Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There we have it in the tag line what it's all about. It's self-aggrandising. This is a debate about the cost of living that has been brought on by the motion of Senator Dean Smith. It's supposed to be about the cost of living. What we just heard in those two contributions that I was in the chamber paying attention to was exactly the model of the former government—cynical, negative, without a vision for Australia and attacking the person. We saw the most outrageous attack on the persons of Australia through the robodebt scandal that the former Prime Minister continues to deny. People look to this chamber, the Senate, and this parliament to understand that they are doing it tough, that there are real challenges that they are facing, and to respond. So I find it incredibly rich that the Liberal and National parties, after nine long years of falling real wage growth, wasted opportunities and $1 trillion of debt, are now deciding they should take a bit of an interest in Australia's wellbeing.

Unlike those opposite, the Albanese government is focused on doing the important work to ensure that the livelihoods of regular Australians are improving. I'll start by reiterating some of the facts of the latest CPI figures. Inflation is down from its peak, under the former government, of 7.8 per cent. It's down over this year to December. We've had most recently only a 0.8 per cent increase over the last quarter. That is well below the 2.1 per cent that was posted in the March 2022 quarter, when those opposite were in government. So the reality is that Australians who are listening to this can take some heart that while there is incredible cost-of-living pressure—and we absolutely acknowledge that—we are acting to support them in the most fiscally responsible way possible.

We can make sure that we celebrate the wins in our economy, instead of the miserly personal attacks we see from those opposite. It is beneath what an opposition needs to do. Australians need the opposition to be genuinely engaged in seeking and supporting solutions to improve their wellbeing and mental health and with the fiscal responsibility that needs to be undertaken to achieve all of those good outcomes.

In getting inflation down, the Albanese government is adhering to a very responsible, orderly three-point plan. Australians need to know they can have confidence in this plan being implemented. We said we would do things. We said we would set up the NACC, and we did. We are doing what we said. Firstly, this government has recorded a budget surplus of $20 billion, a feat of budget restraint which eluded the coalition for its entire term in office. What's more, we banked that against the $1 trillion of debt that the former government put us in. That's being a responsible government to take the pressure off.

Secondly, the government know that members in our community really are struggling, so we've provided really targeted cost-of-living measures to those who are most vulnerable, and we're doing that without adding to inflation. Notable is the increase in ways that affect people who are on JobSeeker, youth allowance and rent assistance, and that's just to name a few.

The third critical aspect of our response to the challenges that Australia is facing is that the government has invested on the supply side to boost the long-run capacity of the economy and secure Australia's long-term prosperity with the National Reconstruction Fund. That's an excellent example of our initiative to create jobs in Australia, to build capacity in Australia and to deal with the incredible supply-chain challenges that became manifestly evident to every Australian in the course of COVID. And the results are in on this already.

The Albanese government knows that the budget is actually reducing inflation in the next financial year. I was in the room with the RBA governor at estimates when he said that Labor's policies are expected to directly reduce inflation by three-quarters of a percentage point in 2023-24. I hear others on the other side grumbling at that, and this is what we see constantly: the whinge-fest, the personal attacks and the negativity of a former government that, when in government, delivered a trillion dollars of debt and no wage growth over 10 years. It didn't build housing. It didn't look after hospitals. We've had to triple the Medicare rebate so that people can even get to see a doctor. And the minute we get some good news, what do they do? They whinge about it. No cost-of-living relief from those opposite—