James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

An Elon Musk rocket—he could certainly do that too.

What is interesting is that Australians have woken up to this Labor Party and to this Labor government. They know that inflation is coming from the Prime Minister's desk—the vacant Prime Minister's desk that's in a corridor in this building. It's interesting that the RBA Governor, Michele Bullock, came out last week, saying that inflation is becoming increasingly homegrown and demand driven. Why is this? What are some of the reasons for this? Is it because the Labor Party are spending an extra hundred and $88 billion—that is 'b' for billion, as in 'b' in 'Airbus. It's $188 billion extra—that's how much they're spending. Or is it the extra 10,000 public servants who are coming to Canberra?

Some of my best friends are public servants—of course, they wouldn't say that in public! But do we really need an extra 10,000 public servants coming to Canberra? No, we don't need that. What the Labor government are doing here is that they're driving up inflation. And when they drive inflation up because of all the extra public servants they're appointing or because of all the extra billions of dollars they're spending, it means that normal Australians, who are dealing with the cost-of-living crisis caused by this Labor government, are being hurt. It's a real kick in the guts for Australians to see a Labor Party and a Labor government who are so out of touch with how modern Australians live their lives. How do they live their lives at the moment? It's by making sure they pay their bills and making sure they work out how the money that's coming in matches the money that's going out.

Wouldn't it be nice if this Labor Party government did the same thing with the taxes of the Australian people—making sure that the money which comes in matches the money that's going out? But, oh, no, no! What we see with this Labor Party and this Labor government is a government which is hurting Australians by pushing up inflation. This is the Christmas present that everybody is going to get from the Labor Party—that is, everything is going to cost more. Your stockings, your toys, your Christmas pudding, your mince pies and your mulled wine—everything is going to cost more because of Anthony Albanese and his Labor government.