Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A letter has been received from Senator Hume:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

Labor's cost of living crisis is costing Australians more, with real wages going backwards by 7.8 per cent and the cost of living for working Australians increasing by 6.2 per cent in the last year alone, and senior Labor ministers admitting that the Government's response "doesn't touch the sides".

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clocks in line with informal arrangements made by the whips.

Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In June 2022, now minister Tony Burke told the Australian people, with a straight face:

People will be seeing in theirhttps://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;orderBy=date-eFirst;page=0;query=%22in%20their%20bank%20accounts%22%20Dataset%3Ahansardr,hansardr80,hansardrIndex,hansards,hansards80,hansardsIndex,reportjnt,reportsen,reportrep,estimate,comSen,comJoint,comRep;rec=23;resCount=Default—HIT3 bank accounts what the change of government means. People will be seeing in their bank accounts a wage increase …

In April 2022, the then opposition leader laid it down. He said, and I'll say this very clearly, 'They'—and he was referring to Australians—'will be better off under a Labor government than they will be under a Morrison government.' Two years later we can see absolutely how hollow these promises have been. Australians on every measure are worse off under a Labor government. That isn't an opinion; that's fact.

Just today we saw the wage price index released, and again there was another quarter of real wages going backwards. In fact, real wages have gone backwards by nine per cent since Labor came to government. Just in my home state of Victoria, which has been economically so mismanaged by the Andrews and now Allan governments for years and years now, the ultimate canary in the coalmine for economic mismanagement is that Victoria has recorded the lowest wage growth, just a 0.1 per cent WPI increase. That is against far, far higher inflation. Victorians' wages are going backwards faster than anywhere else in Australia.

Last week, the ABS told us that the cost-of-living indexes continue to rise 6.2 per cent for working Australians. At the same time the cost of food has gone up by 11 per cent. Housing prices have gone up by 15 per cent. Rent has increased by 15 per cent. Electricity has surged 22 per cent, and gas prices have jumped 25 per cent. These aren't just numbers. They represent the daily struggles of Australians trying to make ends meet. Australians are doing it tough, and anybody who tells us that it's just about cutting back on your takeaway coffees could not be further out of touch. It's parents in regional and rural areas that are pulling their kids out of Saturday sports because they can't afford to drive between towns. It's small businesses that are shutting the doors—not selling their businesses but just shutting their doors and walking away because they can't afford to operate.

It's getting harder and harder for Australians, but after two years it's clear that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor simply do not get it. It's a government that promised the world. You'll recall the $275 reduction in your energy bills and promises for more-affordable mortgages to ease the cost of living. All of these promises have been broken. All of them have been abandoned. Instead of taking the hard decisions, like those that Australians are taking around their kitchen tables every single night about their own budgets, the Labor Prime Minister and his Treasurer are falling back on spin. They're trying to fight the symptoms, and not the cause, of the cost-of-living crisis.

The Prime Minister insists that his policies are bringing inflation down, but that is just a lack of assessment of reality. Just last week he said that his budget measures were designed to put downward pressure on inflation but, at the committee inquiry into the cost of living, the chief economist at the RBA said to me: 'In terms of being a sustained return to target, that's not something that we can see coming from those particular policies because they're only designed and legislated for one year, so by their nature they're time limited and they're temporary.' Anybody that bothers to pick up the statement of monetary policy can see this. After a dip which has been described by economists as 'artificial'—they described it as 'smoke and mirrors'—inflation will in fact be higher again the following year by nearly a full percentage point.

The Prime Minister's detachment from reality on this issue makes the challenges even more daunting, but the Treasurer has followed suit. On the very same day that the chief economist of the RBA told the committee that the economy was running a bit hot, the Treasurer said, 'I think it's hard to sustain an argument that the economy is running too hot.' That's a direct contradiction of the independent RBA. The Treasurer and his team are so far out of their economic depth, and they've taken to criticising the independent RBA, rather than listening to their advice.

There is so much that this government could be doing to alleviate cost-of-living pressures, but instead they're trying to sell you a pup—that their high inflation, high expenditure and higher levels of taxation are, in fact, good for you. But Australians are poorer. They are worse off under Labor. It's not that you're feeling poorer; you, in fact, are poorer.

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our government is clearly focused on delivering cost-of-living relief because we on this side of the chamber understand that Australians are doing it tough. We understand that this is a tough time for families, and that is why we have been delivering cost-of-living relief. No amount of cherry-picked figures from those opposite can ever make this untrue: every step of the way, those opposite have opposed every measure for cost-of-living relief that we have delivered to Australians. We have made sure that every single taxpayer is getting a tax cut—not just some. Those on the opposite side opposed it before we had even released the details. They opposed even the lowest-paid workers getting a tax cut. On this side of the chamber, we're making sure that every household gets energy bill relief. In my home state of Queensland that means that every single household is getting $1,300 of power bill relief. Nothing that those on the other side say can undo the fact that they voted against this relief. They're crying out for the government to do something but, when we deliver a plan and bring it to this parliament, they vote against it.

Our government has ensured that low-paid workers are getting their third consecutive pay rise. You're going to hear a lot of information on the other side about wage increases and data. That data matters to low-paid workers. Because of our government, 2.6 million of them will be getting a pay rise. No matter what information those opposite bring along to this chamber today, nothing will make untrue the fact that they had a policy in place for years to put pressure on wages and to keep wages low and that that was built into their design of the economy.

When it comes to things like stronger Medicare, they're opposed to that as well. When it comes to cheaper medicines, they've opposed cheaper medicines. When it comes to dealing with making sure that we can build more homes, more quickly, in every part of the country, those opposite have teamed up with the Greens to vote against that type of legislation.

When it comes to the cost-of-living relief that our government is delivering, whether it's tax cuts, whether it's wage rises, whether it's more money for childcare workers or cheaper childcare and keeping fees under pressure, whether it's cheaper Medicare, cheaper medicines or making sure that we have urgent Medicare clinics in all parts of the country, these are measures that those opposite oppose. So, when they come in here and crow about the cost of living and how tough people are doing it, the question to ask Peter Dutton and those opposite is: what are they doing about it?

Every time we've given the LNP a chance to vote for cost-of-living relief, they have voted against it, because they're not interested in helping Australians. They're not interested in delivering cost-of-living relief to the lowest-paid workers. They're interested in having a debate about it, but, when given a chance, they vote against it. Actually, what we have seen from those opposite, in the last couple of weeks, are plans for higher taxes and higher power prices. We've seen plans from those opposite to cut back increases in the pension. They're talking about lower wages, through opposing all of the changes that we've put in place.

It is clear that, under our government, you have a government and a prime minister committed to cost-of-living relief. At every step of the way, our announcements have been carefully calibrated to put pressure on inflation but to deliver important cost-of-living relief to Australians.

I met some early childhood educators in Cairns this week. Because of the announcement we made on Friday, they will have an extra $100 in their accounts, and that is a 15 per cent pay rise for those in that hardworking, low-paid, highly-feminised workforce. That's what happens when you have a government focused on cost-of-living relief.

What we've seen from those opposite, at every step of the way, is a plan to say no and to oppose cost-of-living relief and yet to complain about it at the same time. We are not interested in that. We're getting on with the job, and we're focused on cost of living.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

People who are worried about the cost of existing—the cost of just simply staying alive these days—need to know that they're not alone. Across Australia, millions of people are feeling a massive squeeze, whether it's rent payments or mortgage payments, whether it's transport costs, whether it's power bills, or whether it's just simply putting food on the table.

The truth is: we're all being ripped off by big corporations who are making obscene profits while they pay next to nothing in tax. Remember: one in three of the top 100 earning corporations in Australia pay absolutely no tax whatsoever.

And where are the establishment parties—the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the Nationals? They are actually too busy taking millions in political donations, from those very same corporate giants, to stand up for the millions of Australians who are getting smashed at the moment. And let's be real about this. If the establishment parties, the Labor and Liberal parties, were going to fix this, they would have done it by now.

The Greens don't take those donations, because we are here to fight for people, not for corporate profits. We want to tackle these greedy corporations head-on and use their obscene profits to fund the things that will actually help Australians to make ends meet. We're talking about putting in place a freeze on rent increases. We're talking about stopping the banks from ripping people off on their mortgage repayments. We're talking about making it illegal for the supermarket corporations to price gouge. We're talking about busting up the supermarket duopoly so that food and groceries become cheaper in Australia. But here's the thing: change will not happen on its own; change will only happen if Australians vote for it. If you think things are going okay at the moment, by all means, keep voting for the Labor or Liberal parties, but heed this warning: you can't keep voting for the same old parties and expect a different result. If you want change, you have to vote for it. Change is on the way, and it is available to us in Australia. Support for the old parties is collapsing; support for the Greens is rising, and we are here to look after people, not corporate interests.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no question Australians are going backwards under the Albanese Labor government due to their homegrown cost-of-living crisis, and that is the sad reality. Those opposite just tried to say: 'Don't you worry about those cherry-picked figures. They're not really relevant.' Well, those cherry-picked figures are from the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Treasury and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. They are the facts; they're not just something that has been pulled from the back of the garden somewhere. What do those facts actually tell us? They tell us that, since those opposite came into government, prices have increased by more than 10 per cent for food, housing, rent, electricity, gas, health, education and insurances. Sadly, that is not the least of it, and, if that is not bad enough, at the same time, the cost of living has increased. Real wages, under this government, have gone backwards by 7.8 per cent, meaning Australian purchasing power, our family budgets, are under double pressure. Yet, sadly, there is no light at the end of this dismal Labor tunnel for Western Australia, which I represent, and for householders who are struggling to pay for the basics.

Core inflation, driven by Labor's bad policies—not something that's just somehow happened on its own—is stubbornly high, with the latest quarterly core inflation data coming in at 3.9 per cent. Our inflation is now higher than any other advanced economy. It's not just something, as those opposite tried to say, that is happening in the rest of the world. It is not. It is happening here in a way that it is not happening in any other advanced economy. In fact, since December this year, Australia is the only G10 nation where core inflation is actually accelerating, so let there be none of this nonsense that this is just something from somewhere else.

The Reserve Bank told the cost-of-living committee this week that, without the government reducing their radical spending, they cannot consider cutting rates; in fact, they might still have to increase interest rates, which would be a catastrophe for Australian mortgage holders. The RBA still does have its foot on the economic brakes, but the ALP government, sadly, still have their foot firmly put on the accelerator. We've seen this with their last three failed budgets, spending an additional—wait for this—$315 billion at a time when economic restraint is needed. Hardworking Australians, including Western Australians, have endured 12 interest rate hikes and the prospect of any mortgage release is looking less likely every day Labor remains in government. If you remember, it was only 2½ years ago that Labor promised everybody's life would be easier and cheaper under their leadership, but, despite all of their prolific spending, life is getting worse by the day for average Australians.

What's of most concern or maybe of equal concern to other Australians is that, while they are suffering under a cost-of-living crisis in every aspect of their family budget, the Prime Minister and Labor have not been focusing on that. They've been focusing on spending half a billion dollars on the failed Voice referendum, putting all their eggs in one basket with their renewable-only policy and attacking our WA sheep industry. Just this week, we've seen the effects of their most recent IR changes, where unions are holding our own states' and, in this case now, Western Australian businesses to ransom.

The unions are now running riot again at BHP mining sites. Labour have allowed them to begin bargaining agreements without the majority support of workers on WA mines. Labor have allowed the unions to run riot over our mines without the support of the majority of workers, which is taking us back to the dark old days that I had hoped and that I know every single Western Australia worker had hoped would never ever return. Industry stakeholders have raised their deep concerns, raising the alarm about the significant negative impacts it will have on our critical WA mining industry, which keeps the rest of the nation in jobs, in schools, helps with health support and all the other services we require. It is time to get rid of this government and to bring governments and good governance back.

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

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Dr Chalmers have some explaining to do. They need to explain to Australian households why they are living through a cost-of-living crisis, and they need to explain to Australian businesses why they are now living through a cost-of-doing-business crisis.

Prior to the election just two years ago, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was then the opposition leader, made a promise. He said that Australians would be better off under Labor. He said they would be better off when it comes to their mortgage repayments and their cost of living. In fact, two years into this government, just two years, the country has seen again the poor economic management of Labor.

So why is it that Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, and Dr Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer, have chosen to make Australians poorer? Because running the economy is something that the government consciously does. The Prime Minister gets up in the morning, the Treasurer gets up in the morning and, if we're to believe Labor senators, this is their top priority. This is the thing that they are most consumed about. Well then why is it that their decisions and their actions are making businesses and families poorer?

It was revealing last week at the Senate cost-of-living inquiry in Sydney. Assistant governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Sarah Hunter, made it very clear. Dr Hunter said: 'We just think the economy is running a little bit hotter than we thought previously. As a result of that, we think it's going to take a bit longer for inflation to get back to target.' The economy is running 'a little bit hotter' said the RBA deputy governor. And guess who is feeling the heat of that? Australian families—through higher inflation, higher interest rates—and now Australian businesses as many of them begin to go to the wall.

Just today the Westpac bank released some very interesting data and commentary on the performance of the Australian economy. Reflecting on consumer sentiment, Westpac said, 'Consumer sentiment dipped 1.1 per cent in July, remaining in the deeply pessimistic range that has dominated for two years now.' Westpac is saying that consumer sentiment is now in the 'deeply pessimistic range'—a range that has dominated for two years. When reflecting on the plight of young Australians who want to get into their first home, Westpac said today: 'Around housing, home buyer sentiment sank back to new lows but consumer price expectations cooled. Nationally, the index has been at extremely weak levels, at or below the 80 mark, for 2½ years now—easily the most sustained period of depressed home buyer sentiment over the history of the survey.' Don't believe me? Westpac says that the sentiment of aspirational first home buyers is now 'depressed' and at 'historic lows'.

Of course, the pain is being felt by households, and now it's being felt by small businesses. Just this month, ASIC released its most recent report into small business insolvencies. It revealed that 11,000 businesses had become insolvent in the last 12 months. In my home of state of Western Australia, 1,079 businesses have become insolvent in the last 12 months. The alarming figure is, unfortunately, this one: 379 WA businesses became insolvent in the June quarter alone, and that is one business in every seven hours.

The record of the government is clear. Australians are being punished by Labor. They deserve to know why Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Dr Jim Chalmers want to make their lives so hard for them. In my home state of Western Australia, the WA Labor Party said it would back Western Australians. It has not backed Western Australians. It has made their lives harder, and it has made businesses poorer. The country is poorer because of this Labor government.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The actual rate of inflation—or, more accurately, the consumer price index—represents how much cost of living has changed in the previous quarter and over time. To measure the CPI change, the Australian Bureau of Statistics uses a basket of goods and services that should fairly represent the purchases an average Australian household would make. Incremental changes are made to the measure every few years to take into account changes in household spending patterns. After many years of adjustments, chops and changes, the question now arises: how relevant is the CPI calculation to the lives of working Australians?

Mortgages have become a massive expense, rising 45 per cent across the 12 interest rate rises that have occurred under the Anthony Albanese Labor government, yet housing is only 13 per cent of the inflation basket for households, no matter how high your mortgage or rent goes. In part, this is because the spending pattern that sets the weightings is taken from 2022, before Labor's inflation actually set in. The weighting in the basket given to holidays and recreation has increased to 12.1 per cent. This is interesting, because holidays were really expensive during COVID and then, as the economy reopened, the cost came back down. Increasing the weighting for holidays has acted to reduce the inflation rate artificially. How accurate is that? Who can afford expensive holidays in the current cost-of-living crisis?

In creating a system that relies on spending patterns which may be years old or which fail to reflect the main demographic—working families—the ABS is failing to accurately reflect cost-of-living increases as households feel the pain right now. Governments can fudge the figures. Government subsidies on energy, for instance, reduce the inflation rate for energy, even though consumers are paying the full bill themselves either through their wages or through tax. Inflation should be expressed before government cover-up payments, not after.

One Nation will return to this topic next week on behalf of Australian working families.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I come to this debate having heard a couple of contributions from speakers before me. It still surprises me here in the Senate that there seems such glee from those opposite as they describe what we know is a pretty challenging time for Australian people. When we say, 'We know Australians are doing it tough,' we actually really do know. It's been tricky.

But let's be clear about a couple of things. We need to get some facts on the record. Instead of glee and delight in the challenges that people face and heaping misery on top of that by putting out incorrect facts, I want the Australian people listening to this debate to know that the Labor Party wants you to earn more and wants you to keep more of what you earn. That's what matters to people: managing your own finances for yourself and your family. We understand that. We have to manage all of the terms in the economic language that go around in this debate, which can be so off-putting for people that they just stop listening. But we do have to get some facts right around that complex economic debate.

There is some good news, and this is what Australians need to hear. They need to hear hope. They need to hear that a Labor government under Anthony Albanese is hopeful for them and is working for a better future. It's important to note that, in contrast with the topic that's been put up here for debate in this MPI, new data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics actually shows that annual real wages are growing under the Albanese Labor government. They're not growing as quickly as everybody would like—we'd all like our pay packets to be bigger all the time—but they're growing. That contrasts really markedly with what we saw under the previous government, where there was no effort at all to increase the wages of ordinary working Australians.

In addition to increasing the wages that Australians take home every week and that they use to balance their budget, to pay their rent, to pay their mortgage and to get their kids the things that they need, we've also made sure that while Australians are struggling we just don't leave them hanging—and we don't delight in their misery. In fact, we've made sure that we give cost-of-living assistance while people are struggling, to help them through this tricky time.

One of the really important things was the tax cuts. People will have had a look at their salary, their wages that have come in since 1 July, and there has been a change for the 13.6 million working Australians who are getting a tax cut this year. The average tax cut is $1,888 in the year 2024-25. It's not enough for you to buy a house, but it's enough to help you make ends meet; it's a beginning of support for people, encouraging people to be able to get on with their life knowing that their government is going to support them. If we had left the package of stage 3 tax cuts as those opposite had designed it, fewer would have been able to bank those benefits, and 11.5 million taxpayers, or 84 per cent of Australian taxpayers, got a bigger tax cut on 1 July this year because Labor is listening. Labor cares about ordinary Australians and their financial challenges. We won't leave you hanging.

We've increased the Medicare levy for low-income thresholds, and there's energy relief to make sure that all 10 million households across this country are going to have $300 rebated from their bill. When the bill comes in, $75 a quarter is going to be removed because the government, the Albanese government, will not leave you hanging. We will support you. We believe in benefiting all Australians using the power of government alongside people's own endeavours in their interests and their efforts for their families.

The Labor government wants you to earn more and keep more of what you earn and will help you through the difficult times.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the discussion has expired.