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

Thank you, Deputy President. I'd love the call for longer than that, but I'll take my three minutes. We just have such a disconnect between the words that come out of the mouths of those opposite, the answers to questions in question time and the trite trotting-out of the list of 'achievements', when every Australian family with a mortgage knows their repayments have not gone up by just a few thousand dollars a year; they've gone up by between $15,000 and $25,000 a year. Add on top of that the electricity price rises. Add on top of that the fuel price rises. Add on top of that the grocery price rises. Add on top of that, for a small business with a mortgage or an overdraft to run their business, the interest rate hikes that they have seen under this government. The cost of living has exploded. That is why we and many commentators talk about a cost-of-living crisis.

When the Labor Party trots out their rather pathetic excuses for action in this area, action to try and put downward pressure on inflation, every Australian family listening in knows that those are just weak words from a weak Labor government with no clue. They can't even mention the words they used to talk about in opposition. The term '$275' disappeared from their lexicon.