Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to make something crystal clear: the issue of inflation in this country is completely owned by the Labor Party. The budget that was handed down a month or so ago has done nothing to address the cost-of-living pressures and the inflationary impact in our economy one iota. There is nothing that's been done.

I listened carefully to the remarks of those opposite—including you, Madam Acting Deputy President Walsh, when you were in your chair. There is nothing in this budget that is seeking to address this cost-of-living pressure and inflation. We've seen 11 interest rate hikes under this government. We know that everything is going up. Australians are facing increased costs of living across almost every part of their own personal budgets. The cost of living is going up. Power prices are going up. Gas prices are going up. Taxes are going up. And mortgages are going up. People are paying more, and they're feeling the pain.

As I've been engaging with people in my community back in Western Australia, it is the biggest issue people are raising. If you're not hearing that, you've simply got your ears closed. This is the biggest issue people are raising—even people on quite significant salaries. I had someone that's on $115,000 a year, which is a decent salary and above the average, speak to me only two weeks ago—a single mother with two children, who is struggling to make ends meet even on that sort of salary. People are finding it impossible. For this particular person, the only thing she could figure she could cut was her Netflix subscription. That was going to net her—how much is a Netflix subscription?—about 20 bucks a month. This is impacting everyone, and the Labor government are to blame. The RBA's decision to lift the cash rate from 3.85 to 4.1 per cent last week can be put down to only one thing, and that is Labor's inability to manage money and reframe from spending. With inflation at its highest point since the 1990s, Australians will struggle to make ends meet. Mortgage holders are facing the highest debt burden since the 1980s. There's been $185 billion in new spending since the Labor Party came into office. That's having an inflationary impact. That's putting upward pressure on inflation. Labor's budget did nothing to put downward pressure on inflation.

Australians with a mortgage of $750,000 are now paying $1,856 more per month. That's more than 22,000 extra dollars that these people must find. The cost of living, as I've said, is the No. 1 issue that Australian's are facing, and this government is distracted on other projects and is not doing what it needs to do to help Australians address their cost of living. Labor have no plan to bring down the cost of living, and they try to blame many other things. They blame the Ukraine war. They blame Putin for this cost-of-living process that we're facing, yet they're doing nothing to address it.

If you listen carefully to the words of the Reserve Bank governor last week—and those opposite and their champions within the media are doing their best to make a bogyman out of the Reserve Bank governor. But let me tell you, he said something that was really powerful. He said that very few people understand what's actually going on here. He said that the unit cost of labour, which is the measure of wages versus productivity, is going up, and that means that without productivity improvement in this country we're going to see further increases in inflation. And there is nothing in the budget. In fact, the legislative agenda is increasing union control and by putting upward pressure on wages but is not doing anything to lift productivity, and it's just going to further exacerbate the problem. The unions are big about talking about wages, and the Labor Party is big about talking about higher wages, but, if you're not seeking to increase productivity, then all you're going to do is drive up the cost of living. All you are going to do is drive up inflation, and that's what is left by this—