Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party was elected to government promising Australians that it had a plan to deal with cost-of-living pressures. They had a plan alright—what the Labor government never told the public was that their plan was to increase the cost of living, not decrease it. Everything this government does, from its ideologically driven renewable energy policy to its repeated and ever-growing cost-of-living support measures, only serves to do one thing and that's increase inflationary pressure. Treasurer Chalmers has continued Labor's long tradition of tax and spend, while turning Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe into a patsy for the dozen interest rate rises that have occurred on his watch. It is time for Prime Minister Albanese to admit to the Australian people that they will not be getting their much talked about $275 power price cut for the simple reason that his government haven't the faintest idea on how to deal with the cost of living.

Their only plan so far has been to repeatedly insist that they have a plan while running around like headless chooks with no plan at all—as far as I can tell anyway. The easiest way to fix Australia's cost-of-living problem is, obviously, to vote the Labor party out, and then to eventually to vote the UAP to government. That's how you do it. Obviously, we can't do that right now, but our time will come. What the Labor government can do, at the moment, is to abandon the net zero delusion and say no to the unions, how about that? I know it's hard to say no when you're joined at the hip and in a long-term relationship, but sometimes tough decisions are needed. It's plain for everyone to see that the policies of the Labor Party are driving Australian families to the wall. They owe the regulator everything, and, of course, like I said, the main beneficiaries are their union mates.

The government are addicted to legislation. They do nothing but add layer upon layer of bureaucracy to an already overgoverned nation. The more red tape there is, the more consumers eventually end up paying. I've never met an Australian on the street—not one—that desires more legislation. What's wrong with repealing some, instead? How about that? What's wrong with reducing red and green tape? Have you ever seen a government project run on time and on budget? I haven't seen one. The only way we can reduce the cost of living in Australia is to make sure that the government of the day—it doesn't matter if it's on the left or the right—keep their sticky little fingers to themselves. That's it. Vote 1 UAP.