Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Is the Albanese Labor government ever going to take responsibility for anything it does? Earlier today, I highlighted a report by the Queensland Council of Social Service showing the average family is over budget by $116 per week in Labor's cost-of-living crisis. This is the reality faced by the Australian people today. We're going backwards in our standard of living.

We can't keep up with the inflation driven by record immigration and increased Labor government spending. This spending is also increasing our national debt, which is approaching $1 trillion. Last year, we paid about $18 billion in interest on this debt. How many hospitals, schools, affordable houses or aged-care facilities could be built with $18 billion a year? This is just crazy.

Labor claims it has created thousands of new jobs, but what good is this to our economy when two-thirds of them are being paid by taxpayers? There are all these new public servants in the back office, many on generous salaries unjustified by their responsibilities, when we should be generating real jobs that boost productivity. It's just another way that Labor's policies are driving inflation. Labor won't accept the blame for its disastrous policies. Labor has tried to blame foreign wars, the former government and the RBA—anyone but the person who is truly responsible, Anthony Albanese. He is the worst Prime Minister we've ever had, even worse than Gough Whitlam, if you can believe it. Make no mistake: Labor bears direct responsibility for Australia going backwards, for Australian families going backwards and for Australian farmers and businesses going backwards.

If you want to blame the previous government for what happened with the high inflation, well, don't forget COVID and the impact it had on this country. If they didn't bring in policies, a lot of people would have lost their livelihoods and homes.