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

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

The Government's weak leadership and the need to get Australia back on track.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

Well, if you're sitting at home at the moment around the kitchen table working out how you're going to pay bills, looking at your insurance premium which has gone up dramatically, looking at the rent bill, looking at the grocery bill—if you're looking at any aspect of expenditure in your household or, indeed, in your small business, you would've watched question time today and believed that this Prime Minister and this government were living in a parallel universe. This government is so far out of touch with where the Australian public is that it is deeply offensive. As day after day goes by, the Australian public realise that this Prime Minister has no solution for them, has no answer to their problems and is, in fact, the architect of the problems that have been created over the course of the last long 1,000 days.

What we have seen from this Prime Minister and from this government from the very start is an absolute abrogation of their key responsibilities. Their first responsibility is to keep Australians safe. What has happened since particularly 7 October 2023 is that our country has become less cohesive and less safe. That is the reality. There are thousands and thousands of people in the Jewish community today who know that our country, their community and their neighbourhood is less safe because of the inaction and the weak leadership of this Prime Minister. This Prime Minister has demonstrated that he is out of his depth. When those people went to the steps of the Sydney Opera House, they weren't condemned as they should've been by this Prime Minister. When those protests started on the steps of the Opera House, they spread to university campuses and they went on unabated for months and months on the streets of Melbourne and of Sydney. People knew no red lines whatsoever because the police were instructed by a weak Premier in Victoria and by the Premier and the police minister in New South Wales to hold up law and order and to keep peace but not to intervene and arrest people for committing serious crimes.

Australians have been horrified by what they've seen on their television screens in the last 24 hours, with those two healthcare workers and their disgraceful, deplorable comments. That is the face of what the people of the Jewish community have been experiencing for the last 15 months at their local shopping centres, when they go online, when they read emails and when they've been disenfranchised and disowned by people in their own communities. That is exactly the sort of vile filth and racism that these people have been experiencing in our country for the last 15 months.

It's given the Australian public a window into the way in which this Prime Minister conducts himself. This Prime Minister has made it his core business to prioritise policies that will win them the votes of Greens voters in the inner-city suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. That is what's driven this Prime Minister because that is where this Prime Minister sees political opportunity. It's not just in relation to issues around national security; it's also in relation to issues on the environment.

People in Western Australia—the powerhouse of this economy and of this nation—know that, if this Prime Minister is to be re-elected, he can only do so with the support of the Greens and the Green teals. If that is the case, mining will be on its knees overnight. The people of WA aren't stupid. The people of WA know that this bill—which is ironically called 'nature positive' but really is mining negative—is all about how it can frustrate mining. If we close down mining in Western Australia, we stop funding schools on the east coast. If we close down mining in WA—as the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Greens would do after the election—we won't fund infrastructure projects, including in North Queensland, as the member for Kennedy rightly pleaded only a few moments ago. If the Labor Party is re-elected, we know that the nature-positive, mining-negative bill will be reintroduced in its worst form as part of the construct between the Labor Party and the Greens. It will kill the economy, not just in WA, but across the nation.

It doesn't stop with just national security, social cohesion and the environment. It also goes to what we've seen in the government's decisions on salmon farming. The economy and the environment in Tasmania will be adversely affected. Those workers in Tasmania will be adversely affected by the decision that the government's taken to close down the salmon industry in Tasmania. Why would they do that, when it's a central part of the economy, the economic life and the social life of those living in Tasmania? It's because the Prime Minister is again seeking to appeal to voters who would otherwise be voting for the Greens in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne. This Prime Minister has decided to put, as his first priority, the interests of Greens voters in Sydney and Melbourne, and he has hung the people in suburbs and regional and remote areas of the country out to dry. That's exactly what has happened under this Prime Minister's watch.

When we speak about 1,000 long days of this Prime Minister's reign—it feels like 10,000, first of all—we consider the impact has been negative on so many families, with so many people struggling to pay their mortgages after interest rates have increased 12 times. Interest rates have already gone down in the United States and the United Kingdom, in Canada and in New Zealand, but they haven't gone down here yet. I hope and pray they go down next week to provide some relief to mortgage holders.

It's not just households. There are 27,000 small businesses who have gone bankrupt under this Prime Minister's watch—a record high. There are manufacturing workers in this country with very few prospects of a future under this Prime Minister, particularly after the election in a minority government, because there has been a threefold increase in the number of manufacturing businesses which have closed over the course of the last two-and-a-half years. Have a look at what has happened in the area of health. When people go to their doctors, they know there's no bulk-billing available. When I was health minister the bulk-billing rate was at 84 per cent; today it's at 77 per cent and heading south. Of those 27,000 small businesses which closed under the Prime Minister's watch, 272 of them have been doctors surgeries—a record number of closures of doctors surgeries under the Albanese government's watch. That is an outrage. We need to provide support to aging Australians. We need to provide support to those mothers going through maternity services. We need to provide support to every Australian who needs a doctor at the time they need that doctor, not to make them wait for two weeks to get in to see a bulk-billing practice.

We've promised $400 million to train more doctors and to get more doctors into the system. We've promised to prioritise households and small businesses and businesses otherwise, because we want to grow the economy again. We want to get this country back on track. We want to fight the cost-of-living scourge that has been created by Labor. We want to make sure that we can help the health system grow, not shrink as it has under Labor. We want to make sure we can help all those businesses grow so they can employ more people, and help them with their priorities in life. We want to make sure that we can support every Australian to be the best they can be. We have outlined a vision for the Australian public. We have put forward a plan and will detail more of that as we go into the election. We will fight the cost-of-living pressures. We will build a stronger economy. We will cut government waste, which has fuelled inflation. We will back small business. We will deliver affordable and reliable energy. We will rebalance our migration program. We will fix the housing crisis. We will deliver quality health care. We will focus on practical action for Indigenous Australians. We will grow a stronger regional Australia. We will build strong and sustainable communities. We will keep Australians safe.

I promise the Australian people, as we go to the next election, that our government will be a government of strength, prepared to make the decisions to keep our country safe. My government will be a government which stands up for our interests on the world stage. We will do what it takes to rebuild the Australian economy, to clean up a Labor mess, exactly as John Howard and Peter Costello did in 1996. We won't shirk the responsibilities that sit on the shoulders of the government and a prime minister of the day. We will clean up this government's mess and we will get our country back on track.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, there's another anniversary they don't want to talk about. Today is the day we say happy birthday to the ABC's Nemesis. We saw the Liberal Party and the National Party fighting amongst each other on the public purse for nine whole years. We saw the Leader of the Opposition arguing with his cabinet colleagues about why he opposed a fair share of the GST for Western Australia. He opposed those tax initiatives when he was in government; he opposes critical minerals tax incentives now that he's in opposition. We saw them more focused on one another than on the Australian people. We saw them say that secret ministries were a good thing. The Leader of the Opposition defended secret ministries, saying that it was in the national interest. There's only one word that I remember more than any other from the Nemesis program, the word 'thug'. The word 'thug' was chosen by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull when he was asked to define the now Leader of the Opposition. So they argued, Liberal against Liberal, National against National. What we know is what those opposite have said about themselves. We had former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull say—

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

You might quieten down on the interjections or you won't be going well, except for out the door. Let's concentrate on the debate for the moment.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to quote former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, someone that all on that side respect and that all on that side urged the Australian people to vote for to be Prime Minister of this country and sat with in the cabinet room with week after week, year after year. He said this about the now Leader of the Opposition: 'The Leader of the Opposition basically never wants to do anything risky. He is not a leader. He lacks courage or conviction, other than when he can revert to some hardline measures he thinks will go down well on 2GB.'

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a point of order on relevance. I understand that MPIs have a bit of leeway, but this—

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

If I do a relevance order here, I'll be listening extraordinarily carefully, and most of the MPIs would have been ruled out of order.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With all due respect, Deputy Speaker, deputy speakers in the past have ruled on this. He hasn't touched on anything to do with—

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

If you want to contest—I am not ruling on this. I am listening carefully to the debate. We are about two-and-a-bit minutes in and I'm listening. Please sit down.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a debate about leadership, and, again, I quote former Prime Minister Turnbull, who said, when it comes to the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition: 'He doesn't have the courage to make a call. Always preferring to be hanging back and muttering about the risks rather than offering an alternative. Happy to push on open doors only.' Then there was a warning for the Australian people about this person who offered to be the alternative Prime Minister of Australia. Former Prime Minister Turnbull said this about why he worked to make sure that the now Leader of the Opposition did not take over from him as Prime Minister back in 2018: 'I thought Dutton would run off to the right. I thought he would do a lot of damage as the Prime Minister of Australia in a short period.'

We know that this Leader of the Opposition is not prime ministerial material. He is not up to the job. It is not prime ministerial to joke about Pacific island neighbours having water lapping at their front doors. It was not prime ministerial when, 17 years ago today, the Leader of the Opposition, from this chamber, boycotted the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. It was not prime ministerial when he went to Collie to talk about his nuclear plant. It was not prime ministerial of him to run off when the people of Collie came up to him and said, 'Let's talk about your plan'. He ran away from the people he sought to impose a multibillion dollar nuclear power plant on.

I'm happy to debate with the Leader of the Opposition in this MPI right now. I'm happy to debate him in Central Park, in Collie, about his plans. We could go and get a coffee at the Wagon; we could have a good chat with the community there. Something tells me the Leader of the Opposition will not be going back to Collie between now and the federal election. The last time he was there, he was literally run out of town.

You might say, 'Oh, you would say that.' Well, what are his WA Liberal colleagues saying? This is, of course, when the WA Liberal Party aren't busy preselecting former One Nation candidates to be their candidate in the state seat of Perth. That's right; they've shown my community so much respect that they've had to knock on the door to One Nation and say, 'Hey, have you got any leftovers from that long lunch that we can use?' A former One Nation candidate is who the WA Liberals have chosen. I note that the Leader of the Nationals is here. The Leader of the Nationals and I probably agree on one thing, which is that the WA Liberals have a few problems when they preselect candidates in the metropolitan area. There are a few other candidates that he may think are better than some of the candidates the Liberals have preselected in the West. This is what the WA Leader of the Liberal Party says, when it comes to the Leader of the Opposition, from an article by Paul Garvey in today's national newspaper, the Australian:

While she has a good relationship with federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, she does not have any expectations that he will be joining her on the campaign trail.

I'm not surprised. But she offers a little glimmer of hope at the end. There's a quote from Libby Mettam that reads:

I imagine that Peter Dutton's popularity will continue to grow …

Well, it can probably only go in one direction.

We talk about governments—how they are, and how they perform. Again, here we are, one year on from the anniversary, the birthday party, for the Nemesis program, where they all sat down. It wasn't an accident that they walked into the interviews. It wasn't an accident that they went into those ABC studios to do those interviews. We saw, in that program, a reminder of what we got under those opposite. We got the robodebt scheme, causing serious harm to thousands of Australians. We got a government that refused to legislate net zero, saying that it wasn't on their agenda. We then saw, during the election campaign in 2022, that they refused to support an increase to the minimum wage for the lowest-paid Australians. They thought it was a step too far to legislate for 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. But they thought it was okay to increase childcare fees by 41 per cent. They thought it was okay to walk out the door in 2022 leaving a trillion dollars of debt behind.

When they were a fresh thinking, newly elected government back in 2014, what were the great ideas they had, the fresh ideas for Australia? One was a $7 GP tax and 900 cuts and changes to Medicare. Then of course there were ideas that gave us other challenges, such as when the now Leader of the Opposition personally signed off on the abolition of Health Workforce Australia, the body that was supposed to give us forward planning for our health system for the future—not a great way of getting themselves, as they say, in their terms, 'back on track'.

But the Leader of the Opposition's failures do not stop there. We all remember, back in 2004, when John Howard was re-elected, and he had promised he would be 'keeping interest rates low'. So who did he get to help him with that mission when interest rates were 5.5 per cent? I know that's higher than they are today. He recruited the Leader of the Opposition to help him keep interest rates low. Then we saw rates go up by 0.25 per cent to 5.75 per cent, and again on 2 August 2006 they went up by 2.5 per cent to six per cent. It doesn't stop there. They went up again to 6.5 per cent, then up again to 6.75 per cent. If you want to know what sort of interest rate you'd get under this Leader of the Opposition, you can look at his record as Assistant Treasurer: an interest rate of 6.75 per cent.

Now we get to the cuts. We know, when it comes to their plans, that they will savagely cut across states and territories. I only need to look at what we've seen in my community in Perth, where the WA GST deal has delivered some $6.2 billion additional revenue. They have plans to cut some 1,700 public servants from Western Australia, most of which are based at the Australian Tax Office and Medicare, in my electorate. I think the Australian people like getting their tax returns quickly, and they like getting their Medicare benefits. All of that will slow down under the plans of those opposite.

What Australians know is that they will be worse off under the Leader of the Opposition. They'll be worse off without a tax cut for every taxpayer. They'll be worse off without energy bill relief. They'll be worse off without cheaper medicines. They'll be worse off without fee-free TAFE. They'll be worse off without Medicare urgent care clinics, which this Leader of the Opposition has said they will close across the country. People will be worse off without our initiative, a three-day guarantee, which those opposite voted against in this chamber just a few hours ago. They'll be worse off with higher student debt under the Liberals and Nationals. They'll be worse off because there will be no increases to the minimum wage. They'll be worse off because those opposite will go around the country sacking public servants, making vicious cuts to health, Medicare, universities and TAFE— (Time expired)

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

Everyone remembers the words of the Prime Minister on election night—'No-one held back, no-one left behind.' But fast forward 1,000 days and every Australian is being held back and everyone is being left behind. Our standard of living has reduced by eight per cent since the Anthony Albanese government was elected 1,000 days ago. Every Australian is worse off because of the ideology of this Labor government in not addressing the fundamentals of what has kept inflation and interest rates higher than what they need to be.

It's about getting the fundamentals right about proper energy policy, not living in an ideology of an all-renewables approach that no country of the industrial scale and size of Australia has gone through or is going down, because you cannot do it and keep your industrial base going. That will cost jobs and that has cost jobs in this country. It has torn away at the very fabric of what's underpinning our economy. It has driven people's energy bills up. That is about the fact that they have taken away supply and they have not replaced it. When you reduce supply, prices go up. That is what has happened under this ideology. It has seen premiers pleading with their citizens to turn off their dishwashers so that they can keep the grid going. That's how desperate we are. In a country as resource-rich as Australia, that's the path that we have gone down.

That has put inflationary pressure on us and kept interest rates higher. While the rest of the world's interest rates are coming down, Australia's are sticking there. We hope that on Tuesday the RBA reduces interest rates by 25 points. That's important. Appreciate this number: since Anthony Albanese and the Labor government were elected, the average mortgage in Australia has gone up by $50,000. I hope that that 25 points is granted by the RBA governor. That will take $1,875 off that bill. That's a start, but there's a long way to go.

That's because this government hasn't faced up to the fundamentals of what needs to be fixed and what's keeping interest rates higher longer. They've tried to paper over it with $6.5 billion worth of subsidies to keep electricity bills down, after promising a $275 reduction at the last election only to see it go up by thousands. Discretionary spending is dropping but fixed costs continue to go up. If you don't fix your electricity bill then you don't fix your grocery bill, because food processors are paying two or sometimes three times more than what they were before Anthony Albanese came to power. That means people are paying more at the check-out.

We have a government that's not even prepared to stand up to the supermarkets when there is clear evidence that they've been gouging Australians. We, in this parliament, including the Prime Minister, voted for divestiture powers in 2019 to stand up to the big CEOs of energy companies. But, when there are Australians that will not eat dinner tonight, who cannot afford to eat dinner, why wouldn't we come into this place and send a very strong message and hold the supermarkets to account to make sure there is fairness and transparency from the farm gate to the plate? 'Where are the priorities when there are Australians who will not eat tonight?' I ask those opposite. They all have their heads down.

You have to fix your fundamentals. This is about making sure in the short term you can get gas into the grid quickly. That brings energy bills down quickly. In the long term, it's underpinning our energy grid with nuclear energy and then taking on and bringing down the food bill.

It's also about making sure we have some common sense about building some homes. We've gone to a seven-star construction code, adding $50,000 to $60,000 to the construction of a new home. It's absolute madness. We will pause that and we will actually go line by line to try and reduce those costs to give some hope. To give some hope to young people that they'll finally own a home, we're going to bring in people who might build them—not the martial arts instructors and dog groomers that this mob have prioritised, but some plumbers, electricians and roofers. We're going to ban foreigners from competing with Australians at auctions on a Saturday. We're going to give Australians the first chance at buying a home. We're going to say to them that they're the most important people in this country and should have a roof over their heads. We're going to give the states some time to help with supply.

That's the common-sense solution that a coalition government will bring. They're the solutions that will fix the fundamentals and won't keep spending the Australian taxpayers' money. To solve the nation's problems, you need common sense, courage and strength in leadership. Anthony Albanese and the Labor government have shown nothing but ideology, unable to meet the practical reality of what's been bled out of Australians' wallets for the last three years. Ask yourself if you are better off after three years of Anthony Albanese.

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

Now, we might appreciate a dialling-down of volume.

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think everyone just needs to take a big, deep breath after that contribution. Let's get back to some facts, shall we? Let's get back to living in the real world, after the diatribe we just heard from the Leader of the Nationals. Those opposite come into this place and talk about taking Australia back. I'll tell you where they're going to take us. They're going to take us back to cuts, culture wars and climate denial. You only have to look at what their record was when they last had a chance to sit on the treasury bench. When the Leader of the Opposition was last in government, he tried to cut the pension. In 2014, when the Leader of the Opposition was the health minister, he tried to cut billions from Medicare. He tried to rip money out of our hospitals and make Australians pay each and every time they go to the GP. We had huge queues in our immigration department. Those opposite wanted to cut child care. They wanted to cut all the services that Australians rely on.

If you think they've changed their stripes, they haven't. While we've been in government, those opposite have voted against tax cuts. They've voted against cheaper medicines. They've voted against free TAFE. They've voted against Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. They've voted against reducing HECS debts. They've voted against increasing the minimum wage. Today, they voted against cheaper child care; they voted against the three-day guarantee. There hasn't been a policy to take the edge off and help Australians that they haven't opposed.

They just want to cut government services, and you have to think, 'Why on earth do they want to do that?' It's because they've got some crazy ideas they want to fund. They've got some big, expensive toys that they want to buy that make absolutely no sense. We've been listening to the Leader of the Nationals talk about how they want to come in and reduce costs for Australians and how Australians can't afford all of these different things. When Australia can't afford a whole range of different things, what's the answer? I'll tell you what the answer isn't: $600 billion for a nuclear energy program. Those opposite have been fighting renewable energy because that is in their DNA. Fighting renewable energy is part of the reason they don't hold many of the seats that now belong to the crossbench. It's why we hold Higgins, Reid and so many other seats that have changed hands because those opposite have this absolute ideological desire to fight renewable energy. The markets aren't doing that; the markets are fighting to invest in renewable energy. But those opposite have this climate denial. When the Leader of the Opposition had a quiet little moment with a couple of former prime ministers over a little—

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

A long lunch.

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

over a long lunch—which they want to subsidise—the Leader of the Opposition made jokes about our Pacific neighbours. He made jokes about the water coming up and the real consequences of climate change. I've been to the Pacific; I've spent a lot of time in the Pacific. You cannot step off the plane without people telling you about how frightened they are, how serious this is for their children and how much of a program will be required to move community centres and schools—assets that are right on the edge of the coastline—up inland so that communities can literally just survive. This is a real threat to the people in our region. Since coming into government, we have worked extremely hard to ensure that Australia aligns with the priorities of our Pacific family. This Leader of the Opposition was making jokes about the water running up above their knees. That is the climate denial that these people will bring to government.

Then, of course, there are the culture wars. Time after time, instead of looking to unite this country, the Leader of the Opposition has sought to draw lines and put people on one side or the other. I still remember him commenting that Melburnians were too afraid to go out to restaurants and targeting migrants. Funnily enough, Christopher Pyne was asked about it, and he said: 'What do you mean? I love restaurants in Melbourne'—which is the normal answer, because restaurants in Melbourne are fantastic. But that's not the way that the Leader of the Opposition saw things. He just wanted to try and create division in society. I don't think anyone's ever said it better than this:

Peter's got one tune that he plays, and it's been all his political life, and that is division and animosity, generally targeted at immigrants. I couldn't think of anyone less suited to be Prime Minister of a multicultural society like Australia.

It wasn't a Labor member who said that. It wasn't even a member of the crossbench. It was former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull who said that.

These people want to take us back to cuts, climate denial and culture wars. That's not the direction we're going to take. We're going to build Australia's future and unite this country around a good, prosperous future for all Australian citizens.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians are feeling upset, they're feeling angry, and they're certainly—and rightly—feeling let down by this Albanese Labor government, because of the pure lack of leadership, because of the broken promises that have been made time and time again since the last election. It is true that all politics is local, and at the heart of this are the broken promises on a local level, the heartbreak on a local level. I know this, because there were promises made to my community during the 2022 election. The government stood up and declared: 'We will do this for you,' yet people are still waiting, and what they're getting is absolutely nothing.

The Albanese Labor government came into my electorate during the last election and promised that a road that I secured funding for would be fast tracked. It was due to start in the beginning of 2023, and here we are in 2025 with the construction nowhere in sight. This is a major road, and it is about the safety of people that are taking their kids to school or that are going to work. This Albanese Labor government seems to take no interest in the people of Western Sydney.

It's not just about this local road in my community. Major infrastructure projects have been cut across the board—$2 billion dollars in cut projects—when we have an international airport right on our doorstep due to open next year. There are roads around the airport, local roads, that are going to be major freight roads in the not-too-distant future, yet the infrastructure minister cut funding to upgrade these roads so they can deal with the trucks that are going to be driving along them. The local community are scared about the future that is coming. They should be excited about the future for our kids and the opportunities that Western Sydney airport will bring. Other roads have been cut around the airport in my community as well—major roads that take people to school, that take people to work and that keep them safe.

Another issue lacking leadership is that of airport flight paths into Western Sydney International Airport. We've been fighting hard. My community is the most impacted community of all out of all the electorates across Western Sydney. The flight paths were able to be moved for one electorate—the electorate of Macquarie, a Labor seat. It seems like no other calmness could be made for anyone else with the flight paths and the flights that would be going ahead. It is extraordinary.

From local to the portfolios I've been very fortunate to have since coming into opposition, the first was in mental health. Mental health in this country has been completely ignored by the Albanese Labor government. It took the opposition leader, a number of years ago now, to say, 'If we are in government, we will restore the 20 free Medicare funded sessions for people that need psychology sessions that have been cut in half by the Albanese Labor government.' There's an outcry from the sector, saying, 'Please support people with mental illness in this country.' Yet, from those opposite, there is absolutely nothing. We have the former chair of Mental Health Australia calling out the government for their lack of action on mental health. We have shown leadership in this space, and Australians can know that a Dutton led coalition government will restore the full 20 Medicare-subsidised psychology sessions.

In the energy affordability space, my second shadow portfolio, we had 97 promises to the Australian community that their power bills will be cut by $275 by this year. Yet, right across Australia, people are paying so much more for their electricity. Western Sydney residents are paying $1,000 more. This is on top of inflation that's causing higher grocery prices, and people are just struggling so much that they are now lining up at food banks to feed their families.

Finally, in my newest portfolio in communications, it took the opposition leader to come forward and say 'Kids' safety means something. We are going to protect kids online.' Every parent out there knows that this is a major issue when it comes to bullying online, and when it comes to exposure inappropriate content. We, as a government, will ensure that any child under 16 won't have access to social media online—that is, TikTok, Facebook, all social media platforms. It took us and Peter Dutton to take leadership on that, and for the government to come forward and make that same policy. These are just a few things where there is such a lack of leadership. Only a coalition government— (Time expired)

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

The great Paul Keating once said:

When you change the government, you change the country.

That is very true, and this country is going to face a serious choice later on this year.

This MPI has been set up as an opportunity for those opposite to offer us their manifesto, in a way. The interesting thing about the manifesto is you look at the first three paragraphs, but then you turn the page over and it's blank. There's no 'please turn over'. It's such a threadbare offering from those opposite. When you examine what they're offering versus the demands this nation is facing, and the choice the Australian people face later on this year, the opposition's plan will take this country backwards.

Let's look at a few of the most pressing issues this nation faces. First, the economy. When we came to power this government inherited an economy where inflation was far higher than it is today and was rising. We inherited an economy where, for a long period of time, real wages had been in the doldrums. We had just experienced the worst decade for a very long period of time. Over the course of the past three years, through the hard work of the Australian people, inflation has more than halved and is continuing to track down on all the key measures—headline inflation and core inflation. Importantly, real wages are now growing through the strength of the labour market and because of some of the key reforms we have put in place in relation to industrial relations and workers' rights. But there is still more work to be done.

If we look at and contrast the two parties' policies—let's look at the last three years and the difficult challenges people have faced in relation to the cost of living. We've put in place policies in relation to tax cuts which have improved outcomes for 84 per cent of taxpayers—compared to the plan we inherited. We've provided significantly cheaper energy through rebates. We've provided cheaper medicine. We've provided consecutive significant rental relief assistance. What's telling—and the choice will be offered later this year—is that those opposite voted against every single one of those measures. When they talk about the cost of living, the disingenuousness of that will be tested when the Australian people look at their voting record when it comes to every one of the things that has actually made a difference to people's lives over the last three years. When we look at priorities, they didn't want to vote for any of those measures presumably because they cost too much. Now the centrepiece of their economic management is an up-to-$10-billion plan—the costings of which they haven't released—for free lunches for bosses. It is an economically unjustified tax break and one that shows a shocking sense of prioritisation.

Let's look at health. We have turned around bulk-billing rate declines. We have invested in urgent healthcare clinics, which I can say have made a real difference in my electorate and in so many communities like mine where so many people rely on bulk-billing. We've promised to invest $1.7 billion in hospitals. Compare that to what those opposite are offering in health care and so many other areas of social service provision. They rail against our spending—hundreds of billions of dollars of overspending, they say—but won't tell us where the cuts will come. They like the rhetoric of sharp cuts in government but won't be honest with the Australian people about where the cuts will come. We on this side know that the cuts will have meaningful consequences, particularly for the most vulnerable in our society.

Let's look at housing—another complex, difficult, long-term challenge. We brought the Housing Australia Future Fund to this place; those opposite voted against it. We brought in Rent to Buy, Help to Buy and the First Home Guarantee. We brought in fee-free TAFE, which has provided opportunities and supported tens of thousands of additional workers in a sector of the economy where supply is absolutely critical. What have those opposite offered? Those opposite have offered the early release of super, which not a single macroeconomist or expert in housing says will produce a single extra house; it will only produce upward pressure on housing prices.

This nation will face a choice later this year, and the manifesto which is being provided by those opposite today is simply not good enough. This country faces a number of challenges. It needs a serious plan going forward, not the divisiveness of those opposite.

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

Under Labor, Australians have endured a cost-of-living crisis, an energy crisis, a housing crisis, a youth-crime crisis and now a national security crisis. These crises have been brought about by rising prices, radical policies and the wrong priorities under the leadership of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. This is a prime minister who is out of his depth and taking the country in the wrong direction. Well, in a couple of months, or maybe even only a couple of weeks, Australians will get the choice at the ballot box to vote out one of the worst governments since Federation—vote in the coalition and get Australia back on track.

Let's look first of all at national security. The response by the Prime Minister and those on that side to the appalling attacks of 7 October 2023 have demonstrated why those on that side are not fit for government and why this Prime Minister is not fit to lead this country. Following 9 October, this Prime Minister had the opportunity to behave in the same manner as John Howard did in 1996 at Port Arthur with gun control. John Howard had to stand up to the conservative faction and farmers within his party to bring about change that he knew was right for the rest of the country. This Prime Minister has failed to stand up and do what was right for Australians. If he doesn't stand up for Jewish Australians, what guarantee is there that he's going to stand up for any other Australians? When you are Prime Minister of the country you need to be leading for all Australians, and this Prime Minister has failed.

And who is next? Catholics? Hindus? Who will this Prime Minister let down next and refuse to support? When university students are terrified on campus, when four-year-olds are being accompanied to their preschool by armed guards and when synagogues are being firebombed, we see the beginning of the breakdown of the fabric of society. That is why we also have a youth-crime crisis in many parts of this country. And it has all come about under this government's watch, under this Prime Minister's leadership.

Cost of living: in two years and nine months, Australians' cost of living has gone down by 8.7 per cent. That is the steepest decline for Australians under any term of government—worse than under Whitlam. So, when I stand here and hear those on the other side talking about health care being cheaper, about everything being cheaper, it is not the case, and members on that side know this. Their constituents are telling them exactly the same thing that my constituents are telling me, and that is that they are doing it really, really tough; they've never had it tougher, my constituents say to me. And if we're not going to stand up for Australians on cost of living—

I hear the member for Hasluck. Deputy Speaker, I would say to the member for Hasluck—

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

Member for Hasluck, I have warned you before. Leave the chamber if you cannot hold your tongue during these debates.

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

I bet there is not a single person in the electorate of Hasluck who can turn around and say to that member that they are doing it better. And if we're not going to stand up for Jewish Australians or for Australians generally, what about we stand up for those who have been under the scourge of gambling addiction and gambling harm? The Murphy report was delivered to the minister in June 2023, and I sat on that inquiry, as did my good friend the honourable member for Menzies. Why is it up to the Reverand Tim Costello to have to be advocating for the recommendations of that report to be put into law? It is a disgrace that this Prime Minister put the interests of his mates in big business before the interests of Australians. We need a coalition government now to get Australia back on track.

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

Every single cost-of-living measure was opposed by the Leader of the Opposition and members opposite. We know people are doing it tough and that there is more to do, and we are getting on with the job. Under their government Territorians would be worse off. I often speak about bush communities because of their neglect over the 10 years or nine years that those opposite were in government. The members opposite talk about neglect. The Liberals neglected bush communities in my electorate and removed funding.

We on this side have been focused on delivering $7 billion to achieve long-term sustainability and improve the liveability of the Northern Territory's remote Aboriginal communities, which is often a dirty word and something that's not talked about by members opposite. These measures include a 10-year $4 billion housing injection—which will be cut under those opposite; $2.8 billion to improve the safety and reliability of Northern Territory roads and the nation's critical supply chains—that will be cut by those opposite; $700 million to increase 3,000 new jobs in remote communities—that will be cut by the Leader of the Opposition; substantial improvements to essential health services and facilities, with more renal dialysis units on country and six remote Medicare urgent care clinics—they will be cut by the Leader of the Opposition; significant enhancements to water security and infrastructure at a standard every Australian deserves, no matter where they live—these will be cut by those opposite; and enhancements to the liveability of remote communities through upgraded sporting and recreational facilities, playground equipment, shade shelters and improved digital connectivity to the internet—these will also be cut.

We have also provided more protection for families and children. In the nearly three years I've been standing in this chamber, all I've heard the Leader of the Opposition bleat about is child sexual abuse in remote Aboriginal communities and the issues of child protection. Well, I reckon that that protection will be one of the things they will cut. He's appointed a senator from the other chamber to become the new minister under their government to look at government efficiency, and these are all the things that she will cut. We are investing in quality education and vocational training through the injection of $1.1 billion in public education and the establishment of on-country vocational training facilities. That will be cut. Recently I was proud to be with the Prime Minister in Alice Springs where we announced an extra $842 million over the next six years to fund needed services to close the gap in remote Aboriginal communities. We know they didn't care on the other side, and it will be cut.

People stand up say here and say, 'The Leader of the Opposition will make a great prime minister.' I'm sorry; I've been on the receiving end of these mob all of my life, and so have many Aboriginal Territorians, and all the Leader of the Opposition is interested in this is culture wars. He publicly stated, on Australia Day—when we're trying to unite the country, black and white, and our multicultural communities—that his No. 1 policy will be to remove the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags if he becomes Prime Minister. This is a divisive and nasty person who will not unite the country.

I get that the antisemitism that's been happening is terrible. What's been happening on the eastern seaboard is terrible. But have a think about what's been happening to Aboriginal people in this country for a long time. We talk about genocide. Let's talk about the history of this country and what that side, when they've been in government, have done, particularly in the last nine years of their government, where they ripped needed and necessary funds and resources from Aboriginal communities. And you wonder why we've got problems in Alice Springs, in Tennant Creek and in Katherine! It's because the bush has been neglected for too long.

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

It is not lost on me that in the chamber right now are nine members of the class of 2022. I just want to say at the outset that it has been a pleasure serving with all of you if this is our last time, and we'll find out soon. In a previous life I was a barrister, and I learned the most from a particular silk who, when he gave me the most constructive feedback, said, 'You know I love you,' and then would give me the feedback. So to the class of 2022 on that side I say: 'You know I love you—but.'

I go back to my first speech here, which was in September 2022. From time to time, we should go back to our first speeches because they should be a guidebook for all of us when we have tough decisions to make. And there is no tougher decision for this country right now than easing the cost-of-living pressure on Australians, because it's affecting their daily lives. We can rattle off the numbers on inflation. We can do: 'This is your fault. No, this is your fault.' We can do the Punch and Judy show. But let's imagine you are a young family at a supermarket buying essentials. Let's narrow it down to the ones that count: milk, bread and eggs. Milk is up 18 per cent this term. Bread is up 25 per cent this term. Eggs, an essential protein, cheaper than steak and other foods, is up 35 per cent this term. For those of you who don't use compound interest calculators much, I ask you to put 35 per cent in, divide it by three and see how long it takes to double it. It doubles every six years. If we continue that trend in the next term, it means eggs have doubled in two terms of your government—doubled! These are basic essentials to have breakfast at the table for a family, and there's not much change from $20. So, when we say Australians are doing it tough, that's the practical reality of what we're talking about.

I haven't touched on the big bills of insurance, the monumental bills of mortgage or rent, or the lack of hope that comes with that when you do live pay cheque to pay cheque. When you live pay cheque to pay cheque, people have moments of panic and desperation, and Australians are living in moments of panic and desperation between the fortnightly pay cheques that are coming through. They're not sleeping well. They're stressed. Some of them are in tears, and you know it. All of us know it. The class of 2022, on both sides, are good doorknockers, and we hit the phones and we know what people are telling us. Yes, this started as a global challenge that we all had to meet, but the truth is inflation was longer and higher here. It just was. We didn't do a good job compared to other countries. We didn't.

So when you want to ask, 'Well, what will a second term of a Labor government look like?' look to Victoria. I'm a proud Victorian. There aren't many Liberal Victorians here in this place, but guess how many Labor Victorians are in the federal caucus? There are 26. There is real frustration and anger and disappointment at the state Labor government, but to think that you can separate yourselves from that is a fantasy. This caucus is dominated by Victorian Labor. So the future for a second-term Albanese government is what you've seen in Victoria, where we have the highest debt, the highest tax and a sense of despair that hasn't been seen since the early 1990s.

I said in my first speech that, when we have tough problems, we should have a true north. The true north for me was to make sure that we democratise prosperity and democratise power. So, when we criticise the monumental increase in government spending over this term, it's because that's the antithesis of democratising prosperity and power. It is concentrating power and it is taking prosperity away from Australians, because that side of politics that I'm looking at have the opposite view. Yes, these are tough challenges. Yes, it's not all of this government's making, of course, but it's how you react to it. When there's a decision to be made, there are two doors you can walk through: you can walk through one based on power and self-interest or you can walk through one based on principle and values. That is a test of leadership and that's why this MPI is all about leadership, and this government has failed.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Menzies for his kind words about the class of 2022, but I am going to vigorously disagree with him. When we talk about power and prosperity, the Labor Party is fundamentally about bringing power to the people, power to the workers and power to our communities. One of the things that we did within the first two weeks of being elected was back minimum wage workers. You talk about prosperity, but I'm talking about prosperity for those that were working night and day during the pandemic—those who deserved our respect. Guess who had their back? Labor did. We had their back.

The reason why I'm on this side of the House is I want all Australians to succeed. I want to be very intentional with the way that we do that, and, the truth is, we have been doing this day in, day out. When we came into office, inflation had a six in front of it. Now inflation has a two in front of it. We've been working consistently and deliberately, and we've been fine tuning, and we are on the right track. It's fascinating because I remember that decade under the coalition and being used to not getting a pay rise, but I didn't realise that this was a deliberate design feature of the coalition policy. We are in a time where households are absolutely doing it tough, but the thing that Australia has managed to do is get inflation down and have record levels of employment across the country.

One of the ways that you can deliver prosperity is people being in a job, and I think that our Assistant Treasurer and Treasurer have been doing a very intentional job. It's because we care about people. Talking about where we could be going, if the opposition were to be elected we would be back to rising inflation. We'd be back to keeping wages deliberately low. We'd be back into an aged-care crisis. Bulk-billing would be in freefall. We'd be going back to child care being out of reach, forcing parents, especially women, to choose between work and caring for their kids. We'd be back to chasing manufacturing offshore. We'd be back to deficits as far as the eye can see.

I was thinking about numbers earlier today and I thought about the number two. What was the number of surpluses we delivered? Two! How many times did the opposition leader do a press conference? Two! I just find that mind-boggling. We delivered something that the coalition could not do in nine years. What do they have to show from a 'two' perspective? The opposition leader rocked up to a press conference twice! We can't wait for the election campaign. That's going to be a pressure cooker environment, and Australians and Western Australians are going to see his true colours. You can try to be controlled inside the House; this is a place where there are creatures that have developed here. But we and the public will see the true colours of the opposition leader and the opposition. There's a saying that I heard: 'What's Dutts going to cut?' Who knows? Is it veterans' affairs? Is it Medicare? Is it access to child care? Is it women's equality? Who knows. We're going to be back to chaos and conflict on climate change.

I'm going to say I don't think that it will be back to secret ministries. I don't have that vibe from the opposition leader, but, you know, who knows—right? Who knows? The thing I would say is that, at this election, we have a choice. I think we have been on the right track, and we will continue to work hard every day to deliver real results for households.

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

The discussion has now concluded.