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

I move:

That the Senate notes that the Albanese Labor Government has lost its way and Australians are paying the price because of the Prime Minister's inability to control rampant inflation, as well as his broken promises to cut electricity bills, to provide cheaper mortgages and that families will be better off.

During the 2022 election, many in this place and the broader public will remember a catchy and maybe even sometimes a little bit annoying slogan used by the Liberal Party which said, 'It won't be easy under Albanese.' It's been 2½ years since that time, and I think almost every Australian family will agree: things are much, much harder under this Labor government, and there is absolutely no sign of relief.

As this motion rightly points out, the Labor government have lost their way because, during their time in opposition, they were discussing ways in which they would make life easier for Australians, such as the elusive promise of a $275 reduction in energy prices. It's just interesting to note that now, in government, the only thing they want to talk about is the opposition and what the opposition did when they were in government. Perhaps there's a bit of irony: the only free rent available in Australia is for the space that the opposition takes up in the minds of government members and the Prime Minister.

Talking to this $275 reduction in energy prices, it's elusive because, according to members of government and despite energy prices going up by more than $1,000 under Labor, they still claim they haven't broken this promise to the Australian people. In fact, they claim that they've kept this promise and even exceeded it with their $300 per household rebate over four quarters. That's a special kind of spin. You don't need to be a mathematician to figure out 1,000 minus 300 is 700, meaning that, even on these gross numbers, Australians are, despite the rebate and despite the promises and posturing from the government, still at least $700 a year worse off under this government when it simply comes to their energy bills—just that small part of their expenditure.

Perhaps if this were the only broken promise and the only area of the household budget that had taken a hit under this government, then maybe it could be forgiven. However, energy prices are just one of the many areas breaking the budgets of so many Australian households. As a result of Labor's failure to get their homegrown and cultivated inflation under control, Australian mortgage holders have had to endure 12 interest rate rises, and there is no sign that the RBA will be bringing down rates any time soon. In fact, the RBA governor indicated that they did not even consider bringing rates down at their most recent meeting and that in fact it was a lineball call in terms of putting rates up again.

While those opposite might claim that this is a global issue, we all know that it's not. In fact, as we heard at the cost-of-living inquiry in Sydney, the economy is running hot. These are not my words. These are the words from the RBA. It is Labor governments, state and federal, that are pumping billions of dollars of public money into the economy, pushing up the cost of everything and pulling down our standard of living. Labor promised us, as recently as the last budget, that inflation would come down faster and sooner and with it, interest rates. This has not happened. Here we are, only three months on, and the RBA has a very different view. The Treasurer wants Australians to trust his economics, but how can they when pretty much every single promise that has been made has been broken? As the government drags out its response to inflation, it deepens the financial suffering of millions of Australians.

Whether mortgage holders or renters, each of these cohorts has to pay more for longer under this government—and a mortgage or rent is not something that people can cut back on. You can't reduce your spending on your mortgage. You can't ring up your bank and say: 'I'm really sorry. I'm having a really tough month, so I'm going to give you a little bit less this month.' It doesn't work like that. It's not discretionary. For so many people, they are one rate rise or one rent rise away from losing the roof over their head. That's the legacy of this government and this Treasurer—driving hardworking Australians into poverty.

This Prime Minister has delivered 'brokenomics' to the Australian people, and that's pretty sad. They're feeling it. Australians are feeling broke. They are feeling poorer because they are poorer. Real wages for working households are down by 9.4 per cent since the election. So Australians are working harder for longer for less. That's what this government has delivered them. This doesn't just have financial impacts. This has impacts on wellbeing. This impacts families. This impacts people's mental health. This impacts the relationships in our broader community.

I'd like to touch on the impact that this cacophony of economic mismanagement has also had on small businesses. This year, business closures have reached record highs. According to CreditorWatch data, 90 per cent of Australia will see an increase in business failures. There is virtually no part of our broad geography that won't be impacted by this, and one of the worst-hit areas is Western Sydney, in my home state of New South Wales. Many people from Western Sydney are migrants who came here with a dream, like my family—aspirational people who want to improve their own standard of living and to provide a better standard of living and a better life for their children. Yet they are now the ones being crushed the most by the Labor government's inability to get this homegrown inflation under control. This Australian dream is quickly turning into a nightmare, and we have a prime minister and government in absentia when it comes to dealing with inflation and cost of living.

Perhaps they are unable, due to a lack of capability or a lack of proper attention, to deal with the economic crisis facing the people of this nation. They have decided to hide from it, to pretend that it doesn't exist and to pretend that the people on this side of the chamber have concocted it. Their heads are in the sand, and they're leaving it up to the RBA to solve, whose only lever is to hike interest rates. I've spoken about this over and over again, and this is not the action of a mature and responsible government. It is not fair to the RBA. It is not fair to everyday Australians, and it is an absolute breach of trust in those that have been charged to lead. You don't delegate running the economy to the RBA with the single lever of increasing interest rates. It is not right to leave that heavy lifting to unelected economists in the central bank. They should not have to carry this burden, nor should Australians have to take a constant beating when the RBA has no option but to increase rates.

Let me make this clear: there is no more fat to cut from household budgets. People are stretched to their limits. There are no more items to put back on the shelves. Australians are going cold, literally, under this government. According to research from comparison site Finder, half a million Australians have chosen not to use heating this winter. That's extraordinary. Can they cut back on any more electricity if they're not using any heating? Australians are going cold because they're not using their heating. They're going hungry because they're putting less in their shopping trolley, and their homes are at risk. They have been failed by this government.

What do Australians get from this Labor government and this Treasurer? They get a narrative about a quarterly energy bill cut but no mention of the impacts of 12 interest rate rises. Economics Professor Richard Holden wrote in the AFR recently about how prices are 15 per cent higher today than they were when the Albanese government was elected. We also have record low consumer confidence. In his article, he summarised a sense of emotion felt across Australia and especially felt on this side of the chamber. He said:

People really hate inflation. More precisely, people really hate persistent inflation that leads to much higher price levels.

Australians do hate inflation because it robs them and their children. It makes them poorer. It makes their work worth less. It limits their choices and it limits their opportunities.

We only need to look through history to see inflation has taken powerhouse economies and crippled them. Some of these countries have never recovered. We on this side of the chamber know just how dangerous inflation is, and we know it must be tackled and that government spending must slow down. We know, if the economy doesn't cool down, we risk baking high inflation into it. The risk of continued and persistent inflation is a scary one. It means Australia could be on a path where the continued degradation of our standard of living becomes a built-in element of our economy.

Yet I ask again: Where is the government? Where is the Treasurer? Where is the urgency to get this under control? We've all been asking. It's time to act. The time to act has actually passed. We've been saying that for months. Where are you? What are you doing? Australians are looking to government for a response to inflation and the cost of living, and the Prime Minister and the Treasurer are hiding behind the RBA public servants in Martin Place.

A government in absentia is not a government at all. It's a sad analogy, but, rather than, 'Where's Wally?' we have an absent Albo and a great deal of 'Jim-flation'.