Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm reluctant to get up! I should just let those on the other side carry this debate. It's very enjoyable. We had more longbows from Senator Ayres than there were at Agincourt! That was a very, very enjoyable contribution, but I'm not sure there was much substance in it. In fact, in the first two contributions we've had on this bill, there's been hardly a mention of what's actually driving pressure on Australian families, particularly Australian families on low and relatively fixed incomes: inflation.

There's been hardly a mention of inflation. This is because those on the other side, the alliance partners—Labor and the Greens—have no idea how to tackle poverty. They have no idea how to actually address the issues that are confronting Australian families and the cost-of-living pressures that are bearing down on every Australian family at the moment. There was barely a mention of inflation in both a speech from the Greens and a speech from the Labor Party on poverty. That's extraordinary.

The average Australian family has seen their costs increase over the last 12 months of this Labor government by around $20,000 per year. We've seen mortgages skyrocket. We've seen power bills go up massively. We've seen grocery bills go up massively. We've seen fuel prices increase. Meanwhile, real wages are plummeting, thanks to inflation. Inflation is the destroyer of a standard of living. Inflation is the destroyer of people being able to draw themselves out of poverty through attempts to better their lives via things like education, getting a job or starting a small business. Inflation destroys those things. Yet, we've had two speeches on poverty—one from the Greens and one from Labor—with barely a mention of the inflation that is so negatively affecting the overall economy and individual families in this country.

Those opposite don't have a clue how to run an economy. They have very little idea of how to manage a household budget or the pressures Australians are under at the moment. They continue to stand up and talk about indexed increases to working-age payments and pensions, which are built into the system. They're claiming credit for large increases, when in actual fact they are driven by the inflation that is forcing so much pressure onto Australian families.

They talk about wage increases, which are driven by inflation, which, again, is putting so much pressure on Australian families. Real wages are actually going down under this government. The hypocrisy, the propaganda and the level of misinformation are extreme from those opposite. We need a good government back in place who can actually manage an economy and who understand the family budget. That's what you'll get if you vote for the coalition.

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