Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those who are listening to this debate do not need to listen to the political rhetoric that is being spoken in this chamber. They simply need to look at the statistics. They simply need to look at their pay packets, their bills and how much it's costing them to fill their car at the petrol bowser. They don't have to listen to any of the political rhetoric.

What I heard on Saturday when I was out at Ipswich manning a polling booth for nine hours at a place called Churchill State School is that people are suffering under the cost-of-living crisis. A number of people came through that booth and said to me, 'I can't believe the government is spending this amount of money on this referendum process—hundreds of millions of dollars—when I am struggling to pay my bills.' Person after person after person raised that issue. That is why we saw the federal government, in the first question time of this week, pivot to talk about cost of living, because no doubt they got the same feedback at polling booths across the whole country.

The polling booth I was at was in the Ipswich City Council region, where my office is located. Those are suburbs of battlers. They're salt-of-the-earth people, but they're battlers. I visited the food bank in Ipswich. I visited various community support organisations. Everywhere I go I get the same message: that people are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

The people at the food bank run by Ipswich Assist told me that the demand is going through the roof and the people now coming to Ipswich Assist are working families, because they're having trouble meeting their mortgage payments and paying their bills. And why wouldn't they have trouble with those things when we know that an Australian family with an average Australian mortgage are paying $22,000 a year more than they were just a year ago. Just reflect on that: $22,000 more a year on mortgage payments. So they've got to meet all the other bills that they're trying to meet whilst also paying an additional $22,000 in mortgage payments, and they are holding on by their fingernails. They deserve better.

So Senator Sheldon can come into this place and deliver rhetoric. We can simply refer to the statistics, and this is what they're telling us. In the period from August 2022 to August 2023, the price of bread and cereal products, which are basic staples for average Australian families, has gone up by 10.4 per cent, prices for meat have gone up by 2.6 per cent, prices for dairy and related products have gone up by10.1 per cent, and prices for other food products have gone up by 6.9 per cent. Garments are also up. Rents, as we all know, have gone up by 7.8 per cent.

Electricity! This is in a context where the Prime Minister made a promise before the last federal election that the cost of electricity for an average Australian household would go down by $275 a year. That was the promise he made. Those listening to this debate will never hear those opposite mention that number $275, but this is the reality: in the 12 months from August 2022 to August 2023, the cost of electricity has gone up by 12.7 per cent. So not only did it not go down but it actually went up by 12.7 per cent. The cost of gas and other household fuels has gone up by 12.9 per cent. The cost of furniture has gone up by four per cent. The cost of transport has gone up by 7.4 per cent. The cost of automotive fuel has gone up by 13.9 per cent. The cost of holiday travel and accommodation—and everyone in this country deserves a holiday, to be able to get away with their family and enjoy a holiday in the great Australian country—has gone up by 6.6 per cent. The cost of insurance and financial services has gone up by 8.8 per cent. The people I talk to struggle to pay their car insurance. They're struggling to meet those bills. We are in a cost-of-living crisis, and the response of the Labor government is simply not good enough.