Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to consider the priorities of this government. At a time when Australians across the country are dealing with the significant pressures of the cost-of-living crisis currently gripping Australia, as fuel prices are going up by over 20c a litre, and as people are suffering from price hikes at the supermarket, in their power bills and in their mortgage payments, what are the priorities of this government? They are certainly not responding to these pressures, having not announced a single measure of immediate cost-of-living relief. Nor are they practising what they preach with regard to changes to the standing orders, flagged by the Jenkins review, to have a more family-friendly workplace—just last night the Senate was forced to sit till nearly midnight. Instead they come in here today with this motion as their priority, tinkering around the edges for the first two minutes of the Senate instead of taking real action to address cost-of-living pressures impacting Australian families.