Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

We all know that Australians are doing it tough right now. If there is one issue that Tasmanians continue to raise with me each and every day, it is that they are struggling with the cost of living. They want to see a government that has a plan to tackle that and to tackle the drivers of what is creating these economic circumstances that we currently see for ourselves.

Those Tasmanians and, indeed, all Australians might have been listening in to Senate question time today and they might have seen the usual ebullient performances from government ministers. But there's a lot of substance there, and there are no answers for those Australians who want to know what plan this government has not just to tackle the cost of living but to drive those pressures down on an ongoing basis. They want to know what plan this government has for the future of this country's economy so that we are not going to continue to see inflation rising, we are not going to continue to see mortgage rates going up and we are not going to continue to see increasing energy bills for all Australians at a time when we know they cannot afford them.

Sadly, as I said, there were no answers for those Tasmanians and those Australians listening in today, and frankly I don't think they're surprised about that anymore. It's been two years, and I think Australians know that they can't trust this government to deliver that solution. They cannot trust this government to have a plan. This is the government that, during the election campaign back in May 2022, promised not once, not twice, not even thrice—they promised 97 times that Australians' power bills would be reduced by $275. We haven't heard much about that since the election, but those now on the government benches promised 97 times during the election campaign in April and May 2022 that Australians' power bills would go down by $275. That is what they promised Australians, and that is what Australians are yet to see.

This government also promised that, under it, the cost of living would be easier to manage and that mortgages would not go up so quickly. But, as my colleague Senator Canavan said, we have seen interest rates go up 12 times under this government, and that has an impact on what's in the back pocket of every mortgage holder in this country. That means, on average, in every second month of this government's term the RBA has put interest rates up. Every eight weeks, Australians have woken up to find out that they are once again going to be paying more on their mortgage.

We also know of course that inflation is continuing to impact Australians. We know that each time Australians go to the supermarket they are paying more now than they were two years ago. They are paying more for bread, paying more for milk, paying more for eggs and paying more—