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

Thank you, President. I've got an audience now, which is really good, but we only have about a minute before we are due to move onto the next thing.

Speaking on the appropriations bills give us an opportunity to speak about the government's response—it obviously deals with the budget—to the economic conditions Australians are facing right now. And Australians are facing the most incredible pressures on their budgets. Families right across Australia are being impacted right now by the rising cost of living. There have been 11 interest rate rises, and that is hitting households.

In Western Australia, I've spoken to many families. Even those who two years ago who would have considered themselves to have pretty good means are now finding themselves struggling to make ends meet. Their mortgages have gone up—$1,000, $1,800 or $2,000 for some, and even more if you have a bigger mortgage. This is, of course, devastating for families, because they are having to make some tough choices. I had one family that spoke to me about the economic challenges and budget constraints that they are facing. The only thing they could find that they could cut was their Netflix subscription. They were choosing between whether they were going to continue to send their daughter to sewing lessons and their other daughter to dancing lessons, and they didn't want to have to cut those things, so the only thing they could cut was their Netflix subscription. There was nothing left in the budget to cut, because their cost of living has gone up. Every time they open those electricity bills they are finding increased costs. This is a big challenge that Australians are facing.

Unfortunately, this appropriations bill and all the other economic measures the government are taking are doing nothing—nothing!—to address cost-of-living challenges. Inflation is driving up the cost of living, and there is nothing that this government is doing—there is not a single measure that this government is taking—that is driving down inflation. Productivity is falling against wages, and this is having a dramatic inflationary impact. Real wages are going backwards as a result of this.

So, when I get my chance, when I can speak on this in a more fulsome way once we resume this debate, I look forward to outlining how this budget is doing nothing and the steps that they really should be taking to address the significant cost-of-living challenges that Australians are facing, particularly those in my home state of Western Australia.