Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, 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 by Opposition senators today.

What we saw today was more spin from the government in relation to wages and the economy from a government that isn't prepared to admit the reality of the situation. The reality of the situation that workers in this country know and understand is that the cost of living is going up and the value of wages isn't keeping up with it. The value of real wages is going backwards in this country. Before the election, this government promised an increase in real wages. They promised a lowering cost of housing. They promised a lower cost of living. They promised a $275 reduction in energy prices. None of those things is occurring, all because of government policy. It doesn't matter how much the Labor Party spin. It doesn't matter how much they talk about getting real wages moving. Actually, they don't say 'real wages'; they say 'getting wages moving again'—their tricky language. Australians understand the reality that they are going backwards. To quote a phrase from the Labor Party before the election, 'Everything is going up except your wages.'

They can roll out all the talking points they like. They can roll out the insults to people on this side of the chamber. They can do all of those things, but it doesn't change the reality for Australians that this is a government of broken promises. They can spin the situation, but Australians know that they are paying more tax now than they were paying when the Labor Party came to government. They can talk about the changes to the stage 3 tax cuts, but they forget to say that they, as the Labor Party and as a new government, allowed the low-income tax offset to expire. It was their decision in government. They were in charge of the Treasury bench when that occurred, so people are paying up to $1,500 more tax.

When it comes to how much tax people are paying, people—particularly those on low incomes—are actually paying more tax than they were when this government came to government. So it doesn't matter how much they spin, and it doesn't matter how they try and throw mud across to this side of the chamber; people understand that. They promised them, alongside the $275 reduction in energy prices, lower housing costs and a lower cost of living. None of those things is coming to fruition, and Australians know that. Australians understand that. They remember the promises, and they understand the reality of the fact that things are becoming more and more difficult.

They talk about building more houses. They're going to build fewer houses than were built in the last five years. They talk about the money that they're spending on energy cost relief. Only Labor could spend $1.3 billion to see power bills go up, when they promised a reduction of $275. They continually roll out the tricky language. They continually make reflections on those on this side of the chamber, but they're not prepared to actually be honest with the Australian people and talk about the facts. The facts are that things are not as they promised they would be before the election. Power prices have gone up, not down. Housing costs have gone up, not down. The cost of living is clearly going up, instead of down. And what do they do? They try to deflect the costs to the supermarkets. They deflect the blame to the supermarkets rather than dealing with the issue themselves.

Of course, all through this their policy is killing productivity, which the Reserve Bank said was critical to lowering the cost of living. The Reserve Bank also said that government policy wasn't shifting the dial. So if you're not doing something you're not helping. That's what the Reserve Bank said—government policy, in terms of inflation, doesn't shift the dial. So if you're not doing something you're not helping, and this government is not helping the Australian people.

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

It's interesting, as we approach the week leading to Easter, that, clearly, those opposite are running out of things to debate. How flat they were during question time today! It's really interesting to see the attitude that they come into this place with and the spin that they try to put on: that this government somehow isn't on the side of workers. Let me make it very clear for the record. Since we've come to government, we've put in a Fair Work Commission proposal every time to support the lowest paid workers in this country, time and time again. When those opposite were in government, do you think they ever put in a submission to support the lowest paid workers, to support a pay rise for the lowest paid people in this country? The answer is no; they did not. That was one of the very first things that the Albanese Labor government did when we first came into office. We've said time and time again that we want to get wages moving again, and we are. Real wages are now finally starting to come back. They are now coming back, ahead of schedule, because the government has been working very hard to reform the economy and make sure that people get to earn more and get to keep that extra money in their pockets. Annual wages grew at the end of last year for the first time in almost three years, and that is a very sad indictment on the legacy of those opposite, who left this government to mop up and fix up.

The most recent wage figures show that we had a 0.9 per cent rise in the wage price index in the December quarter, meaning that wages were 4.2 per cent higher for the year, the equal fastest annual growth since 2009. This is the first time since 2018 that we've seen three consecutive quarters of real wages growth—three consecutive quarters of real wages growth!—but we know that people are still under pressure. That is why the cost-of-living tax cuts are so important, and that is why the government has been working very hard to introduce other relief measures in this place. The irony is that those opposite keep saying no. They keep coming into this place and voting against what I think are very moderate changes that will help people deal with the cost-of-living pressures.

We also remember that it was a deliberate design feature of the previous government's policy to keep wages down. The irony is that they now come in here trying to have a crack at this Labor government, who are working very hard to reverse a decade of policy that the previous government had instituted to make sure that wages would not grow and that productivity would not grow. The Labor government, under the leadership of Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher, is reversing those policies.

The other topic in question time was around fuel efficiency standards. I want to touch on this because this also goes to the heart of the cost of living in this country. It is also about giving people around the country and their families the option to choose vehicles that use less fuel. In fact, we're getting to a point where you may not actually need to use fuel but will simply use electricity, which will be much cheaper for people in the long run. That is another initiative where we would hope that those on the other side would actually come to the table and work with the Labor Party and the crossbench to try to keep the cost down for people at home.

Having much better fuel efficiency standards in this country will be good not just for the environment but also for people's hip pockets. Families who pay around $5,000 a year in fuel costs will look at savings of around $1,000 a year and $17,000 over the life of the vehicle.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How much more expensive will the cars be?

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

There will be many choices. Implementing the new vehicle efficiency standards will create greater choice for people in this country. They will include utes. They will include vehicles that will be able to tow boats. There will be a bigger range of vehicles in this country. The sad indictment is that Australia and Russia are the only two countries in the developed world that do not have these standards in place. It is amazing that somehow those in the rest of the world don't have utes. They don't have vehicles that tow big boats, but guess what? They also have the same standards that we're trying to implement here in this country. People will save money. They will have cheaper vehicles. They will have vehicles that will be much more efficient and better for the environment. Quite frankly, it is a win-win situation. I'm surprised those opposite won't support the package.

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers to questions from coalition senators to ministers, which today predominantly went to issues around the cost of living. As a South Australian, I was driving through South Australian country areas recently and hearing from people running businesses about the impact of the rises of electricity prices that they have had to bear. I do note that AGL and Origin, as two of the main providers, indicated last year that they would be providing to people increases of 29.8 per cent. And so, whilst there has been a flurry of announcements recently about the wholesale cost perhaps coming down, the reality is that what people pay from their hip pocket, whether they are a residential property owner or a business over, has been going up. Far from the $275 reduction which was promised by the Albanese government prior to the last election, the lived experience of people is that the cost of living is going up and power is just one of the things going up.

The point that was really telling today was the comments from the minister that the coalition senators should be supporting more of the policies that have been put forward by President Biden. In this energy space, I would actually say that the government should be supporting more of the policies that were put forward by Mr Biden. For those of you who aren't aware, under the Inflation Reduction Act the US is committed to significantly increasing the amount of nuclear power generation they have in the country. Why? It is because it will provide cheaper and more reliable energy, which they need for both national and economic security and to lower the cost of living and inflationary pressures on the American people.

Just recently, at the start of this month, in Belgium there was a conference where 32 nations from around the world came together to give effect to the pledge that was made in COP 28. The pledge was to triple the amount of nuclear energy in the world, and the US representative, representing the Biden Administration there, highlighted that, for them, that would mean they would have to increase—and they are planning to increase—the amount of nuclear generation by 200 gigawatts of new capacity. So Australia is increasingly becoming an outlier in the global scene when it comes to energy, and the rhetoric from Minister Bowen is quite out of step. World leaders of a range of countries who were there—and I might note that we were actually mentioned at that conference; the Prime Minister of Belgium, who was a co-host of the conference, highlighted that every continent is president except for Australia.

Here we have the energy minister essentially making up or selectively choosing facts to try to win his argument. He recently ridiculed the quite consistent and well-researched plan that the coalition has on this matter. Mr Ted O'Brien, who is our spokesperson, has been diligently meeting energy ministers and industry around the world in various countries that employ nuclear power, so we can understand: why; what the cost basis is; and what the impact is in terms of safety, reliability and cost. Instead we have Mr Bowen selectively picking facts to try to say that it's going to take 19 years to build a reactor. He selectively picked some facts between 1991 and 2022 to come up with that figure, but even the ABC, doing a fact check, said the reality is that, in 2023-24, two reactors have come online that took only 10 years to build, and the long-term average, if you didn't select that particular window, is 8.8 years.

So we have a government that can't keep their promises on the $275 reduction. They don't recognise the cost impact and the fact that there's been a 60 per cent increase for Australian families who have had to go under hardship provisions because they're unable to pay their electricity bills. That's putting businesses under pressure. For ideological reasons, the government continue to refuse to engage in an open debate about technology that multiple nations around the world have committed to increasing because it's cheaper, more reliable and good for the environment.

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

Firstly, I'll draw the Senate's attention to Senator Cadell's question, which was, effectively, 'When will Minister Bowen listen to the concerns about our vehicle efficiency standards?' I'd say that a cursory check would advise him that there was a consultation which has closed very recently and that, at the close of that, the minister will consider all of that feedback. I think he has been quite clear about that. There's a very interesting concept that isn't well versed for those opposite—let's be clear about that—which is the idea of meaningful consultation. Meaningful consultation is something which is vitally important to us in the Labor government. It's something that we strive to ensure happens. It's an opportunity for people to provide input and also for us to listen. And where there are sensible suggestions that go to the intent of our policy then, yes, we will listen and we're open to changes. That's what good government does; it listens to ideas, considers them in the context of what it's trying to achieve and then takes on board what does that.

The minister is working really closely with the industry at getting this outcome. The intent here is quite simple, and my colleague, Senator Ciccone, was very clear about that. The idea is to provide a greater choice of cheaper and cleaner-to-run vehicles. This isn't just about emissions reduction, it's also about the cost of living. It's also about the cost for someone to own a vehicle. We have to stop being the world's dumping ground here. Only Australia and Russia don't have vehicle efficiency standards; we're at the back of the pack. We have totally languished at the back of the pack under the decade of Liberal-National government. This was a government that was neglectful at best, in terms of how it looked towards the future for this country, leaving us as an absolute dumping ground.

But who is surprised? This seemed to be the case across every policy area we could possibly point a finger at. For all the scaremongering that's going on, and the misinformation, the United States has had these efficiency standards in place for 50 years. There is no evidence from there or any other country—the multitude of other countries which have these standards in place—to say that this is going to lead to an increase in the cost of vehicles to consumers. In fact, it would deliver $108 billion in fuel savings to Australians by 2050. And, once this policy is fully implemented, the average new car buyer would cut their annual fuel costs by about $1,000. If that isn't going to assist in terms of the cost of living then I don't know what is! That's going to make a fundamental difference to people.

We know that Australians have been feeling cost-of-living pressures for a long time now. As I've said in this chamber before, the cost-of-living crisis did not start in May 2022; every last statistic or report that anyone would like to pull out will evidence that. It isn't an overnight sensation and it isn't something that just occurred. This has been building for a while, for a range of reasons. But we're delivering targeted cost-of-living relief in a way that will not increase inflation, because to increase inflation is only to make the problem worse.

Under the Labor government, every single taxpayer is going to get a tax cut. We made significant changes to the stage 3 tax cuts and developed the Albanese Labor government tax cut, which will deliver significantly for every single taxpayer across this country. In fact, in my home state of South Australia, that tax cut is going to be larger for 89 per cent of the people in my home state and I'm really, really proud about that. It's going to make a fundamental difference.

We have also introduced cheaper child care and we've made it easier to access health care. Overall, Australians are estimated to have saved $15 million in GP fees in November and December alone. The scaremongering and misinformation from those opposite need to stop.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The fundamental issue with this fuel efficiency standard change that Minister Bowen is trying to push onto Australian consumers and vehicle providers and manufacturers across this country is that it is taking away their choice. Senator Wong, in her contribution in answer to Senator Cadell's question, refuted that point. The problem is that Australians are choosing to drive larger vehicles—maybe they're tradies and they need them to be able to go about their job or maybe they just like recreation opportunities over the weekend or on holidays—and there is no equivalent vehicle to transition to. Battery technology is not going to provide the energy density that's required to ensure that a vehicle of that class can take the demand that's placed on these vehicles. In terms of towing and ensuring that you can carry the loads that are required by those vehicles, there is no EV equivalent. Until we get hydrogen, synthetic fuels or biofuels to a level where they're affordable, it is not possible.

The date of 1 January is the problem that the vehicle manufacturing industry is pointing to. We cannot transition the fleet that quickly, so there will be no choice available for people. They won't be able to choose. Unless Minister Bowen wants to say to Australians that they need to change their job or change their lifestyle and move to a smaller passenger vehicle, he needs to slow down a bit. That's what we're asking him to do and that's what motor vehicle manufacturers are asking him to do as well. They don't have vehicles available that those people can transition to. They're simply not there.

I hope Senator Ciccone, as a Victorian, is engaging with the $13 billion caravan manufacturing industry in his home state. Right there in Campbellfield, Senator Ciccone, are countless manufacturing businesses. The only vehicle manufacturers left in this country, as you would know, are caravan manufacturers. Jayco, Crusader—they're all there in your neck of the woods. I hope you're engaging with them on this issue. They are saying that there is no transitional vehicle that you can go to. People are going to have to pay up to $25,000 extra for a land cruiser that can tow a caravan. You can't tow the kind of big van that Australians want with an EV. You can't do it. There is no vehicle that is available to do it. You've got to give them choice.

Question agreed to.