Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

Minister Wong made a comment during one of her responses in question time that the sun setting and the sun rising were those certainties in life. Well, I think we know the other certainty in life is that the principles of economics don't change, whoever is in government. However, with all certainty, we know that those now sitting on the government benches don't understand the fundamentals of economics. Supply and demand, the most basic principle underpinning economics, doesn't change. However, when those opposite were asked questions in response to the Reserve Bank's comments around the homegrown sticky inflation, meaning that interest rates are going to be higher for longer, base economic principles clearly vacated the building yet again.

Australians have had over 12 interest rate rises since this government has come into being, and we are continuing to see the cost-of-living crisis have impacts far and wide across the Australian community. Possibly mums and dads are all doing it tough with their kids, trying to pay the school fees, trying to put the groceries in the pantry and food on the table, trying to put their kids in school uniforms. These are all becoming increasingly difficult. But what we have seen as well—and which is probably not getting enough attention; certainly, from this government it's not getting any attention—is that insolvencies of businesses are now at such high levels that we have not seen levels like this for well over two decades. And a quarter of those insolvencies are in the construction sector.

We've been talking about the cost-of-living crisis today as well as the disgraceful behaviour of the CFMEU, and we need to potentially draw the link between housing costs in this country, construction costs in this country and construction companies going out of business, unable to keep up with union demands and the union heavyweights that are coming through and strongarming them into particular contracts. The entire economy is facing significant challenges, significant headwinds, and we know every mum and dad at home is trying to pay the gas bill, trying to put fuel in the car. All of those costs are increasing, and it gets more and more difficult to get in and see a GP. I noticed today that there was an article about how the wonderful new health clinics the Labor Party keeps spruiking are actually taking doctors out of general practice and putting them into those clinics against advice given to them from the AMA and the RACGP. We are seeing this government continue to ignore, at every opportunity, advice from experts in any area, and none more so than the Reserve Bank.

It is time that this government starts to understand what its addiction to spending means for all of us in the economy. We know that the Reserve Bank is trying to put its foot on the brake of the economy; it's trying to slow things down. It's trying to get inflation down, back into the band, so that interest rates can be moderated. Instead, this government, who doesn't understand the basics of economic principles, has its foot firmly entrenched on the accelerator, speeding things up—$315 billion worth of spending that it is just addicted to. We know that the RBA has doubled its forecast of government spending. It was originally at two per cent or 2.1 per cent; it's now over four per cent. This is the ridiculous spendathon that this government is committed to.

To listen to them in here answering questions, to hear them speak—your stomach turns. It's nauseating to listen to them talk about how they genuinely think that they've made things better. They genuinely think they've delivered cost-of-living relief. They genuinely think that somehow or other things are going well for Australian families, that people are feeling comfortable and secure in their jobs and feeling comfortable and secure in their housing, which is the complete opposite of how Australians are feeling. Australians are not feeling safe. They're not feeling secure. They are feeling economically vulnerable. But, to listen to those opposite, everything's just peachy keen. They think they're doing a great job and that they're going to keep sailing through. But all they're doing is putting more and more pain onto Australians every day, and this pain is not going away anytime soon. Every decision this government makes just makes the pain worse, makes the pain last longer and makes the pain go just that little bit deeper.