Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the failure of the Albanese government to have a plan that addresses the rising cost of living facing all Australians. It is indeed a matter of great public importance. Before the election, the members of the government were talking a very big game around the cost of living. In fact, the then Leader of the Opposition was unequivocal. He said this very straightforwardly: 'I'll say this very clearly. They will be better off under a Labor government.' That was backed in by the then shadow Treasurer, who was equally clear. He said that under Labor you will have a government which cares about the cost of living and has a plan to deal with it. But it has been more than three months since the election, and it's patently clear that Labor has done what Labor always does, and that is break its promises.

In fact, Australians are no better off now compared to the time before the election. The cost of living continues to skyrocket, and Labor still hasn't shown any plan to address it. Power prices are higher. Grocery bills are higher. Fuel is about to go up again in price. Today the RBA has once again raised interest rates. We feel it at the bowser, we feel it the grocery check-out, and we are certainly feeling it when we pay our mortgages. That suits the Assistant Treasurer just fine because the Assistant Treasurer is out there predicting hyperinflation and more strikes and further industrial action.

This is not what Australians need right now. It's certainly not what this government promised. They need a government with a plan to get the cost of living down, to drive down prices, but Labor keeps breaking its promise on the cost of living. The most resonating central tenet of Labor's election platform was to reduce power prices by $275. They said it over and over again. The Leader of the Opposition at the time said it, the shadow Treasurer at the time said it, they got into government, and now nothing. In fact, they repeated in the election campaign 96 times that they would reduce power prices by $275. Suddenly, once they were elected, everything changed. They went dead silent. You could hear nothing but crickets. Not only are power prices not going down by $275 but the Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, has not even fronted up, not once, and given an explanation to the Australian people as to why this promise, this fundamental tenet of the election campaign, this commitment to the Australian people, has been broken within the first 100 days of government.

Just today, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy popped his head up above the parapet, like a meerkat, and said that he stands by the modelling, but he still won't say that power prices will go down, having said 96 times during the election campaign that power prices will go down by $275. Now the Minister for Climate Change and Energy says nothing. He says he stands by the modelling, but he won't stand by the fact that power prices should, would and must go down by $275 to fulfil the commitment that Labor made to the Australian people. In fact, Mr Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, is using weasel words to get out of this fundamental promise.

But power prices are not the only promise that this government have already broken. In fact, they've also broken their election promise on wages. The Treasurer, Mr Chalmers, said it best when, before the election, as shadow Treasurer, he said, 'Our job is to get wages growing in a sustainable way, then get them growing strongly.' The now Treasurer said he could get this job done; he was the man to get this job done. He also said before the election: 'There are meaningful things that we can do about wages. We, Labor, have got a role to play in wages.' The Minister for Finance, Minister Gallagher, said that wages need to keep up with the cost of living. That was before the election.

Since the election, they've changed their tune. The Treasurer now admits that there is no credible economic forecaster who thinks that wages growth is going to keep up with inflation, although I guess that's something the Assistant Treasurer is happy to back him in on. In fact, the Labor Party went to the election promising to increase wages, but the fact is that increased wages have not kept up with the cost of living. We know that Labor has already broken promises to reduce the cost of living, to reduce the cost of power and to improve wages.

These broken promises affect everyday Australians, who are doing it tough with these increased costs of living. I've been out in the community, as have my colleagues, talking to business owners, talking to individuals, talking to families and talking to employees to understand just how Labor's broken promises on the cost of living are impacting ordinary Australians. Some businesses are planning, and indeed expecting, an economic downturn, and they're preparing to lay off staff right now. The cost of key supplies for some businesses has increased by as much as 30 per cent in a week. One business told me that they are planning for people to have less expendable income as inflation increases, so therefore they will sell fewer goods. Another business told me that they are absorbing some of the fixed costs because they're concerned that consumers will stop spending rather than wear those price increases.

Businesses are looking how to best manage their finances so they can absorb those increased power bills and grocery costs just so that they can keep staff on. One Sydney restaurant was reported in the newspaper of offering a $5,000 sign-on bonus just to get new team members for dishwashers and managers. Another Melbourne restaurant has resorted to recruiting staff from Dubai, and covering the costs of their visas and processing fees, at about $8,000 each.

The cost of living is causing real concern to Australian people. In fact, this week Suicide Prevention Australia reported that 40 per cent of Australians say that money issues have caused them more distress in the last year, with experts warning that it is the biggest risk to suicide rates. Suicide Prevention Australia referenced expected Reserve Bank rate rises, saying this is an economic issue that has overtaken social issues in levels of distress.

It's clear that Labor's broken promises on the cost of living are impacting all Australians, but we also have to remember that the Labor Party is the party of higher taxes; it always has been and always will be. There is a suite of new taxes on its way that the government's allies in the union movement have already proposed that will simply take more money out of your pockets: new taxes on workers, new taxes on businesses, new taxes on dividends and a retiree tax 2.0 proposed by the ACTU as part of this Jobs and Skills Summit.

The Prime Minister made it clear that he does not support the third stage of the coalition's personal income tax plan. In fact, when stage 3 is implemented in 2024-25, around 95 per cent of taxpayers will face a marginal tax rate of 30 per cent or less. But that doesn't matter to the Treasurer, who said: 'We're not big fans of the stage 3 tax cuts. We would think that they are the least affordable and least responsible,' yet they would put more money into people's pockets. Just last week the Prime Minister said that Labor actually tried to amend out the stage 3 tax cuts, but they weren't successful.

Here's the deal. We know that Labor did not cause the war in Ukraine, which has fed into high energy prices. We know that they didn't cause COVID, which induced the supply chain problems that we're seeing right around the world. The things that cause inflation are not of Labor's making. However, they are this government's problem. The Australian people look to their government to help them through a crisis.

The previous government's challenge was COVID, and our response to that crisis resulted in the best health and economic outcomes any country in the world achieved. This Labor government has faltered at its first hurdle, its first challenge. There will be more challenges that it needs to face. It's already broken promises. So far, you have stumbled. This is an opportunity now to recommit to helping ordinary Australians with the cost of living; recommit to that $275 cut in power prices that you repeated 96 times throughout the election campaign; recommit to tax cuts for ordinary Australians so that they can keep more of their own money in their own pockets; and recommit to helping ordinary Australians with the cost of living, which is their No. 1 issue right now in any survey.