Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I listened with great interest to Senator Sheldon speaking on this, and even though this is about the cost of living, real wages and interest rate hikes, he couldn't utter a single one of those words. Let me share with those opposite what in 18 months the government has done to this nation's economy and to the workers Senator Sheldon professes to be so supportive of. Real household gross disposable income per capita, per Australian, is back this year 5.1 per cent. It has gone backwards over five per cent, and that is the worst performance by this hopefully one-term government—because people aren't going to be able to afford this mob too much longer—in the OECD. When we left government, pretty much every OECD indicator post COVID was at the top or almost at the top. And in 18 months you've managed to plunge workers into a cost-of-living crisis.

On this side let us talk about what those opposite cannot bear to mention anymore. What have they done? As Senator Hughes said, the Prime Minister laid out his goals just before the last election. He said Australians would be hit with a triple whammy of skyrocketing costs of essentials, falling wages and interest rate hikes. Well, guess what? That has all come true under this Prime Minister. If only he spent less time worrying about truth and treaty T-shirts and jetting overseas and his dance moves in the Pacific, if only he were here to look after and oversee his Treasurer, who is absolutely sending this country backwards at a rapid rate of knots. What won't they talk about? Let's talk about some of the facts.

Interest rates under this Labor government are at their highest since 2011. Unsurprisingly, guess who was in government at that point? Those opposite were in government. A family with a $750,000 mortgage under this government is now $24,000 a year worse off with extra mortgage repayments. That's an extra thousand dollars per fortnight that hundreds of thousands of families now have to find.

As if that were not bad enough for families, the price of food is up 8.2 per cent. The price of fuel is up 7.2 per cent this quarter alone. The cost of electricity is up 18.2 per cent and the cost of gas is up 28 per cent. And, under this mob, productivity has fallen by 6½ per cent in less than 15 months. As those on this side of the chamber know, when productivity falls, inflation goes up, putting pressure on the economy, and, yes, interest rates keep rising.

What we have seen today is more shame on those opposite. The Rental Affordability Index from National Shelter and SGS Economics & Planning shows that renters in each capital city are worse off than they were before the pandemic. That is appalling. Not only can Australians not find a house to rent anymore; many people cannot afford their mortgage and are increasingly making decisions: Do they fill up the car, do they pay their insurance or do they go without food? Do they give up on their mortgage? That is all under the Labor Party, in less than 18 months.

As a senator for Western Australia, I'm here with two great Western Australian Senate colleagues. We've been going out and talking to Western Australians, and I can tell you—

As Senator O'Sullivan said, they are hurting. We visited Foodbank, which has had a 50 per cent increase in the number of people coming on a daily basis. The majority of them are double-income families who cannot afford their mortgage and food anymore. We've heard from Anglicare WA during the Senate cost-of-living inquiry. In January, for example, the service received 3,752 calls for support, which was a 52 per cent increase in one single month. People are hurting under this mob.

Not only, in Western Australia, has the Prime Minister bungled and let 50 people—murderers and rapists—loose in Perth, but they cannot— (Time expired)