Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Treasurer (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice asked by Senator McGrath today relating to the budget.

I realise that, when those opposite came in from opposition to government, it was a bit like when Cady Heron had to come out of homeschooling and move into a high school environment, to then learn that 'on Wednesdays, we wear pink', but to sit there and say that it was immaterial, was the commentary made by the Reserve Bank, when it comes to interest rate rises—I mean, it's like trying to make 'fetch' happen. What they're actually saying is that you have your foot on the accelerator at the same time as the Reserve Bank is trying to put its foot on the brake. What you are doing with your increased spending is putting increased pressure on the Reserve Bank and its levers when it comes to increasing interest rates, which affect the third of Australian people who are mortgage holders. Not only do those mortgage rates impact our homeowners—middle Australians trying to pay off their homes every day—but they're also putting increased pressures on our renters and on our small businesses, as their interest rates continue to climb.

Those opposite don't seem to understand that everyday Australians, and particularly working Australians, are finding it increasingly difficult every single day to meet the demands of the cost of living, to put food on the table, to pay the rent, to pay the mortgage, to pay the school fees, to put clothes on their kids' backs and to pay for school supplies. All of those things are increasing pressures for families across the country. Those opposite literally seem to be one step off telling Australians that it's better than ever before and that they're actually better off than they were 12 months ago. I asked in this place one week ago: 'Bring me one Australian who is better off today than they were 12 months ago.' My office has been inundated with emails from people saying: 'Absolutely not—I am considerably worse off. My mortgage has doubled. My power bill has doubled. The price of putting petrol in the car has doubled. The grocery bill has continued to climb and climb.'

There is absolutely nothing that those opposite are doing to alleviate any of these pressures. In fact, every single measure that they are taking has increased costs for all Australians and small and medium-sized businesses and is putting pressure on supply chains. We are now in a cycle of increasing inflation, increasing costs and increasing pressure for Australian families.

We learnt today that one of the things that is being spouted by those opposite is the investments they're making in things like the care industry. They're going to boost the wages of nurses—but not aged-care nurses. We've now learnt that over a quarter of those aged-care nurses actually won't be eligible for any increase in their wages. What they're actually not honest about either when they talk about lifting wages is that aged-care services are generally owned by private providers. So the government is saying, 'We're just going to give these private providers a chunk of money, with the expectation that they're going to pass it on to their nurses to provide higher wages.' It is an absolute furphy to say to the Australian people that they are delivering higher wages, because we learnt today that a quarter of nurses are not going to get any pay rise at all.

There is absolutely nothing that this government is doing to make cost-of-living pressures easier, but they are continuing to stick by the line that they are somehow or other contributing to bettering the environment for Australians. But, when it's put to them that it's not better for everyday Australians, they try and claim the Moscow problem: 'It's all in Ukraine. That's why there's a problem.' These are Canberra based problems. The problem is that these guys haven't understood that they have come in from the jungle. They've come in from home school, they're now in high school and they're running the government. They don't get it yet, because they still think that they can stand there after two budgets and over 12 months in government and go, 'But when you were in!'

We were also in during the COVID pandemic and maintained a AAA credit rating and incredibly low unemployment rates and kept workers connected to their workplace. Without any of the shackles of a global pandemic, every single decision that those opposite have made has made a bad situation worse, and they continue to do so day after day. Remember that 97 times we were told $275 was going to come off people's power bills? If you listen today to some of the talkback radio, which I heard this morning, families who put solar panels on their roof are now having their off-peak power increase because coal still generates three-quarters of our electricity, so the off-peak rates have gone up. Their power bills have now gone back to what they were pre the implementation of solar panels. So they've now got the same power bills, but they're also paying for solar panels.

Those opposite are selling the Australian people a lie when they talk about renewable energy being cheap or free—it is neither. It is also neither reliable nor firming for the system. To those opposite: just remember that, when the rolling blackouts start, when you can't turn on the heater, when you can't turn on the air conditioner in summer and you can't afford your power bill.