Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers to all questions asked by coalition senators. It's very sobering to keep talking about the cost-of-living crisis and the inflation crisis. It is fundamentally real to all Australians, particularly young Australians and particularly young women. There were a couple of things in the answers to questions today which really bothered me. In one of the answers, Senator Wong said she took issue with the assertion that inflation was persisting due to the actions of this government. That's a reality. This is homegrown inflation. The days of talking about what has happened globally are over. What we are dealing with today is without doubt and without question a direct result of the actions and inaction of this government.

Australians are struggling and Australians are juggling, and they can't keep doing it. Australians are making decisions every day about how much to put in the trolley, whether to put in half a tank of petrol or three-quarters of a tank of petrol, and which of their children's activities to cut. But what they can't do is cut back on their mortgage or cut back on their rent. I was really disturbed by that answer to the question around why other central banks have been able to reduce their interest rates and ours hasn't. Rather than taking issue with that assertion, why not answer the question and explain what it is you're actually doing? I think that that would be a better result.

Then, in relation to the question that Senator McDonald asked of Senator Gallagher, there were comments around inflation moderating. No, it's not. I note that there were quotes from the RBA governor, RBA statements and references to the release on 8 August, but I'd like to read one thing from the RBA post their meeting. It says:

Headline inflation is expected to moderate temporarily in the near term—

Temporarily. This is the RBA; this isn't the opposition—

owing primarily to one-off measures including those providing cost-of-living support to households. However, headline inflation is then expected to increase as energy rebates end (as currently legislated), before moving in line with underlying inflation once these temporary effects have passed.

What does that mean? That means, in the midst of all this hoopla, this energy bill relief is going to have a temporary impact on inflation, and then the inflation will go back up. It's an absolutely false hope. It's absolutely not a proper fix to the inflationary pressures that Australians are feeling.

Let's be real about this: if your energy costs have gone up $1,000 a year, which is pretty much what it is, getting back $75 a quarter is really a bit insulting and a bit of a kick in the guts. It doesn't even begin to address all of the other challenges that we have spoken about, where, with the average Australian mortgage being $750,000, you're $35,000 worse off—'But's that's okay. We'll give you 75 bucks a quarter off your energy bill, and that means we actually still kind of delivered on our promise to make your energy cost $275 a year less.' I don't quite get that math, but we don't have time for that now.

The point I am making is that, in the answers to the questions that were asked, there was no proper or meaningful response. They were going around in circles, around the edges, rather than acknowledging and admitting to the Australian people that this is a homegrown inflationary crisis, and actually getting to work to fix it. Instead, we had Senator Gallagher make the comment, 'Those opposite choose to talk about and manufacture this crisis.' This is not manufactured; this is real. If you go out there, out of this building, and talk to everyday Australians anywhere in this country, they will tell you this is not manufactured.

Question agreed to.