James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without noticed asked by Opposition senators today.

There are two questions I want to focus on. The first are the three questions I put to Senator Wong, who was representing the Prime Minister. They went to the cost-of-living crisis that is endemic in Australia at the moment. It has grown at such a rate because of the policies of the Labor Party, because of decisions of the Labor Party and because we have a weak Prime Minister.

Working household costs have gone up 19.4 per cent under this government. To break that down even further, food costs have gone up 14 per cent, housing has gone up 14 per cent, health has gone up 12 per cent, education has gone up 11 per cent, and insurance and financial services have gone up 96 per cent since the Labor Party came to power. I'll repeat that. The cost of insurance and financial services has increased by 96 per cent since the Labor Party came to power. Yet, we have a ministry of ministers who pat Australians on the head and say, 'You've never had it better since the Labor Party came into power.'

We've got a Labor Party who don't understand how tough it is out in the real world. We have a Labor Party who believe the small businesses they go into are actually the Chairmans Lounge of Qantas or the equivalent of Virgin. We've Labor Party who have forgotten what it is like to walk into a small business. They've forgotten the people who work in a small business. They've forgotten how tough it is for those people struggling because of the cost of living in Australia.

The Labor Party try to blame everyone. They blame the dog that ate the homework. They blame the weather. They blame Robert Menzies. They blame Joseph Cook. They blame everyone except the fundamental truth, which is that they themselves are responsible for the economic security of Australians, and they have failed. They have failed miserably.

The second question put to the government was from my colleague Senator Paterson, from Victoria. Senator Paterson asked some very serious questions in relation to when the Prime Minister was briefed about the planned mass casualty terror event. A caravan full of explosives was going to be placed in front of a Jewish school or a Jewish synagogue or a Jewish home. This is mass terrorism coming to Australia. The coalition is not asking for operational details. We know this is a very serious matter. But we do want to know when the Prime Minister was first told about this.

The New South Wales Labor Premier was upfront and told the media about the planned terrorist event. This is the New South Wales Labor Premier. He did not hide behind the secrecy of operational planning or operational details. He was very upfront. He said, 'This is when I was told.' He did not go into details, and he was not questioned on the details. But we have the Prime Minister of this country, a weak Prime Minister, who either was not told by our security services because they don't trust him, because his office is known to be a leaky office, or was told and then decided not to do anything about it. Either way, Australians should be scared that Anthony Albanese is the Prime Minister of this country. He's either not trusted by the security services or not up to the job of chairing the National Security Committee of cabinet to make sure that Australians are safe. We just want to know the date, Prime Minister. What are you hiding?