Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given to questions from Senators Chandler, McGrath and Liddle in question time today.

What we see from the government is a continued attempt to walk away from the commitments that they made to the Australian people at the last election with respect to the economy. In the lead-up to the last election, the Labor Party promised a lower cost of living. They promised lower energy prices. They promised higher real wages. They promised lower mortgage costs. Yet, whenever we ask a question in relation to those matters in this place, they attempt to deflect. They attempt to blame someone else. They won't take responsibility for the promises that they made to the Australian people in the lead-up to the election.

We continue to have one of the highest inflation rates, particularly core inflation rates, amongst advanced economies. Economic growth is at half the OECD average. This government is destroying the productivity rate, through its relationship with the unions. All of those things are going backwards and none of the promises that were made by the government prior to the election are being kept. Flatlining GDP per capita, higher spending rates, higher interest rates—the government talk about their contribution to managing interest rates, and yet at estimates we heard the Reserve Bank governor say the budget 'hasn't shifted the dial'.

Therefore, all of the heavy lifting that needs to be done with respect to reducing inflation has to be done by the Reserve Bank because the government's doing nothing. They say they're making a contribution, but the Reserve Bank governor said the budget 'hasn't shifted the dial'. If you're not doing anything, you're not helping. That's why we've seen so many interest rate rises in a row; there have been 11 in a row under this government's watch.

They promised cheaper housing costs. They promised cheaper housing costs, not what the minister tried to do today, which is to put it into a sectional context. They promised a lower cost of living. They promised lower mortgage costs. They promised lower energy prices. We don't hear the term '$275 cut in power prices' from the government anymore. It was great before the election when they were looking for people's vote; it doesn't matter anymore as we see increase upon increase. They're now talking about 'putting downward pressure on energy costs', but before the election they promised a cut in energy costs of $275.

They promised higher real wages. They criticised the opposition for the period that we were in government, and yet, when we were in government, there was real growth in wages. Under this government, it's actually going backwards. This is another broken promise from this government, and yet we see minister after minister stand up in this place and try and deflect attention, demean the person who's asking the question and blame somebody else. It's simply not good enough.