Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of answers given by government senators to coalition questions today. I have to say it did amuse me to hear the Labor Party, who in their talking points—and you hear them trotted out all the time—claim to be so concerned about the cost of living, spend all their time talking about the coalition. They can't talk about what they're doing to deal with the cost of living, because, of course, they've broken so many promises with regard to cost of living since they came to government. These are things they said they would do before the election that haven't come to pass since the election. They talk about their $300 rebate for electricity prices, but, of course, that $300 rebate wouldn't be necessary if they'd kept their election promise to reduce energy prices by $275. It was a very clear promise made by the Prime Minister and the now government on no less than 97 occasions.

So what they're now doing is spending taxpayers' money instead of keeping the promise that they made to reduce energy prices, making contributions to rising inflation and rising cost of living. They've spent all this time talking about the coalition, but of course they have to do that because their policies aren't working. They trot out the talking points and they think that, if they say the talking point enough times, they might come true.

They're not convincing the Australian people, though, because what the Australian people are seeing is food prices up by 11.4 per cent, housing up by 14 per cent, rents up by 14.2 per cent, electricity up by 21.5 per cent and gas up by 22 per cent. They trot out the rhetoric about health, but of course costs there have gone up 11.1 per cent as well. And even education is up 10.9 per cent.

When the Reserve Bank says to us, at Senate estimates, that the budget isn't shifting the dial, that means that the government isn't doing its bit and the Reserve Bank has to make extra effort, and that means holding interest rates higher and that contributes to higher inflation. That's what is happening, and that is what the previous Reserve Bank governor said to Senate estimates last year.

Of course, the Reserve Bank now is being much more bold and saying that spending by governments, state and federal, is contributing to inflation, which is putting upward pressure on inflation—not downward pressure on inflation, which is what the government are claiming—and therefore that is impacting on Australians in the community. The government should be straight up and down and admit the failure of their policy and their broken promises.

Question agreed to.