Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

This afternoon the coalition has initiated this discussion to hold Prime Minister Albanese accountable on his commitment or promise to Australians for cheap electricity prices, cheaper mortgages and better pay. There are two dates that the Labor government have erased from their collective memory. The first is 2 May 2022, when the Prime Minister, who was then the opposition leader, committed as part of his federal election campaign to providing a cheaper life for Australian families. He said that he had a real plan to keep mortgages cheaper and he had a real plan to keep cost-of-living pressures down. You don't hear anything anymore about that commitment of 2 May 2022. The second date that Labor have erased from their collective memory is the date in August 2022 when Labor committed to transparency, accountability and no more secrecy. That is the second date that Labor have erased from their collective memory. There will be more about the August commitment at another time in another debate.

Just yesterday Westpac said to the Australian community that things have never been so hard for Australian families. Westpac said that Australian families are now more worried about the state of their finances than at any other time in the last three decades. What did Bill Evans, the chief economist at Westpac, have to say? He was talking yesterday about the Westpac consumer sentiment survey and he said:

Since the survey began in 1974, the only comparable period of such sustained weakness was during the recession of the early 1990s when even weaker levels held for more than two years.

Mr Evans went on to talk about how the financial toll from high inflation, soaring interest rates and climbing rents crushed household spending in the three months to June. That sentiment expressed by Westpac, seen in their consumer sentiment survey, is exactly what we saw revealed last week in the details that were provided in the national accounts for this country. Things have got seriously bad and, unfortunately, they're going to get worse for many Australian families.

Just recently there was a glimmer of relief for Australian families when the RBA decided not to provide a 12th interest rate increase on mortgages. The cumulative effect of 11 interest rate rises—meaning the cash rate has now risen to 4.1 per cent—is hurting people and hurting Australian families. What did the governor of the RBA say when the RBA decided not to lift interest rates further on that occasion just recently? He painted a very bleak picture for the Australian economy and, therefore, for Australian families. The governor said in his statement:

… inflation is still too high and will remain so for some time yet. While goods price inflation has eased, the prices of many services are rising briskly.

' Briskly' was the governor's word. He went on to say:

Rent inflation is also elevated.

He went on to say:

The Australian economy is experiencing a period of below-trend growth and this is expected to continue for a while. High inflation is weighing on people's real incomes and household consumption growth is weak, as is dwelling investment.

If things couldn't be any worse for our country, what did he say about the prospect of rising unemployment? The governor said:

… the unemployment rate is expected to rise …

Imagine that. Australian families are having to find more in their household budgets to meet the cumulative effect of those 11 interest rate rises, and then some of them are facing the prospect of losing their jobs. This is what the commitment by the Labor opposition leader, now the Prime Minister, on 2 May 2022 to make life easier and cheaper for Australian families has delivered, and it's only going to get worse.