David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) 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.

The medical community talk about a condition known as the illusory truth effect. In layman's terms, that means if you say it often enough, people might start thinking it's true. We see that from the Labor Party all the time. In this question time, they started off, when asked about the cost of living, by talking about how much the Albanese government is helping the Australian people address the cost of living. They even had the audacity to mention power prices. Yet, when my office contacts people in South Australia, when I write to people and when I hear from people, one of the first things they talk about is the cost-of-living crisis and how much their power bills have gone up. So no matter how much the government say they're helping to drive down prices, the Australian people know better. The reality is different.

That is also true in the space of defence. Today Minister Farrell made a poor attempt to repeat the line—again, coming back to the illusory truth effect—that the coalition was bad for defence and Labor is good for defence. They say it all the time. They keep repeating, 'Ten years of failure, but we have fixed up the mess.' Well, let's look at what independent commentators say about this government's record on defence. What is the title of this year's budget brief of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, partly government funded body? It's The big squeeze. What is the headline of subsequent brief? 'Budget doesn't reflect urgency of demands on Defence'. And what do some of Australia's most respected foreign affairs and defence journalists say? They say:

In fact, the Australian Defence Force, the Defence Department and Australian defence industry are all in a desperate crisis of cost-cutting and complete confusion about direction, timetable, purpose and everything else. People are leaving the ADF, especially the army, at a rate of knots and cannot be replaced. The department is going through a frenzy of cost-cutting that is seeing all kinds of capabilities deferred, which often means abolished.

It goes on to say:

Consider the both parlous and chaotic state of defence spending. The budget generally compensates Defence movements in foreign exchange but not for inflation, and ASPI highlights the Albanese government has taken $1.5 billion from defence over the forward estimates in real terms.

So the rhetoric that those opposite, the Albanese government, put on defence is not matched by the facts, not as assessed by me or by people on this side. With 22 years in the permanent armed forces and much of my time in this space working on national security issues, I think I do actually have some credible insight into when a government is doing well, and it is clear that the Albanese government are failing Australia when it comes to national security. Their comments, particularly in the space of shipbuilding are almost belong beyond belief.

It was the coalition under Prime Minister Howard that commissioned things like the landing helicopter docks and the Air Warfare Destroyers. And it was the coalition that actually implemented the Naval Shipbuilding Plan and the continuous shipbuilding enterprise, built the infrastructure at Osborne, brought forward the offshore patrol vessel, contracted for the Hunter class so that we would actually have the defence capabilities when we need them, as well as a viable sovereign defence industry capability.

When circumstances change, as they did with the submarine, rather than seeing that as a negative, you make a decision and you act, as the coalition did to then invest in nuclear powered submarines. You don't have a 12-month review followed by another review, which is actually deferring decisions, causing people to leave the industry, delaying the acquisition of new capability. The Australian public should be aware that the defence minister, Minister Marles, is correct when he said that Australia's strategic circumstances have radically worsened, requiring urgent action. He said in May, 'We have no time to waste.' I happen to agree with him on that. What I don't agree with or support are the decisions that he and the cabinet of the Albanese government are making to cut funds, to delay capabilities and to actually decrease Australia's ability to protect itself and its interests.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is interesting to listen to the contribution from the coalition time and time again where they seem to be trying to rewrite history. The Albanese government has worked through a number of stages now since coming into office trying to not just reform but enhance our defence capability for the future. The government has worked very hard to ensure that through the DSR and now that combat fleet review, which, I must say, was only received on 29 September. It is very appropriate for the government to give its recommendation due consideration, as you would expect of any government of the day.

The Deputy Prime Minister has said on numerous occasions now that the government will respond formally in the early part of next year. The government has committed to continuous naval shipbuilding as part of its response to the Defence Strategic Review. This means that companies and workers at Osborne and Henderson should have confidence that we will continue building ships at those shipyards for many decades to come. Not just Osborne and Henderson but the whole supply chain will benefit from these ongoing projects. I know in my home state of Victoria there are a number of companies that feed into these particular shipbuilding projects.

Getting the optimal surface combat fleet for our nation is critical not just for our national security but also for our industrial base. We will take the time that is needed just to make sure that we get it right, because we don't want a repeat of history. The coalition likes to forget that the Turnbull government did go down the path of acquiring those diesel submarines, and then the Morrison government decided to go with nuclear subs at much cost. The former coalition government mismanaged this acquisition at every step of the process, including that of the Hunter class frigate legacy. The coalition told the Australian public that these frigates would commence construction back in 2020 and cost $30 billion. We found out that both of those claims have proven to be false. The truth of the matter is that the Hunter class frigates are running about four years late and will cost billions more than the former coalition initially claimed. This is yet another example of where the Albanese government has had to come in and deal with the consequences of the coalition's disastrous decade in defence.

Another point from question time that I wanted to touch on was about the government's excellent trade record and its response to the failures of the previous government, particularly in stabilising the relationship with our largest trade partner, China.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I raise a point of order, Deputy President. You may well have anticipated the point of order. Senator Ciccone is touching upon matters which weren't raised in any answer to the questions which are being debated during this period. He's talking about a trade matter. It didn't arise.

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

There was a question on trade. The opposition moved to take note of all answers to coalition questions, and that included the minister talking of trade, so Senator Ciccone has a wide brief.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for that protection, Deputy President. If I recall, Senator Farrell was answering a question from Senator O'Sullivan around the CPTPP. I'm assuming you were following the news, good senator. I'm sure Senator Farrell even singled you out, because if you had been listening to the news reports you would have learned that, apart from the Prime Minister being over in China, Senator Farrell himself was there recently and had to come back here to Canberra.

On that note, on the CPTPP, the government's approach has been calm and consistent. The PM and the trade minister have done an excellent job in ensuring that we have been stabilising our relationship with one of our largest trade partners. The PM's visit to China is the first since 2016, and it marked the 50th anniversary of former Prime Minister Whitlam's visit. But trade impediments are the reason that Senator Farrell was over there boosting our exports and trying to convince the Chinese government that, when it comes to trade in barley, coal, cotton, copper ore, concrete, wine and lobsters, we need to have a stabilised relationship so that Australian producers can continue to export some of the world's best and prime products.

There was another matter raised in question time, and that related to the cost of living. The government has already announced 10 major reforms: electricity bill relief, cheaper child care, increased rent assistance, more Medicare bulk-billing, cheaper medicines, boosting income support payments, fee-free TAFE training, building more affordable homes, expanding parental leave, and creating jobs and getting wages moving again. We know that it's in the DNA of those opposite to ensure that wages keep going down and productivity keeps going down. They are not on the side of working people.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll start where Senator Ciccone finished in relation to the cost of living. He speaks about the 10 major reforms introduced by the current Labor government to address the cost of living. Judge those reforms. I say to the people sitting in the gallery or listening at home: judge the performance of this government based on the results of those reforms. What have been the results of those reforms? I'll tell you. The ABS employee living cost index released just last month says:

Employee households recorded the largest annual rise in living costs of all household types, rising 9.0% over the year.

Senator Ciccone talks about 10 major reforms introduced by the Labor government to address cost of living. What has actually happened? The result is a nine per cent increase in cost of living for employee households—those households who are least able to structure their living arrangements to take into account cost-of-living increases. Judge them not by words but by the consequences of their policies. The results of their policies are damning. What else does it tell us? Mortgage interest rate charges have risen 68.6 per cent on the year. For those employee households trying to pay off a mortgage, the costs of those mortgage payments have gone up by 68.6 per cent a year. Judge them by the results, not by their words. Annual CPI in this country is now 5.4 per cent.

You will hear those opposite blame inflation in this country on the war in Ukraine. It's all about the war in Ukraine. That's what they say: 'It has nothing to do with us. We can't do anything about it. It's the war in Ukraine.' The best way to test that proposition is to see what is happening in other jurisdictions—in other countries. Let me give you three examples. For the core inflation rate—that's the inflation rate you have when you exclude the most volatile attributes, namely oil and food, from the inflation rate—in the United States, the latest figures are 4.15 per cent. In Australia, it's 5.5 per cent—4.15 compared to 5.5 per cent. We're a world leader. The core inflation rate in Germany is 4.3 per cent; in Australia it is 5.5 per cent. The core inflation rate in Japan is 2.8 per cent; in Australia it is 5.5 per cent. So it doesn't matter whether you go to Europe, Asia or the Americas. The only thing this Albanese Labor government is leading in is cost-of-living increases and core inflation. That's the only thing. They say they've introduced 10 reforms to address cost of living. It's a good thing they haven't implemented 20, or we'd be even further behind. Every time they implement a reform, we go backwards. Judge them not by their words but by the results and by how by our international competitors are travelling. The results are quite damning.

There are implications to these cost-of-living increases. The first is for employees and those on social security benefits, who are least able to change their living arrangements to accommodate the cost of living, because they've got to spend every dollar they get. They're not savers; they're just living week to week, and they've got to spend every dollar. It's so hard for them to keep up and pay the bills.

But the second point is that the cost of doing anything in this country is going up, and we're seeing that—as addressed by the question asked by my good friend and colleague Senator Canavan—in relation to infrastructure projects. The federal government is in the process of considering slashing and burning major infrastructure projects across this country, including my home state of Queensland. There are currently infrastructure projects which were committed to in part by the coalition government during the last term, under which the federal government was going to contribute its share, $10.95 billion of infrastructure spending. They're all on the chopping block. So be very careful to see what happens on Melbourne Cup Day, because it's not only a great race that stops the nation; it's also when governments take out the rubbish.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

While my colleagues yell at each other across the chamber down there, I might also talk about the cost of living. I have spent some time on the Select Committee on the Cost of Living, and one of the key things that I think are challenging is the construct of the Liberal-National family across the benches here, who insist in many of those hearings that all of our problems started on 22 May 2022, which obviously they cannot believe, because if they did then they would not be fit to be sitting on those benches, and I know many of them are much smarter than that.

The issues we are facing did not start on 22 May 2022 when the Labor government was elected. We know that. Through the hearings that we have had for the Cost of Living Select Committee, we have heard people say, over and over again, that this is the result of 'years of X' or 'decades of Y'. They're not saying that this is happening because the government changed at one point in time. Let's take housing, for example. How on earth do you totally upend the housing system overnight? You don't. The housing crisis and the lack of anywhere for people to live comes after years and years of inaction and not building any houses. It's not difficult. It's not a difficult concept to understand. One of the fundamental problems here is this absolutism of, 'Oh, it can only be your fault because you're now sitting in government.'

We are totally responsible. This is why we have worked towards a suite of policies that addresses a whole range of issues that we have come to government to find in a riotous mess. We have laid out 10 critical areas that we are working on. Firstly, there's electricity bill relief. We know that there's more to do, but we have managed to moderate the increases in that arena, and we have made some significant steps forward in impacting the price that people are paying for their electricity. There's cheaper child care. That's already implemented, and we know it's having a significant effect. The third thing is increased rent assistance. Yes, we did that, too. I note that Senator Scarr was talking about people on unemployment benefits and support payments, and, yes, we've increased those as well. Boosting income support payments is obviously something that needed to be done, but the situation that we are seeing in that whole social support network has been festering for years and years. Fee-free TAFE is the next one down our list. We've put an awful lot of effort into it, and it's having a significant impact. More people, more training and more jobs—that's what we've been seeing on the ground since we came to government.

In terms of building more affordable homes, there's the accusation that the housing circumstances have occurred overnight, which we know is a completely ridiculous claim, after 10 years of that area just being ignored. We have brought in policies that are seeing houses being put on the ground right now to help ease that crisis. Expanding paid parental leave is an economic policy that is about getting women back into the workforce and shoring up their economic independence. And then we have the situation with our healthcare system. We know that we've seen—was it for six or seven years that the Liberals froze the Medicare rebate, crippling our doctors on the way? We are now seeing more people being able to access bulk billing. We have tripled some of those rates. We are seeing 11 million people now finding it much easier to find a doctor who will bulk bill them.

That is a lot of people who are seriously impacted by the policies that we are putting on the ground to ease the cost-of-living pressures that we're seeing. I would say to those opposite: stop playing games. Let's just get down and get this done. We need to do some serious work on fixing the cost of living.

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

In this slightly truncated time I have this afternoon, I want to draw on the points that some of my colleagues have made about the No. 1 issue that is raised with me by my constituents back in the great state of Tasmania. That is the crippling cost-of-living crisis that is being felt across the country, particularly in my own state, and the frustration of my constituents and the broader public at the fact that the government does not yet seem to be taking this issue seriously. Australians still remember that the Prime Minister, Mr Anthony Albanese, promised on multiple occasions over the last 18 or so months that he would fix the cost-of-living crisis. But, if you look at how all of the indicators are tracking over that time, it is plain to see that the cost of household items and services is only continuing to go up and up and up. The cost of food is up 8.2 per cent. The cost of housing is up 10.4 per cent. The cost of insurance is up 17.3 per cent. All of these increases are being felt in the hip pockets of Tasmanians and, indeed, Australians.

How does this government expect us to keep up with these inflationary pressures? We know that inflation in this country is now higher than in most advanced economies. In fact, core inflation is higher in Australia than it is in Germany, in France, in Italy, in the United States, in Japan and in Canada. This situation is untenable for many Australians and their families, and they are the one who have to bear the brunt of this cost-of-living crisis.

I was glad to hear the Senate's cost-of-living committee mentioned in the context of this debate. That is a very good committee, chaired by my friend and colleague Senator Jane Hume, and it is doing some incredibly good work. We had that committee down in Hobart earlier on in the year, and it was my pleasure to speak with witnesses at that committee, particularly Foodbank Tasmania and the St Vincent de Paul Society, about the pressures that they are seeing on the services that they provide the community, with unprecedented levels of individuals trying to access their services—food relief and that sort of thing. It is very clear to me from those committee hearings that this is an acute issue in Tasmania. Tasmanians are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. Australians are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. All we really want is for this government over here on the government benches to get on with their plan that they seemingly have to deal with this, but right now, 18 months later, I don't have any faith that they will.

Question agreed to.