Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

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

I rise to take note of answers given by government ministers to questions asked by all coalition senators in question time today. In framing my remarks on this debate this afternoon, I will touch on each of the issues raised in the questions that were asked, and they are important issues. I'd like to start with the one that I am hearing about consistently from my own constituents back in Tasmania, and that is the cost of living. We know that cost-of-living pressures are still having a profound impact on household budgets as Australian families continue to grapple with the high cost of everyday goods and services. This is what my constituents have been speaking to me about consistently over the last 18 months or so. We know that Australians are still feeling the pressure every time they pass through the supermarket check-out or fill up at the local petrol station. Coupled with rising mortgage rates and increasing power prices, this means Australian families have been forced to make tough decisions when it comes to the household budget, with many making immense sacrifices in an attempt to weather the financial storm.

Throughout the election campaign, Labor told Australians that the cost of living would go down under them, that they would fix the cost-of-living crisis. They said that, if they were elected, Australians could expect to see power bills go down by $275. They didn't just make these promises a couple of times off the cuff during an election campaign; they made them time and time again over several weeks. It's amazing how quickly this government's tone has changed since they won the election and took office. The Prime Minister and this government have failed to deliver any meaningful relief for Australian households and families since the last election, and I think they know it.

Over the last 16 months, the Prime Minister has blatantly ignored the difficult cost-of-living pressures facing Australian families and has chosen instead to focus his attention and his government's attention on the divisive Voice referendum. It was plain for everyone to see that the Prime Minister enjoyed the opportunity to mix with high-profile CEOs from big corporates and take photos alongside various celebrities to push his Voice referendum. Just to add insult to injury, this government spent 400 million taxpayer dollars on the divisive and unnecessary referendum that was held this past weekend.

Make no mistake: all Australians want to see Indigenous disadvantage addressed. I don't think there's any question about that. But Labor's divisive Voice was not the solution to that problem. Instead, the Voice referendum became a distraction for the government from the core issues affecting Australian families, like the cost of living. Quite frankly, with the referendum now completed and just a few more votes left to count—and the result is known—the government need to get on with it and actually deliver on what they promised Australians. As I said, under Labor the cost of living has gone up, when they said that it would go down. They have failed to address the cost-of-living crisis facing Australians and have broken their promise to Australians that addressing the cost of living would be their priority.

They still don't want to take responsibility for their failure. We heard about it in question time today. They've complained about the challenges of the economy and blamed the war in Ukraine instead of working on tangible solutions to actually alleviate cost-of-living pressures being felt by Australians. As I said in my initial remarks, this is the No. 1 issue affecting Australians. It is the No. 1 issue being raised with me by my fellow Tasmanians. Fuel prices continue to climb. People are spending more and receiving less when they pass through the supermarket check-outs. Insurance premiums are going up. Australians are paying more on their mortgage repayments. They are facing extremely difficult economic circumstances and, frankly, I think many feel abandoned by this government, because it was this government that promised to reduce the cost of living for Australians. This government has broken that promise to Australians. Quite frankly, Australians deserve more from their federal government.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did want to talk a little bit about the Voice, but I can't listen to Senator Chandler read from a script and make statements that have absolutely no body to them and let her get away unchallenged. This is for the people up there in the gallery too. Senator Chandler unintelligently and, quite frankly, uneducatedly referred to the so-called war between Russia and Ukraine as if it were just some passing thing. I don't know what that lot over there do during the off times when they're not here. Quite frankly, I don't care. I know what I do. I talk to truck drivers around this nation day in, day out. I talk to small, medium and large trucking companies day in, day out. I talk to companies which have 30,000 employees and I talk to owner-drivers. The war between Russia and Ukraine, Senator Chandler, has put up the cost of fuel. I don't know quite what all the machinations are, but about six months before the war—when you mob were still in government—diesel was sitting at around $1.50 a litre. How do I know that? Because I spent a lot of time fuelling trucks because I drive them for charity.

I come from a trucking background. I'm not like most of you who went through university and say, 'In the playground I had a premonition one day that I wanted to be a senator or a member of parliament.' I actually came here with dirt under my fingernails. And I continue in the great cause of driving road trains from Perth to Kununurra and places in-between to raise money for charity. I know the cost of diesel, Senator Chandler, from pulling my mate's truck up at a bowser in Port Hedland or in Kununurra and looking at the price, and it's now $2.50 a litre in the Kimberley. Yet you make a throwaway line about the so-called war between Russia and Ukraine so-called pushing up the cost. Senator Chandler, you might not know, but it's pushing up the cost of transport because truckies have to actually cover their costs when they deliver the goods that you and me and the rest of us in this building rely upon.

Here we go again, Senator Chandler. I'm sorry that you came through university with the premonition that one day you might be the Leader of the Opposition or the Leader of the Liberal Party in the Senate. I come from the real world. Someone has to pay for those costs.

Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What are you doing about it, Glenn?

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't sit over there, with a big pearl necklace on, talking about how unfair it is and how hard done by—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hughes?

Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I raise a point of order. That was a direct imputation that had an alternative meaning, and I would ask Senator Sterle to withdraw.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I don't think it did. Senator Sterle, could you please withdraw that?

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolutely. For you, Deputy President, always. As I said, these trucking companies have to pay for the cost of fuel. When people go to shopping centres or hairdressers or shoe shops or wherever they may go, every single thing on those shelves has been on the back of a truck—not once, not twice, not three times. The clothes you're wearing have probably been on the back of a truck seven or eight times. Think about that. Think about where the cotton came from. Think about the fertiliser, the machinery and the fuel that's had to go out to the farms. How did it get there for you, Senator Hughes? It didn't just get flown over in a big, magic air balloon. It was actually on the back of the truck. When the cotton seeds are cultivated or the cotton is tumbled—guess what?—it ends up on the back of a truck and it goes off to market or wherever it may go. It may then leave the market to go to a warehouse or a factory on another truck. Then, once it's spun into a shirt or a coat or a pair of socks or whatever you may purchase—oh, my goodness me—it goes on a truck to a distribution centre of Coles or Woolworths or Aldi or wherever it may be. Guess what? It then gets shipped from the distribution centre on the back of a truck, not on a pigeon or a balloon. I hope you can understand that. It then goes to the shopping centre where you've driven and purchased it. There have probably been about eight truck trips.

You can shake your head as much as you like. The truth is that you're arrogant and ignorant about the way this nation operates and you're arrogant and ignorant about our supply chains. You have no idea. In the universities of New South Wales and Hobart, or wherever you cut your teeth, they don't talk about real-world issues. It's all gossip and innuendo and who's going to do over who to get a frontbench position. Sorry, people, I'm still in the real world. You make a throwaway comment like that, Senator Chandler, so I hope I've helped explain to you that the cost of living affects our trucking industry. Someone has to pay for it, unfortunately.

Let's talk about Woolworths and Coles. Woolworths and Coles are having a ball. They're getting their money back. Don't worry about the cost. They put up their prices, and it's hitting all of us in our back pockets. These are the same companies, with the help of you lot over there, who want to suppress the closing the loopholes legislation, which will lead to the opportunity for the Australian truck industry to actually get paid what it costs for them to do business. I hope I helped you out.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Sterle. Senator Cadell.

Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a rousing defence of the workers from Senator Sterle. Let's face it, he has to do it here because in his party room they don't listen anymore. Over there they've become the party of the entitled and the party of the unburdened. We saw that in the vote on the weekend, and here with questions about the Voice and the cost of living.

We have seen very clear voting patterns. As to those directly affected, Indigenous people, I will grant that Indigenous people voted mainly in favour of the Voice—not at 80 per cent, but they did. I won't play games with that. We also saw the young, who are unburdened; they're studying; they're not paying their mortgages. And we saw the very, very rich, in the cities—the entitled; those with six- and seven-figure bank balances, to whom interest rates going up is a great thing. Under this government, they're just getting richer. If you've got a million bucks in the bank, you'll be $50,000 a year better off, thanks to the interest rates here. Those people think that spending cutbacks and cost-of living pressures, as I said, mean buying a South African malbec instead of an Argentinian one or skiing Japan instead of Whistler or Aspen. They're fine. They are unburdened. Those people that voted yes are unburdened by any of the bad things going on in the world. It's like TheHunger Games. Those in the city want the tribute from the bush and the regions and the suburbs. They bank their balances. They make their money from the iron ore and coal we mine in the regions and the food and fibre we make in the regions.

So, when Senator Sterle gets up here and talks about the trucks, he's talking about the vehicles in which we send our tributes so the cities can make their money and build their skyscrapers. They are out there in the world, and they don't notice, they don't hear, the cries of the people doing it tough—the burdened; the oppressed; the people who want to have a voice about what their life is like. But this government doesn't want to hear. They want people like the Alan Joyces of the world, the Qantases and Wesfarmers—all the corporate people—saying, 'What a great thing this is.' And then, when we had our 'deplorables' moment in Australia, what did they get called? 'Racist', 'stupid', 'dickheads'—

The Deput:

Senator Cadell, withdraw.

Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry. I withdraw. But this is what they were called. That's the respect that the entitled give the workers of this country—the people in the regions and the people in the suburbs: 'Come into town, fix my dunny and get the hell out again.' That is what it's like.

And this vote was so bad because this was about telling them what they had to think. If you had a voice of your own and a thought of your own, you weren't entitled to them; you were a person who didn't deserve to have that say. And that is where we're at. Don't hear their cries to have better lives, safer lives, affordable lives. Listen to your corporate elites. Listen to the people who already have money and the things you want, because—oh, my God—as we go forward, it's only going to get worse. They want electricity in these cities, in these shining examples. We'll send tribute. We'll destroy the landscape with wind farms out at Oberon. Everywhere between Oberon and Sydney, we'll just take your land for transmission lines. We won't even have an inquiry for you to have a voice in this place, because you don't deserve a voice. That is what we're getting to and what we are becoming.

On the ABC—back in the day, when it was the AABC, the 'all Australians broadcasting corporation', before it became the WABC, the 'woke Australians broadcasting corporation'—we had a show called Upstairs, Downstairs that mum watched. Now it's becoming 'cities, not cities'. It's the same thing. There is a division in this country along the lines of wealth and power. The people who create the wealth—the ones who do the work, make the things and drive the trucks—don't have the power. So Senator Sterle is up here today, and he's giving them a voice, because the people in his party room don't want to hear it. They don't want to hear about the real people and what's going on there.

I had a member of my own party who wasn't feeling important enough on the other side and went off to get his invitation to 'wokeland' by leaving us to go off and oppose us on the referendum. He didn't contribute to the internal conversation within the Nationals about where he was going to go, but he wanted to be important, he wanted to be someone, so he went out there. Then 71.79 per cent of Calare voted against what he said. There's never an opinion he thinks is more important than his own, and he followed it. And the people of Calare, one day, will make him atone for that.

But, with this government, look at the Voice, look at the cost of living, look at this—and it's all coming. And what are they going to reinforce it with? We heard it mentioned today in another question: a misinformation bill, to stop you being able to have your say. They want you silenced, and they want you—

The Deputy:

Thank you, Senator Cadell. Senator Smith.

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm going to have a bit to say on the Voice and the referendum. I'm not going to do it in this debate, because I don't think it's really shaping up to be a particularly respectful environment in which to do that given the context of the weight of hurt and pain that many, many people in our country are feeling at the moment. But I will say, Senator Cadell, that you spoke about some of the nature of the debate and the toxicity we have seen over recent months. I would never use the word some of my volunteers were called during this referendum. The way elderly people were yelled at and how they were treated, in this chamber or outside of it, speak to a level of toxicity in our politics which is unacceptable and needs to be called out.

I think the debate here this afternoon, which seeks to further paint a picture of our democracy and promote an idea that you can't have big debates and great ambition at the same time as doing the work of government, is a deliberate attempt to dumb down what we do in this place and to undermine the value of democracy, the value of parliaments and the value of the work many of us are trying to do here. I don't think it serves anyone in this place to start with a premise that you can't have an ambition for our country—an ambition to do something different and have a conversation respectfully—and do the work of government and the business of government at the same time. I will have more to say on the referendum and the Voice, but I'm not going to do it in this context and in this debate with this tone.

The work of government continues, as it has since we came to government. We were elected on a platform of doing better for people in this country: no-one held back, no-one left behind. I don't know a single minister who's dropped the ball for a second in their work to try and deliver on that ambitious promise, that commitment to the Australian people.

We get that Australians across our community are doing it really tough. These are difficult times, with difficult economic headwinds in difficult global environments. The pressures of inflation affect people across our community and they, of course, affect the poorest people in our community the worst. These are real economic pressures that are being felt right across our country. They are at front of mind for many people in our country, and that's why we are doing everything we can to deliver targeted cost-of-living relief which doesn't add pressure to inflation and therefore doesn't further impact the most vulnerable in our community, who lose out the most from a high-inflationary environment.

At almost every step along the way in that journey to deliver this cost-of-living relief, you've tried to block it. You're a party of no, you're a party of division and you're a party that seeks to block, block, block, because you'd rather have the talking points to come into this place than actually be part of the solutions and be part of doing things which help people, such as cheaper medicines—where our reforms save patients $180 a year in the cost of medicines for some of the most vulnerable people in our community—our changes to the JobSeeker payment, our changes to youth allowance, and the HAFF. Our housing reforms will deliver tens of thousands of houses to some of the most vulnerable people in our community, including victims of domestic violence, another thing which you couldn't find it in your heart to support and which you blocked. You block, you say no and you seek to divide, and the tone of this debate has been no different today.

I actually believe you can have big conversations in this country and do the work of government at the same time. We remain absolutely focused on taking the pressure off Australians in our community who are doing it really tough right now, for many different reasons. But, of course, an inflationary environment is hardest on those doing it toughest, and that has been at front of mind for our government, including our Prime Minister, our Treasurer, our finance minister and, indeed, every minister across our government who has levers to pull here, whether it's in early childhood, access to early learning and the cost of child care or whether it's in the cost of medicines. Every single person on this side of the chamber is fully focused on doing what we can to ease these pressures, because we as a government believe you can do this work. You can do this work to deliver for people, do the business of government and have ambition at the same time.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just before you go, Senator Hughes, I alert the chamber that I will set the clock for three minutes and then I intend to put the question. I understand from the whips that One Nation will have two minutes, and then I'll give the call to the Greens for five.

Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We saw on Saturday a very substantial vote—across all six states Australians came out and said no. One of the reasons they came out and said no is that this debate has been dripping with sanctimony and a sense of superiority and it has been absolutely condescending to Australians and they have been insulted. We just heard then a contribution from someone opposite who supported the 'yes' campaign about their volunteers being called some names. Honestly, it's like they've looked in the mirror and tried to deflect. An Indigenous former sporting hero, who has been very vocal in his support for the 'yes' campaign, walked past one of our elderly women, who happens to be Jewish as well, and called her the most vile racist names as she was working on a pre-poll booth in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. The abuse that has been seen in this country is absolutely appalling, but I can tell you that the abuse has come from one side and one side only—the side of the 'yes' campaign.

We know why 39 per cent of Australians said yes and 61 per cent of Australians said: 'Absolutely not. I will not be spoken to that way. I will not be treated that way. I am a smart Australian who knows that we are better together than divided by race. I am a smart Australian who wants our country to be a better place for all Australians, not just provide a select voice for some.' Those who voted no are not racist.

I hear interjections from the Greens. I look forward to you going out and explaining to the 61 per cent of Australians who voted no that you still think they are racist for voting that way. Go and tell them. We know that's your modus operandi. We see over here the abuse that continued with the 'yes' campaign. It continues because those people are so tone deaf. Even today they are out there trying to undermine and abuse those who were on the 'no' side of the debate. I have been on the 'no' side of the debate for months and months.

I'm incredibly proud of what New South Wales has achieved and the result we have seen in New South Wales. I note that New South Wales is currently sitting with a higher 'no' vote than Tasmania. The 'yes' campaign didn't really want to spend too much time in New South Wales. It was all about Tasmania and South Australia because they were the swing seats and Victoria and New South Wales were in the bag. New South Wales has voted more heavily 'no' than Tasmania. Sorry for that, Senator Duniam. Those in New South Wales really did engage. They really wanted to say: 'No. We are all Australians and we are better together.'

There's more condescension and abuse coming from you lot. Bring it on. Everyday Australians know that you are absolutely full of it and full of your own self-importance and sanctimony. We've heard nothing but personal smears and attacks from Senator Sterle. What else would we expect?

Question agreed to.