Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians are living through a cost-of-living crisis that is induced by this Labor government. Because Labor can't manage their budget, it's impacting the family budget. The cost of everything has gone up—groceries, insurance and power bills. Families in suburbs like Labrador, Parkwood and Pacific Pines are struggling to make ends meet. Don't be fooled by the rhetoric and the hand gestures from the Prime Minister playing the piano. The cost of living is up, and the standard of living is down. The damage is done, and it has been done by this Prime Minister.

The Treasurer has been playing chicken with the Reserve Bank for almost three years, and Australians are paying the price. A family in Pimpama with a mortgage of $700,000 and an interest rate of 6.34 per cent are paying $4,352 a month. If the interest rate were just 5.34 per cent, that family would be paying $477 less per month in repayments—a total saving of $5,364 a year—which is true cost-of-living relief that's being denied by this Treasurer. Under Labor, interest rates have stayed too high for too long. Last year, we were one of the few developed economies where interest rates did not come down. We are paying the price for Labor's bad decisions and wrong priorities.