact, there's almost no net savings left in our economy right now. Australians are working extra hours and having to cut back not only on luxuries but on essentials, and that continues.

We live in the best country in the world. There's nothing that can't be fixed in our economy by having a change of government. There is a better way. We can get back on track. By getting back to basics, we can take our economy to a far better place than what we have seen in the last 2½ years of this Labor government. That means beating inflation by reigning in wasteful spending that those opposite can't help themselves with—36,000 additional Canberra based public servants. Today we see this Treasurer using the Public Service as a political weapon in the lead-up to an election. That's why he needed extra public servants. We know why he needed extra public servants—to play political games. We can have cheaper energy by ensuring we have a balanced mix of the full range of fuel technologies, including gas and nuclear. We can have affordable homes by investing in the infrastructure that will unlock new housing supply in this country, in contrast to the absolute and abject failure of those opposite even to reach their own housing supply targets. We also need to make sure we get the balance right between housing supply and immigration. That balance is crucial and has been completely out of whack in the time those opposite have been in power. Australians are poorer than when Labor came to power. We cannot afford another three years of Labor.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, they've been out to lunch for three years, and now they want taxpayers to pay for the bosses' lunches. A good economic policy should boost growth, boost fairness and put downward pressure on inflation. But this policy announced by the opposition does none of those things.

We should have got a bit of a hint of the Leader of the Opposition's economic capacity when he ran to roll Malcolm Turnbull back in 2018. It's been a little forgotten since then, but he had a big policy idea then, and that was to smash a big hole in the GST. It was a policy so bad that it was described by Scott Morrison as an 'absolute budget blower' and by Malcolm Turnbull as 'very expensive'. The Leader of the Opposition's economic chops have been summed up in Lech Blaine's Quarterly Essay, where he wrote as follows:

Dutton is the paperback version of Howard: the same message but less weight. Economics is not his emotional priority, beyond a tribal allegiance to tax loopholes for the rich; penalties for the poor; and hostility to trade unions. This is why he spends most of the time fighting culture wars. His grievances are well practised and sincerely held. But the moment he moves off his preferred turf, Dutton becomes clumsy and unconvincing.

Lech Blaine went on to interview former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said—

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

I'll just remind the assistant minister to use correct titles when referring to members in the House.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

of the Leader of the Opposition:

"Peter is not an original thinker … I cannot recall him ever having a positive idea in the times when I was with him in government."

If you thought it's just former prime ministers who have that view of the Leader of the Opposition, I would note the words also quoted in that Quarterly Essay by the member for Bass:

"When I go to Canberra and sit in the party room with Peter Dutton, Tony Pasin and Alex Antic, I think: who are these people?"

She goes on to say:

"The Liberal Party has become One Nation lite."

This policy that is being proposed by the opposition makes Tony Abbott's knights and dames look visionary. It makes Billy Snedden look strong. It makes Alexander Downer look like a policy wonk. What it does is wind back one of the great tax reforms of the past couple of generations, the introduction of fringe benefits taxation, closing a tax loophole, back in 1985. As the late, great economic commentator Tim Colebatch noted, after the fringe benefits tax was introduced in 1985, activity at restaurants actually grew. He said:

A tax rort ended with no pain.

And Tim Colebatch reminded us:

Remember: those who pay for tax breaks are other taxpayers.

And that is why the cost of this policy is so substantial.

We've waited a couple of weeks for the opposition to release the costings around their signature economic policy—taxpayer funded long lunches for bosses—and we've waited in vain. So, with some regret, the Treasurer has been forced to ask Treasury to cost the policy. Treasury has done so on a conservative basis. There are four million small businesses with a turnover under $10 million. Of those four million, around 2.6 million are actively trading. For their calculation, Treasury assumed not every business would claim the maximum $20,000. Their costing starts off by assuming that actively trading businesses would claim just one-eighth of the cap, $2,500 a year. That would produce a cost of $1.6 billion—not $1.6 billion over the forwards; $1.6 billion per year. But the cost could get higher still. If all those four million actively trading businesses were to access the maximum $20,000 and get the tax benefit of 25 per cent, then the cost would balloon to $10 billion per year.

Ten billion dollars is a significant sum—bigger than any of us have had in our bank accounts—so let me give that in more precise terms. The maximum potential cost of the coalition's $10 billion policy of taxpayer funded long lunches for bosses equates to $1,000 for each and every Australian household. Each and every Australian household would be on the hook to the tune of $1,000 to subsidise long lunches for bosses, undoing the fringe benefits tax reform of 1985. And that's why experts are having none of it. Saul Eslake said the policy would go on his list of 'the dumbest tax policy decisions of the last 30 years'. Chris Richardson said:

… creating loopholes for small businesses to have a bit of fun at the expense of taxpayers heads in the exact opposite direction of what the federal budget needs …

The fact is that occasionally we will have targeted tax breaks for small businesses, but those targeted tax breaks are aimed at boosting productivity. Think of the technology investment incentive or the skills and training incentives—time limited tax deductions which ensured that small businesses invested in things that made a difference for the Australian people. But this policy does none of that. It simply blows a hole in the budget, somewhere between $1.6 billion and $10 billion a year, paid for by taxpayers.

This is, perhaps, no surprise. After all, this is coming from a leader of the opposition who was voted the worst health minister in Australian history by Australian doctors, a leader of the opposition who poisoned relations with our Pacific Island neighbours by joking about rising sea levels and a leader of the opposition who has consistently shown no interest in policy and turned to culture wars at every possibility. And his nuclear plan would see Australia trade out from renewables, where we're the leader in solar PV, towards the most expensive form of electricity, which wouldn't be delivered until 2040. No wonder the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the policy as 'bonkers' and has said that the claim that it would complement renewable energy was 'gaslighting, quite frankly'.

We have, from the Leader of the Opposition, a culture war being played and an attack yet again on the public service. His plan to cut 36,000 Public Service jobs wouldn't just affect great cities like Canberra. It would affect all of those who rely on public services. It could lead to delayed payments and waiting times for government services or for veterans affairs. It could undermine tax avoidance crackdowns. It could affect biosecurity or disability services. Cuts to the 4,000 jobs in Defence, Home Affairs or the Australian Federal Police would pose a threat to national security. Let's not forget that under the former government we had a shadow Public Service workforce of some 54,000 consultants and contractors. It is likely that the opposition's policy would lead to that situation being returned. We've already reduced wait times for veterans to have their claims processed. The Leader of the Opposition's policies would see those blow out again.

Every election is a choice. If those opposite had had their way, Australian households would be $7,200 worse off. Since coming to office we have delivered energy bill relief to every Australian household and a tax cut to every Australian taxpayer. We've ensured that Australians get a fair deal at the check-out, and we've ensured that farmers get a fairer price for the great goods that they sell to our supermarkets, through a mandatory food and grocery code, voted against by those opposite, who didn't want to see supermarkets face multimillion dollar penalties. We've delivered cheaper medicines, again over the opposition of those opposite, allowing millions of Australians to buy two months worth of medicines for the price of a single prescription. Over the period that policy has been in force, we've seen the number of pharmacies in Australia increase, contrary to the fear campaigns of those opposite.

We've got wages moving, including a third consecutive pay rise for 2.6 million minimum-wage workers. We've delivered two back-to-back surpluses—something those opposite never managed. They printed the mugs, but they never delivered the surpluses. We've increased Commonwealth rent assistance by over 40 per cent, extended the single parenting payment and provided 30,000 families with access to free broadband. Labor has delivered on inflation and equity. The coalition are a risk to household budgets and a risk to the Australian economy.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia is at a turning point, and the ship of state is rudderless under the weak leadership of this Prime Minister, who is more focused on accusing the Leader of the Opposition of the very division that, on his watch, the Albanese Labor government not only facilitated but allowed to fester. Worse still, the Prime Minister and Treasurer Chalmers's economic mismanagement—again, on their watch—sees Australians' living standards collapsing. Families and pensioners are struggling to make ends meet, making sacrifices just to afford the weekly shop and to cover their rent or mortgage. The Albanese Labor government's wasteful spending has driven up inflation and interest rates, resulting in the cost of mortgages, rents, power bills, groceries, insurance, health and education going up to a point most simply cannot afford. For instance, under the Albanese Labor government, a family with a typical mortgage has spent an additional $50,000 of interest since the Prime Minister came to power.

Since Mr Albanese became Prime Minister, Australian living standards have fallen further than anywhere in the developed world, by 8.7 per cent on the latest data. The International Monetary Fund projects that this year Australia will have the second-highest inflation of any developed country after the Slovak Republic. Respected economics firm Deloitte say that Australians' standard of living will not recover until at least 2030. Core inflation remains at 3.2 per cent, outside the Reserve Bank's target band of two to three per cent. Australians are experiencing the longest sustained period of inflation since the 1980s. We've been in a household recession for 21 long months. The coalition will deliver lower inflation through a stronger economy and responsible economic management. We will stop wasteful spending, reduce taxes and cut red tape, easing cost-of-living pressures for families and businesses.

Energy prices are a major driver of pressures on the cost of living and the cost of doing business. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, promised Australians some 97 times that by 2025 household energy bills would be reduced by $275. Now, in early 2025, that pledge has officially been broken. One-off relief over four quarters simply doesn't cut the mustard.

Labor is also robbing regions to buy votes in the cities. In my first term as the member for Mallee, I secured over $2 billion in funding for Mallee. Over the same three-year period, Labor has barely invested one dollar for every $20 I secured. It gets worse, Deputy Speaker. My fellow regional Victorians suffer the double whammy of two on-the-nose Labor governments, under Prime Minister Albanese and Premier Allan, who together use regional Australia as a doormat. Even when fires burned in my electorate, the Prime Minister and the Premier did a quick flyover of the Grampians. The Leader of the Opposition, on the other hand, visited fire-affected communities like Halls Gap, with me, on the ground.

Mallee is not a dumping ground for bad policy. Labor are railroading regional communities with deeply unpopular energy projects, fast-tracking approvals while their shambolic locomotive gathers steam. Mallee's regional communities are tied to the railroad tracks, screaming for their city cousins and the media that metropolitan Australians rely on to pay attention before it is too late. Thankfully, Whycheproof-raised Peta Credlin, on Sky News, is raising the alarm on the national stage. Labor's deeply unpopular energy plans have been exposed as costing $600 billion, according to Frontier Economics, compared with $263 billion under the coalition—44 per cent cheaper.

Sunraysia, Mallee and regional Australia deserve a fair go from Canberra, and I expect a return to government with the Nationals will get the country back on track.

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

Labor is working hard to help Australians deal with the cost of living and maintain high living standards, and I'm doing everything in my capacity to ease cost-of-living pressures on families and individuals in my electorate of Lingiari. In the 2022 federal election I pledged about $1.5 billion in pre-election commitments for Lingiari. These commitments represented an unprecedented level of investment in improving the liveability, resilience and economy of the many remote Aboriginal communities, regional centres and towns that make up Lingiari. I'm proud to announce that we are delivering on every single commitment.

I continue to be a strong advocate and build on my proven track record of improving living standards and getting the best possible outcomes for people in Lingiari—in better roads, safer communities, more housing, sporting and recreational facilities, more jobs, better health and education outcomes, greater water security and strong environmental protections.

Over the last four years, the Albanese Labor government has invested over $7 billion in lifting the living standards and improving the social and economic wellbeing of the 73 remote Aboriginal communities in my electorate. We have a plan for the continued sustainability of remote Australia. Labor talk about, and will deliver, more jobs, more housing, quality education, improved health, better roads and an overall improvement in living standards in the bush. The coalition is just focused on culture wars. Where Labor has taken the opportunity to boost living standards in the bush, we've seen the Leader of the Opposition and the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians come to Alice Springs and say very clearly that the shadow minister will use her new government efficiency role to cut programs for Aboriginal people. The coalition is not a friend of remote Australia.

The best safeguard to improve living standards is to have a safe and secure roof over your head, and I'm proud to remind the House of Labor's ambitious investment of $4 billion with the Northern Territory government, announced earlier this year, to increase housing stock in remote Aboriginal communities in my electorate. The unprecedented investment will build 270 houses every year for the next 10 years, including an extra $120 million over the next three years to improve housing maintenance and upgrade essential infrastructure in homeland communities.

I heard the member for Mallee saying that her electorate is not the dumping ground for bad policy. Well, that needs to be the same for Lingiari and our bush communities. The opposition shouldn't use Lingiari or our bush communities for their bad, culture-war policies, which are part of their DNA and which they always revert to when they've got nothing else. It's punching down on Aboriginal people and their communities.

That's not what the federal Labor government is all about. We are about delivering jobs. I've had discussions with the Minister for Indigenous Australians about the $707 million investment to create 3,000 new jobs in remote communities across Australia over the next three years. That is welcome, and I know that the minister will be making an announcement soon about that first tranche for organisations and companies to apply to—to put those jobs in the communities. That will be announced soon. Certainly, a lot of employers have been invited to apply for the funds under this program to create those local jobs with proper pay and conditions.

Labor's investment in bush communities across my electorate will continue to have a positive impact on maintaining the living conditions and standards of constituents in my electorate. We are committed to the future pipeline of investments in building the future sustainability of remote Australia. I compare this with the coalition's regressive agenda of cost cutting and harmful policies aimed at eroding living standards and the authority and control of Aboriginal people over their lives. I ask the coalition to stop these culture wars, particularly in relation to our remote communities.

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

I rise to speak on the matter of public importance today, which is the collapse in Australia's living standards under this government, and I thank the member for Hume for bringing this very important matter before the House.

After two years and nine months of this Albanese Labor government, the cost of living for Australians has collapsed by 8.7 per cent. When we talk about living standards having decreased so much, Australians now are clearly blaming the Prime Minister and this government for the hit that they have taken to their disposable income. The Albanese Labor government has absolutely failed to rein in inflation. Despite figures that were published last week, no Australian that I've spoken to and no-one in my electorate, when I've been out doorknocking and doing mobile offices—nobody has said, yes, suddenly groceries are less or they feel that food is less. And it's not. Food is up 12 per cent under this government, since 2022. Since May 2022, food has gone up by 12 per cent. Electricity is up by 32 per cent.

Even today, during question time, the minister for energy stood there and said renewables are the cheapest form of energy. Deputy Speaker, I can tell you that in my electorate of Hughes they simply do not believe this. They do not believe it. Their insurance, for example, is up by 18 per cent; gas, 36 per cent; and electricity, 32 per cent. For those who own homes and are paying off a mortgage, under this government, in only two years and nine months, there have been 12 successive interest rate rises. That means that the average Australian paying the average mortgage has paid $50,000 in additional mortgage repayments, in additional interest rates. The only winner out of that has been the banks. And that doesn't even account for the greater increases that small businesses have had to pay on their business loans. Look at what they've had to pay on their overdrafts, for example. We have seen the decimation of small business under this government, under this Prime Minister's stewardship: 27,000 small businesses have collapsed under this government, under this Prime Minister and under this Treasurer.

Like most members in this place, over Christmas I first of all went out and did a lot of local schools. Whether it was at Ingleburn, whether it was at Macquarie Fields, whether it was in Sutherland, Jannali, Engadine, Moorebank or Wattle Grove, parents there all said the same thing: that they were really struggling to work out how they were going to pay for Christmas and they were struggling to work out how they were going to afford to have the family get-togethers that we love over Christmas. Holidays had been cancelled because they simply couldn't afford it. There was something that really upset me. I was doorknocking through Bardia, which is part of south-west Sydney, an area that I've now inherited. On three occasions, I had a woman open the door and, when I asked, 'How are you? How are you finding things?' burst into tears and say to me, 'I don't know how I'm going to get the kids any Christmas presents.' That's south-west Sydney. That should be Middle Australia.

In the Australia that I've grown up in, we have never been at this state. When I've been out to our charity organisations, they say now that families with two incomes, for the first time in their lives, are coming in and saying: 'I have no groceries. I have no way of feeding my family this year.' Living standards have collapsed under this government, and it's a disgrace.

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

I think our communities expect us to do what we can to ease cost-of-living pressures when households feel them. I really do earnestly believe that that is the expectation of the community. I wish too that those opposite demonstrated their care for people struggling with the cost of living, but we haven't seen any meaningful evidence of that. We hear these MPIs when we're here in Canberra, but what we don't see is meaningful action.

Let's not forget that those opposite have voted against all meaningful cost-of-living relief measures that our government has implemented. Not only do we know that they are a danger to our living standards if, heaven forbid, they ever sat on the Treasury benches again; we know what they did when they were last in government. We saw that their track record was appalling and had already seen the lowering of living standards in this country. We saw under those opposite living standards going backwards 1.6 per cent in the quarter of the election. Living standards were 3.7 per cent below their peak at the time of the election, and living standards fell 13 out of the 35 quarters the opposition were in office. We saw inflation increasing on their watch, and they outrageously had a deliberate strategy to suppress wages and to see wage stagnation as a key feature of their economic strategy. Let's not forget either that those opposite attempted to shame the now Prime Minister for seeking an increase in wages for Australia's lowest-paid workers. So there is not much of a good track record from those opposite when it comes to living standards. Indeed, when given the opportunity to help people who are doing it tough in our communities, those opposite have walked away from the opportunity to help.

On this side of the House, we acknowledge that people are under pressure and we do know that they would be under even more pressure if those opposite had their way. Our government are working really hard to do what we can to ease pressures on households. We've overseen the creation of more than 1.1 million new jobs, of which four out of every five have been in the private sector. We've seen nominal wages growing at almost double the average of what they did under those opposite. Headline inflation is almost a third of what we inherited, and underlying inflation is at a three-year low. Real wages are growing again, now for four quarters in a row, and we're delivering cost-of-living relief, including, of course, a tax cut for every taxpayer and energy bill relief for every household. When I've been out doorknocking in my community, I know that these measures are making a difference in people's lives. Our economic plan is squarely focused on helping Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn.

Our policies, we know, are making a difference, but we do acknowledge that people are doing it tough. We know that the good progress in the national numbers that we see doesn't always translate into how people are feeling and faring in the community. That's why the cost of living remains the government's No.1 focus, doing what we can to help households and putting all of our efforts towards helping in meaningful ways, such as providing urgent care clinics, providing free TAFE and doing what we can to reduce university debt. We're not really that interested in providing free, long lunches for bosses, unlike those opposite, because we think the priority should be helping those doing it tough in our communities.

We know that the biggest risk to the progress we've made together in this government would be a coalition government. Their track record is appalling. We heard on the weekend that there will be cuts—of that we are assured—but we don't know what those cuts will look like. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the Leader of the Opposition will once again come after Medicare. In my community, I'm really worried that that will mean the closure of an urgent care clinic—an urgent care clinic that I hear positive feedback about all the time. I'm genuinely worried that that will happen. I'm really worried that those young people putting themselves through vocational education and training will be forced to pay extra for their courses. Australia cannot risk the Leader of the Opposition becoming Prime Minister.

Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I listened carefully to the contribution by the member for Chisholm. We are electorate neighbours, and I have inherited an area that used to be part of Chisholm in Box Hill. We heard the same old trope that is wheeled out every election, a 'Mediscare' campaign, which no doubt will be a feature of this campaign. I'd like the member for Chisholm to think of somewhere I hope she visited when she was the member, which is healthAbility in Box Hill. I recently visited healthAbility, and they've had their funding cut by $500,000 under a Labor government. This is what happens when you see a Labor government manage the economy as it has in Victoria. That is where the future of the national economy will go. So you can run the 'Mediscare' campaign all you want; it's dishonest. It is dishonest. It is wrong. The only record that counts on health is the Labor government's record in Victoria, and it is about cutting essential services.

Now, I was quite worried about coming here again after our holidays, because when we do that the Treasurer gets thought bubbles in his head that have real consequences for this country, and they're quite serious. We had him come back after one thought bubble and write an essay saying he would reinvent capitalism. But what we have seen from this Treasurer, two years after he wrote that infamous thesis, is that he has not reinvented capitalism; he has repeated history's mistakes.

We're not the first capitalist economy to experiment with what happens when you blow out government spending. We are not the first. We know where that ends. Yet this Treasurer has copied that in a way that has hurt Australians and affected frontline services. Right now, families are going back to school, and the question was put to the Prime Minister, 'How much has food gone up on your watch?' He refused to answer it. Let's go to specifics. Some foods are essentials; some foods are luxuries. Let's go to the essentials. Milk is up 18 per cent in this country. Bread is up 25 per cent in this country. Eggs, a key protein source which should be cheap compared to other expensive items, like high-end steak, are up 36 per cent.

With school starting, when families come back and they still have debts from maybe a few trips away they took—maybe to an aquarium, a park or a drive—these are the sorts of bills they are facing, and they are entitled to ask: 'Am I better off than I was three years ago? Is this what the Prime Minister promised me?'

We know the answer to that. They are worse off. We take no joy in that—none. These aren't just numbers on a page; these are people we see every day. They're our neighbours, they are the people we fight for, and they're hurting. We heard from many other members that people are bursting into tears when they're doorknocking. They're writing heartbreaking letters to us. Food banks have queues through the door. This is Australia in 2025, and people are queuing for food. That's not the Australia we should be proud of.

We've seen the worst per capita recession on record—seven quarters of negative GDP. We've seen higher inflation, higher for longer, which has given us higher interest rates. We've seen business confidence collapse. On the NAB survey, 75 per cent of businesses think costs are going to continue to rise. There have been 27,000 insolvencies—even more in Victoria.

Again, I say to those members opposite and Australians around this nation: If you want to know what a second-term Albanese government looks like, look to Victoria. Their government is cut from the same cloth. The state is on its knees. It has the highest debt and is the highest spending state. It's the highest taxing and the poorest in the nation. Crime, graffiti and rubbish are out of control and businesses are fleeing or shutting down. No wonder Victoria will feature heavily in this election. Australians will say, 'If this is what you have done to my state, what will you do to my nation?'

There are only two answers from this government: pump migration, and pump spending because, by doing those two things at record levels, they get to say, 'Ta-dah, we avoided a technical recession.' Families have a recession and they've had enough of this government, and they'll soon make that known to them.

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again, the member for Hume has buried his head in the sand, alongside the Leader of the Opposition and his Liberal colleagues, completely ignoring the world around them so they can spend valuable time in the House bathing in their own reality to make themselves feel good.

Here's a reality check: Australians are doing it tough, and families need help to keep up with the current cost of living. There is not a single person on this side of the House or in the other place that would disagree with this notion. We are taking action to deliver that help, by easing the pressures families are under. Under Labor, inflation is now lower and continues to fall, compared to where it was when this government was elected. Under Labor, real wages are growing again, after going backwards under those opposite. Under Labor, we've had record jobs growth. We've lowered the Liberals' debt by $177 billion, and we have delivered back-to-back surpluses for the first time in nearly two decades.

Let's contrast that to where we were before, under the Liberals. Despite what the member for Hume may tell you, under the Liberals, living standards fell by 3.7 per cent during the nine months leading up to the last election. Under the Liberals, real wages went backwards by 3.4 per cent under their watch, which we now know was a deliberate policy to stagnate and suppress the incomes of everyday Aussies. Under the Liberals, inflation had a six in front of it, when they left office. It now has a two in front of it, under a Labor government. This is the reality, whether the Liberals want to admit it to Australians or not.

There is plenty more to do on this front, though, and this Labor government has never, and will never, shy away from this. Despite the substantial progress I've mentioned, costs are still high, and that is taking a toll on living standards in this country.

Again, Labor continues to take action to make lives easier for everyday Aussies through direct, meaningful policy. That includes a bigger, better and fairer tax cut for every Australian, delivered in July last year, putting an average of $1,217 extra into the pockets of 67,000 taxpayers in my community, where that need for relief is extremely high. That is what raises living standards. What did the Liberals do? They were so appalled at policy that helps families in communities like mine that they wanted an election to take that money from Australian households.

Something else that raises living standards are boosts to housing supply in this country. Labor is doing just that, passing Help to Buy and build-to-rent legislation and embarking on the most ambitious housing program in Australia ever. Guess what the Liberals did? They fought tooth and nail to try and shoot this down. They would rather see fewer houses, fewer chances for Australians to find homes, higher rents and higher mortgages because they don't care about living standards in this country. In fact, every time this Labor government has introduced relief to the household budget, every time members on this side of the House have fought for a better deal for everyday Aussies, whether that's making health care and medicines cheaper, making education and training more affordable or boosting wages, giving a fair day's pay for a fair day's work for Aussies, the Liberals have voted against it because they want to work against the living standards of everyone in this country.

They want to continue the legacy of the previous Liberal government by getting our country going backwards again. Really? They are willing to deny Aussies cost-of-living relief to raise their living standards because it benefits the Liberal Party. We saw that in the past when the Liberals were in government. We're seeing that now under this opposition leader in the present as he blocks every effort made to help Australian households. I'm afraid we're going to see this destructive behaviour going forward. You only have to look at the Liberals' $1.6-billion-a-year scheme to make everyday Aussies pay for the lunches of the Leader of the Opposition and his mates. While some families in my community will have spaghetti on toast for tea tonight, the opposition leader wants that same family to pay for a boardroom banquet tomorrow. It's embarrassing that, on the rare occasion the alternative Prime Minister of this country comes out with policy involving food on the table, it's only to put food on the table next to him. It's only to raise his standard of living. I'm going to fight him because I want to raise your standard of living. Through the policies of this Labor government, that's exactly what we are doing.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After two months at home, some time with the family and time out with my community, I was hoping that those opposite might have spent some time in their community and that the Prime Minister might have got out. But, no, we're back again in February, and we've got the Prime Minister and the Treasurer telling the Australian people again how lucky they are and how they've never had it better. They're now getting to unfounded spin and scare campaigns.

Suddenly we've got members opposite talking about lunches for the top end of town. We now know that, apparently, a small business with $10 million in revenue is considered the top end of town by the ALP and the government. Apparently that is the big, rich people—those earning a revenue of $10 million—but that's not true. It's more spin from the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. The reality is they have no answers to the collapse in living standards that Australians are facing. There's been an 8.7 per cent fall per capita since this government was elected, yet the Prime Minister and the Treasurer are telling us: 'Don't worry. We failed for three years, but trust us; we'll be better next time. We're really sorry we were no good. We couldn't deliver for you, but just trust us.' But we know that they can't deliver and that all they have is spin.

In question time it was interesting when the Prime Minister refused to talk about how much food and groceries have gone up. That's because they have gone up 12 per cent under his watch. But he said: 'No, we're doing things. We've got the mandatory code of conduct.' Let's park, for a minute, that the mandatory code isn't actually about supermarkets and prices for consumers, so it's not actually going to bring prices down. It's about how supermarkets treat suppliers, which is a really important issue, but it's not actually a cost-of-living measure. Let's park that for a second. The Prime Minister was willing to claim the mandatory code of conduct as one of their policies that have brought prices down and brought inflation down. There is one big problem with that claim by the Prime Minister: the mandatory code doesn't come into effect until 1 April 2025. Last time I checked, we're in February of 2025. It is a classic example of the spin from this Prime Minister, the spin from this Treasurer and the spin of those opposite. They think if they throw a line out that it's going to make a difference, but it doesn't. You have to address the core problem at the cause and the symptoms, and they can't do that. They're not prepared to make the tough decisions.

We had more spin from those opposite when the Minister for Home Affairs—who I note seems to spend more time in question time talking about his former portfolio than his current portfolio, which could explain some of the challenges we face when it comes to national security—claimed how great it was that the minimum wage was going up record levels. 'Record levels, how lucky; We've done a great job.' Again, They completely park two facts. They park that the Fair Work Commission is independent. They're really happy to take credit for the independent Fair Work Commission but walk away from the independent RBA. The second problem with that is that of course minimum wages are going up, because the Fair Work Commission look at inflation. Under this government, inflation has been out of control. The Prime Minister doesn't like to talk to it, but it got to 7.8 per cent at its highest under his watch—7.8 per cent under this prime minister. It's started to drop off because it's a reflective compounding impact, but Australians are still struggling.

We have a prime minister that, when he was asked to apologise about his $275 reduction in power bills, couldn't do that. He didn't apologise to the Australian people. We saw more spin about the $300 cut that he hasn't paid for—the Australian taxpayer has paid for it. He's taken money from taxpayers, from all of us, given it back to us, 'Give me a pat on the shoulder.' Even with that subsidy, power prices are up over $1,000 under this government, but they won't stand there and apologise. They talk about cuts to health and Medicare and these phantom issues. Let's look at the actual delivery of the Albanese government. They cut Medicare funded mental health sessions—20 under the former government cut to 10, despite a report saying that it needed to stay. Don't look at what the government say; look at what they do. For three years, they have failed to deliver for the Australian people.

Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak on this matter of public importance to point out some obvious mistruths by those opposite. Firstly, it's the notion that things were better when those opposite were last in office. When Labor came to office, inflation was high and rising, real wages were going backwards and the budget was weighed down by a mountain of debt and waste. Tackling inflation is a tough challenge. There's no quick fix, and those opposite know it. We know CPI indicators can fluctuate, but let me be clear: without Labor's cost-of-living relief, inflation would be even higher.

Whilst the opposition plays politics with the serious global inflation that has impacted Australians, we have got on with the task of providing targeted cost-of-living relief whilst delivering record jobs growth, bringing inflation down and reducing debt by $177 billion. When our government was elected, inflation had a six in front of it, but now inflation has a two in front of it, easing the pressure on household finances. Our efforts have been substantial across every area. This time last year, when I was campaigning for the by-election in Dunkley, we announced tax cuts for every taxpayer. Now every Australian taxpayer has a tax cut, making a real difference for 13.6 million Australians and ensuring that hard-working Australians are keeping more of the wages they earn. These tax cuts have been good for Middle Australia, good for women, good for helping with cost-of-living pressures, good for labour supply and good for the economy. There has been $300 in energy bill relief for every household and a $325 rebate for every small business. We have made medicines cheaper, making them more affordable for Australians. We froze the PBS co-payment for five years and expanded the PBS register to include more life-saving medications.

Here in Dunkley, our policies have already saved residents over $2.2 million on prescription costs. For those who need support the most—pensioners and concession cardholders—PBS medications now cost no more than $7.70, ensuring no-one has to choose between health and the household budget. Our cheaper child care policy is delivering cost-of-living relief for more than one million Australian families by cutting out-of-pocket costs. Since cheaper child care came into place, average out-of-pocket costs dropped from $4.22 an hour in June 2023 to $3.66 in June 2024.

One of the areas I love to talk about the most as a past TAFE student —as my colleague from the Hunter knows very well—is free TAFE. It is excellent that it is free. We have supported over 600,000 enrolments into free TAFE, enabling people to get access to the skills and training they need at no cost. If re-elected, we will continue to provide ongoing cost relief by removing financial barriers to education and training, particularly for groups that typically experience economic disadvantage.

I hear from my constituents in my electorate, in Dunkley, at street stalls and during doorknocks about the strain on their household budgets. They're feeling the pressure, but they also understand that inflation is driven by serious global factors. An Australian household with two workers earning an average income would have been around $7,200 worse off under those opposite. If those opposite win the next election, they will take the country backwards and the people of Australia will become worse off. Living standards will go backwards. We know this because, firstly, they have no policy offerings. They have stated they want to reduce spending, pushing wages down, pushing electricity prices up, cutting Medicare to pay for nuclear and, of course—their newest thought bubble—cutting cost-of-living help to pay for long lunches for bosses. We have listened and we have acted. Labor's cost-of-living measures are targeted to support those doing it tough while carefully managing inflationary pressures, delivering real relief while keeping spending under control.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dunkley. Two divisions were called earlier for this sitting relating to a motion to suspend standing and sessional orders. Due to the intervening proceedings in relation to this motion, I am proposing not to proceed with the deferred divisions.