Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

I'm going to accept the invitation from the Labor senator from New South Wales to put some facts on the table. Western Australians are beginning to write up their report card on Labor's first term in office, and it's not good. Savings accounts are shrinking. Average household savings ratios are just 0.9 per cent, a historical low. Mortgage repayments are increasing. A family with a $750,000 mortgage is now paying an extra $24,000 a year in mortgage repayments. Two years ago, Western Australian voters trusted Labor. Today, they are filled with disappointment, and that disappointment is turning to anger.

The Perth consumer price index in the last year rose by 4.6 per cent. Think about that. The Perth CPI rose by 4.6 per cent when the national average was 3.8 per cent. Why is it that Western Australians are paying a higher price for Labor's economic mismanagement than everyone else in the country? In the June quarter, the Perth CPI rose by 2.1 per cent—twice the national figure. Again, why are Western Australians paying a disproportionate and higher price for Labor 's mismanagement?

The latest RBA data provided to the Senate Economics Committee shows that the share of borrowers now facing 90-day arrears on their mortgage repayments has surged from 0.43 per cent in Western Australia to 0.62 per cent. That is a 44 per cent increase in the number of people facing 90-day arrears on their mortgage repayments in Western Australia. That figure is second only to Victoria. The same RBA data shows that every state and territory is now experiencing increases in the number of households in 90-day arrears on their mortgages.

This week, we had more bad news. That bad news is that Australian households are now fearing for their job security. Westpac's most recent consumer sentiment bulletin said:

The less confident outlook for the economy is also sparking fears about potential job loss. The … Unemployment Expectations Index rose 3.7% to 138.4 in September, up 11% since April and now materially above its long run average of 129.

Not so long ago, Australian families were saying to themselves: 'We don't like the cost-of-living pressures. We don't like the inflation challenge that the government chooses not to tackle, but we might just manage this because we've got job security.' Well, guess what? The safety of job security is no longer safe in the minds of many Western Australian households. People are fearing for their mortgages, fearing for the rising cost of living, fearing for the rising level of inflation, and now—according to Westpac's most recent consumer sentiment bulletin released this week—Australians and West Australians particularly are fearing for their jobs. They are now more fearful than they have been for a very long time about their job security.

That pain is also being felt by businesses—2024 is starting to feel very much like 2008. Last year, over a thousand businesses became insolvent in Western Australia. That is twice as many as there were at the peak of the GFC in 2008. Western Australians are feeling vulnerable, and they can't understand why Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers are hurting Western Australian families when just over two years ago they put their trust in Labor. That trust has been broken. That disappointment is turning to anger, and Labor is on notice in Western Australia.