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

'Vote for hope' is what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers asked Australians to do in May 2022. Vote for hope! Two and a half years later, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Dr Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer, have some explaining to do. But they're not the only ones who have some explaining to do. Tracey Roberts, the Labor member for Pearce in Western Australia, Patrick Gorman, the Labor member for Perth in Western Australia, Tania Lawrence, the member for Hasluck in Western Australia, and Anne Aly, the Labor member for Cowan in Western Australia, all have some explaining to do, because Western Australians trusted Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, and voted for Labor, and what did they get? They did not get hope; they got disappointment. Western Australians were asked to vote for hope, and Western Australians were delivered disappointment.

Labor continues to ignore the very real concerns that Western Australian voters and households have about the cost-of-living crisis that now besets every Western Australian household. They are living it. They are living the cost-of-living crisis, and the data reminds us all just how seriously difficult things have become in just 2½ years under Labor. Australians are now worse off after 2½ years of Labor than they were when Labor was elected, and the response to Australia's inflation challenge continues to suffer at the hands of Labor. The inflation challenge is worse as a result of Labor's first budget in October 2022, the inflation challenge in our country got worse with Labor's second budget, and then the inflation challenge got worse with Labor's fiscal outlook. Things get worse under Labor. 'Vote for hope' has turned into disappointment for many Australian households. In fact, when we compare ourselves against other countries in the OECD, Australian households have had the largest fall in disposable incomes of any nation in the OECD. Australia remains stuck in an 18-month per capita recession.

Labor chooses to ignore the pleas of Australian households and the concerns that are being raised by Australia's charities and not-for-profits. They continue to pretend that there's no cost-of-living crisis and life continues as it did prior to the election. Anthony Albanese promised people that he would change Australia for the better. That's what he said in Perth: that he would change Australia for the better. But, if we were to randomly ask Western Australians today whether they feel better off or worse off, the answer would be overwhelmingly that they feel worse off under Anthony Albanese. The data does not lie.

Anthony Albanese, as opposition leader, said to Western Australians—indeed, to the whole nation—in May 2022 that he would make mortgage rates cheaper. But mortgage rates have got higher and people are now living under the cumulative impact of rate increase, rate increase, rate increase. Every time the RBA meet and make a decision about interest rates in this country, they are making a decision on the performance of the government, and the RBA choose to give the government a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence. When the RBA choose to raise interest rates or keep interest rates on hold, as they have done, they are saying, 'We do not trust the economic management of Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers as Treasurer.' They are saying they do not trust the economic management of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Dr Jim Chalmers, and Australians know. Australians are waiting for their opportunity to say to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, 'You asked us to vote for hope; instead you gave us disappointment'. (Time expired)