Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hume for her question. The government understands that many families and households across Australia are doing it tough in this high-inflation environment. It is an environment that is affecting countries around the globe, and it's certainly making it harder for Australians to make ends meet here, which is why our biggest priority since coming to government has been trying to take the pressure off the cost of living where we can without adding to the inflation problem. You would have seen from the budget, and indeed you would have seen from the measures we took—Senator Hume asked about energy prices—our energy bill relief, which those opposite voted against. Those opposite are hypocrites. They come in here and vote against a $3 billion energy bill relief and other sensible interventions to deal with the energy crisis we inherited. They voted against it and then come in here and say that people are struggling with their energy bills. I mean, you can't vote against something and then complain that the government isn't doing anything on energy bills, when that is exactly what we did.