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

In making his bid to be Prime Minister at last year's election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that he had a plan, a plan that would make Australians better off, a plan that would make Australia wealthier. But, 17 months later, Labor's economic plans are hurting Australia and hurting Australian families.

Labor's plan for immigration has just made things worse. Unmodelled record immigration with 500,000 new people in just 12 months has placed direct inflationary pressure on housing. In Perth, in my home state of Western Australia, the average price of a rental unit has increased by $125 or 29 per cent since Labor's election in May last year. Labor's plan for infrastructure is only making things worse. In the nine months to April this year more than 1,700 construction companies have collapsed. The number of loans issued for the purchase of construction of new homes is at its lowest since 2008. Yet Labor's $80 billion infrastructure binge is choking housing investment and increasing the cost of labour and materials. And Labor's plan for energy is only making things worse. Since May 2022 gas has increased by 28 per cent and electricity has increased by 18 per cent. Still, Labor has allowed the Scarborough and Barossa gas projects, combined worth more than $20 billion to the Australian economy, to be tied up in the courts. Without reform, gas from these essential projects will remain buried beneath the ocean while Australian homes and businesses suffer with high energy prices. Labor's plan for industrial relations is just making things worse. Labor's proposed industrial relations legislation, by including road transport in labour laws and stripping powers from the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission, will cripple proudly independent truck drivers and increase transport costs. It will serve no-one beyond the Australian Workers Union. Labor's plan is just making things worse.

Labor's economic plan is hurting Australia and it's hurting Australian families. And every time the RBA is forced to raise interest rates, that is a fail. That is a fail for the Australian Labor Party and this Labor government. Interest rate rises are the RBA saying 'fail' on the economic performance and economic plan of this Labor government. The RBA's decision earlier this week to raise interest rates again—the 12th time while Labor has been in government—to 4.35 per cent is hurting people. And think of that: interest rate rise No. 1, on interest rate rise No. 2, on interest rate rise No. 3, to 12 interest rate rises. And where is that pain being felt the most? It's being felt the most by first home buyers living in our suburbs on the outskirts of our cities, the very same people who trusted Anthony Albanese, the then-opposition leader, when he said while bidding for the prime ministership and running his election campaign, that he would make things better, easier for Australian families. Those very same people who trusted Labor in May last year are bearing the brunt of Labor's poor economic management.

The RBA is independent, and it is making an independent judgement, an independent assessment, on whether or not this government's plan is working. But whether it's immigration or infrastructure or industrial relations or indeed energy, everything in Labor's plan is just making things worse. Think about that for a moment. We're not three years into this government, we're not four years into this government, it's been just 17 months. Just 17 month, and things have got significantly harder, more difficult for Australian families. The Prime Minister now, 17 months later, says that he is concerned. It's a little bit too late because people are hurting. (Time expired)