Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A letter has been received from Senator Dean Smith:

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

The latest figures released by the Reserve Bank of Australia confirm that Australians across the nation are struggling through the Albanese Government's cost of living crisis, and that a bad situation is getting even worse on Labor's watch with many thousands of homeowners now unable to keep up with higher mortgage repayments on top of other cost of living expenses.

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 clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

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

Just in case you were curious, the honeymoon for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Dr Jim Chalmers and all the Labor senators in this Senate is over. The honeymoon is over. In terms of the Prime Minister's approval rating—a direct result of how Australians are judging his performance when it comes to managing the economy—his satisfaction rate is now down from plus 40 to minus10. Australians are waiting for the election because they want to cast their vote. They want to make a statement. They want to decide. They want their fellow Australians to know whether they're going to mark up the government for its economic management or whether they're going to mark down the government for its economic management. Let me tell you: my gamble is that many, many, many Australians are going to mark the government down.

Just this week, the Reserve Bank of Australia released the most alarming figures in regard to the proportion of mortgageholders in this country who are now in 90-day arrears. RBA data released this week makes it very, very clear that the number of Australian households that are now 90 days in arrears of their mortgage repayments has grown in every state in this country. In New South Wales last year, the percentage of households in 90-day arrears on their mortgages was just 0.31 per cent, and this year it is 0.57 per cent. In Victoria, last year the percentage was 0.37 per cent, and this year it is 0.67 per cent. In Queensland last year, it was 0.29 per cent, and this year it is 0.47 per cent. In my home state of Western Australia, it was 0.43 per cent last year, and now it is 0.62 per cent. In South Australia, it was 0.33 per cent last year, and now it is 0.54 per cent. In Tasmania it was 0.09 per cent, and now it is 0.5 per cent.

In some states they have had an 80 per cent plus increase in the number of households now facing 90-day arrears. Just think about this: when the Reserve Bank governor, as she will next Tuesday, stands before the cameras and gives the country the verdict on whether rates are going up or going down, she is marking the government. If interest rates hold or they go up, the Reserve Bank governor will be saying to Australian households that the government has failed in its task of managing the economy.

Once upon a time in this country people had high levels of job security. They saw interest rates increasing, and they thought to themselves, 'We'll be able to manage this because we can see that our job prospects are strong. We can see that we have job security, and that we'll be able to adjust our family budgets to 13 interest rate increases. We'll be able to manage because we can see that we have job security.' Guess what else has changed in this country? The number of Australians now worried about their jobs is increasing. Think about that for a moment. They are having to contend with the cumulative impact of 13 interest rate rises under Labor, and now they're worried about their job security.

Australian families are panicking. Their disappointment in the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and the Treasurer, Dr Jim Chalmers, is turning to red-hot anger. I dare the government to wait until February next year for a general election. I dare the government to wait until May next year for a general election, because Australian families will be red hot with anger. Two and a half years ago, they trusted this government to manage the economy and, in just 2½ years, it is in tatters. Australians are waiting for the opportunity to cast their vote, because they want to mark the government down. Their financial security is in tatters, their job security is now not what it was before, and they're ready to vote the government out. (Time expired)

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What an extraordinary contribution was delivered from a senator on that side of the chamber who yet again wants to rewrite history! I will say this about the next election: the Australian population will vote, and they don't get it wrong, just as they didn't 2½ years ago.

Let's put the real truth on the table here: there isn't anyone in this chamber except those on that side who prays every night for an interest rate rise. Why do they do that? It's because they are only interested in politics. If they were really worried about the Australian community, the cost of living, housing and those issues, they've had ample opportunity in the last 2½ years to vote for legislation that has in fact brought relief on the cost of living for Australian families. If they were really worried, they would not be playing politics with the Housing Australia Future Fund, and they would vote for the Help to Buy Scheme legislation or have the courage to vote against it.

Let us not forget that those opposite were in office for almost nine years. What did they leave us? Nothing but mess after mess. We had huge debt. In almost nine years, not one surplus was delivered. They threatened time and time again but delivered not one surplus in almost nine years. We have already delivered two surpluses. We have with us in the chamber at the moment our fantastic Minister for Finance. Only today in question time, she again spoke in this chamber about what we've achieved. Those opposite want to rewrite history. The reality is that they talk the big talk about the economy and their ability to manage it, but the Australian people at the last election gave them an F for failure. That's what they did. I'm confident that, when people go to the ballot box next time, next year, they will vote according to how they have been supported by this government, including on bringing inflation down. We inherited an inflation figure that started with a 6. When I went to school, which I admit was a long time ago, I learned that the figure 3, which is what the inflation figure currently starts with, is less than the figure 6. So we have been doing our job in 2½ years, and that's what the Australian people will make their judgement on.

I'm happy to live by whatever judgement they make, because I know that as a Labor government we brought in bigger tax cuts and we've actually given cost-of-living relief with our energy rebate of $300 to every household in the country. We have also invested in Medicare and put cheaper medicine out there for the Australian community. We've introduced 60-day prescriptions. Senator Duniam, you would recall all the lobbying done when you were in government by those people who were against it, and your government folded. We took a decision that would produce savings for Australians and mean that they would not have to go to the pharmacy as often and not have to see a GP, which means there are more opportunities for other people to have access to GPs. This government has invested in four urgent care clinics just in Tasmania, which Senator Duniam, Senator Urquhart and I represent. I can tell you the urgent care clinic in Launceston has enabled so many more people to go and see a GP and not have to go to accident and emergency to get some urgent assistance. We have also invested more in rental assistance than those opposite.

We know that Mr Dutton is voting, and directing his party to vote, against any of these measures except for the tax cuts. Our tax cut actually went to people on low incomes, unlike what was proposed by Mr Morrison when he was Prime Minister and held five other ministries at the same time without telling people. There's a stark contrast between what the Liberals say and what we committed to at the last election and have delivered. And let's not forget Australian pensioners this week will get— (Time expired)

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

Millions of Australians—mortgage holders, renters, young people and families—across the country are struggling to make ends meet at the moment. Since Labor came into power, rents in Australia has gone up by 31 per cent. The average mortgage repayment has increased by a staggering $1,600 a month. The RBA is refusing to cut rates despite the economy being on its knee—we're in a per capita recession—and despite the governor of the RBA admitting that people are facing the brutal reality of having to default and sell their home.

Monetary policy is punishing those people who are least responsible for inflation. Young people are doing everything asked of them. They've cut their discretionary spending. Those with savings have increased their spending. While millions of Australians are struggling and being smashed by high interest rates, those with paid-off houses and massive savings accounts, who are usually older, wealthier Australians, see their wealth boosted.

What the Greens want is for Labor to come to the table and actually sit down and negotiate with us about taking meaningful steps towards solving the housing crisis in this country. Since Labor came to power in 2022, rents have gone up by 31 per cent, and the average mortgage repayment has gone up by $1,600—in fact, more than that. So here's a question for Prime Minister Albanese and Labor: why is Mr Albanese so happy to negotiate with Mr Dutton on things like weakening environment protections and on things like cutting the NDIS, which went through this parliament only weeks ago with support from the Labor and Liberal parties, but why is he refusing to negotiate with the Greens to solve the housing crisis in Australia? That's the question that Labor has to answer. In the middle of a social calamity, where rents and mortgages are going through the roof, where so many Australians are being made homeless through no fault of their own— (Time expired)

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm going to start on the issue of the cost of living with energy. Energy really is the most important discussion to have when talking about the cost of living for Australian households because energy is needed for everything. Energy is needed to make almost any product. Energy is needed to transport those products to the shops, and, of course, often, when you buy products, you need energy to keep them cool and store them before you use them. So energy is vitally important to keep the cost of living down for Australians.

When the Australian people elected the Labor government two and a bit years ago now, almost 2½ years ago, they expected their energy bills to fall. The Prime Minister promised almost 100 times on the election trail in the months ahead of the election that he would, in fact, cut people's power bills by, in his words, $275 a year. He hasn't repeated that figure since the election, but that was the promise he made to the Australian people a few years ago. They put their faith and trust in him. He was elected. We lost government. And what has happened since? As I said, the Prime Minister hasn't repeated that number. You'd think, if he'd achieved that goal, he'd be crowing about it from the rooftops to all and sundry. But, no, he doesn't talk about it now because the Labor Party is embarrassed about what it's done to our once beautiful energy system in this country. We had some of the cheapest power prices in the world with all of these natural resources we're blessed with. Unlike other nations, we don't have to import most of our energy needs; we've got them all here.

But the Labor Party has pursued an obsessive, ideological, radical approach to just installing one type of energy—renewables energy; everyone hears about it all the time. It's dependent on the weather. It doesn't turn up all the time. It has broken our electricity system. The end result, when you look at the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics report that this motion refers to—the latest consumer price index—is that electricity prices have gone up 20 per cent since this government was elected. They haven't come down; they've gone up. That 20 per cent means, for most average households, around $500 a year on their power bills. That's a lot. That's a big impact for people.

But, as I said earlier, this is not just about the power bills. That's what you pay just for the electricity delivered to your household. The factories that are making your food are paying for electricity as well, and, when their electricity bills go up, they've got to pass that on to everybody at the check-out. One of the greatest shocks of inflation, I think, for most Australians now is when they go to the supermarket. It's just unbelievable how much things cost. I've seen situations where pensioners have had to put things back because they get to the check-out and realise they can't actually afford what they've put in their trolley. They don't have enough. It's a shocking feeling for our nation's pensioners to have to go through.

When you look at what has gone up in your local supermarket, the items that have gone up the most are the ones that use the most energy to make. The process to make them uses a lot of energy. They're things like milk. It's very energy intensive. There's refrigeration, of course, and processing. It's gone up 19 per cent, pretty much on a par with electricity. Milk's gone up 19 per cent while this government has been in power. Cheese has gone up 22 per cent—another dairy product that is made like that. Bread, another processed product, has gone up 23 per cent. Some of the fresh food items, fruit and vegetables, have actually gone down or up. They're not as dependent on the electricity system and are much more responsive to weather and climatic conditions in different growing areas of the country. But these processed goods that require electricity have all gone up.

The shame that this government has presided over in destroying our once world-beating electricity system doesn't just arrive in your mailbox every quarter. Every time you go to the shops, you're paying the price for the Prime Minister lying to—sorry, misleading—the Australian people and telling them that he would reduce their power bills, when he has done the exact opposite.

We need a government in this country that's going to prioritise people's cost of living, not climate targets. The Prime Minister set a cost-of-living target. He set an electricity target of $275. He never talks about it anymore. The only target he likes to talk about now are these climate carbon targets that we agreed to, apparently, overseas that nobody else follows. We need to get rid of those and just focus on a cost-of-living target for the Australian people. Bring down the cost of energy. Install nuclear, coal or gas—whatever it takes—to bring down people's cost of living.

Varun Ghosh (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This matter of public importance is one more indication that there is something rotten at the heart of the coalition's economic thinking. That thinking ignores the overall downward trajectory of inflation in this country and claims to care about cost-of-living pressures while shaping up to cut relief to households around the country.

In the RBA's monetary policy decision statement in August, there was an acknowledgement that there is significant uncertainty in the overseas outlook and Australia's own economic outlook. In August, Dr Hunter from the RBA told the Senate Select Committee on the Cost of Living that there was unevenness in sectors of the Australian economy—that some sectors were seeing growth in jobs and output, and some sectors were lagging. An analysis of a diverse and complex economy like Australia's requires nuanced consideration of where we have been, where we are and where we are going. When you look at some of the figures the RBA has released and you consider the government's cost-of-living measures and the opposition's own statements that they intend to cut those cost-of-living measures, the superficial and cynical nature of this MPI emerges vividly.

I speak first of inflation. Headline inflation when the Albanese government took office was 6.1 per cent, and it then peaked at 7.8 per cent in December 2022. It is now 3.8 per cent. It is trending downwards. Overall, as Dr Hunter, the assistant governor of the RBA, told the Senate select committee in August:

… Inflation has obviously moderated quite significantly over the last almost two years—a year and a half or so …

There was a slight uptick in inflation between March and June, from 3.6 to 3.8 per cent, but the overall trend during the time of this government, from its peak in December 2022, has been down. The enthusiasm with which the merchants of gloom on the opposition benches jumped on that slight uptick in inflation, ignoring the broader trends, to talk the Australian economy down reflects their cynicism and reflects that they put their own political fortunes above the future of the Australian economy and the Australian people. That uptick in inflation may have suited the coalition's political purposes, but the overall trend doesn't suit their narrative. The Statement on monetary policy released by the Reserve Bank in August forecast that underlying inflation will return to target fractionally later, in the midpoint in 2026, rather than in late 2025. The Albanese government's economic plan is focused on fighting inflation and bringing inflation back to band, without crunching the economy—that is, responsibly reducing inflation while also easing cost-of-living pressures.

The second topic I'll speak on is wages growth. From the latest figures in the RBA's key economic indicators, wages growth was 4.1 per cent to June 2024, and wages have grown by four per cent in the previous four quarters. My colleague Senator Smith from across the aisle said that Australians are worried about job security. While the labour market is tight and may, or is projected to, begin easing, it's a little bit hard to take seriously those opposite on questions of job security when, as recently as Sunday, Senator Hume from the Liberal Party indicated that the coalition's priority in IR is flexibility—and flexibility in this context is code for less security in jobs. Increasing wages is one way that household costs can be met in this country. We know that cost-of-living pressures are most acute for those who are on the downside of advantage or are lower paid workers. From 1 July this year, with the support of the government's submission, there was a 3.75 per cent increase in the national minimum wage and the minimum award wage. Some 2.6 million low-paid workers got their third consecutive pay rise, backed by the submissions of this government. Since Labor came to government the minimum wage in this country has increased by $110 per week. That relieves financial pressures of people at the lowest end.

The third topic I'll talk about is cost-of-living measures. From 1 July 2024 every Australian got a tax cut. That's 13.6 million Australians. They received a tax cut of around $1,800. In Western Australia the average tax cut was closer to $2,000. That's real cost-of-living relief, as is energy bill relief—$300 for every Australian household, and $325 to more than one million small businesses around the country. The Liberal and National parties have recently indicated that they're not committed to those cost-of-living measures and will consider cutting some $315 billion worth of programs that the government has implemented.

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

If you think you're going backwards, you are, and faster than you think. Last Monday, we had an inquiry, as a result of a motion of mine, to understand the CPI figure from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That's what we wanted to find out: what the Australian Bureau of Statistics does. My inquiry revealed that, as everyone knows, the CPI is 3.8 per cent, but selected living-cost indices that the Australian Bureau of Statistics produces and publishes show that most employees—80 per cent of Australians—face a cost-of-living increase in their spending of 6.2 per cent.

I've got no criticism of the ABS. They do what they're told. Chart 1 in their submission shows that in 2022, soon after the coalition left, the CPI was eight per cent, and food and beverages went up by nine per cent. That's the legacy that the coalition left. The CPI price change for dairy and related products over the last four years has been 27 per cent; food products, 23 per cent; bread and cereal products, 23 per cent. This is the reality: both the Labor Party and the Liberal-Nationals are contributing to inflation. The prices of groceries, insurance, housing, rents and energy are all artificial and only One Nation has the policies to be able to solve them because we don't do what the uniparty does.

Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank my friend Senator Dean Smith for bringing this matter of public importance before the Senate. At the core of this motion is what we have seen in the latest figures released by the RBA, which show just how much Australian families are struggling through this cost-of-living crisis. They are really struggling at the moment and they have been for quite some time. We have been talking about it on the side of the chamber for months and months. As we all know, gas is up 33 per cent; electricity is up 14 per cent. These aren't just numbers; this is the real impact to Australian families. The gas bill is up 33 per cent, the electricity bill is up 14 per cent, and that's after the taxpayer funded rebates have been added. Rents are up 16 per cent, health care is up 11 per cent, food is up 12 per cent and finance and insurance are up 17 per cent. This is the reality of life under Labor for so many Australian families. Everything is up, absolutely everything, and it is crushing the hopes and aspirations of Australians. The impact all of this is having on disposable income is extraordinary.

Since Labor have come into office, real disposable income per capita is down 8.7 per cent. If you had any doubt as to what that statistic actually means for everyday Australians, household savings are also down just over 10 percentage points. The reality is that these statistics confirm that Australians are struggling to keep their heads above water. I hear it time and time again throughout New South Wales, but particularly in Western Sydney, where I spend a lot of my time. Everyday Australians just can't keep up. They can't keep up with skyrocketing prices, they can't keep up with their mortgage repayments, they can't keep up with their rent and they can't keep up with the extraordinary blowout in their insurance prices. People are struggling financially and are juggling from week to week to try and make ends meet.

There can be no confusion or obfuscation as to our position globally. Compared to other economies, we are well and truly at the back of the pack. Our core inflation is higher than comparable countries including the US, the UK, Canada, Japan, the eurozone, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand. This is not a problem that the world is at a loss on how to fix. Other countries had the same problems as we did but they have fixed them. Meanwhile, under this government Australians continue to pay more and to keep less of what they earn. This government inherited an economy that had low unemployment, strong economic growth and recovering government finances. They have completely and utterly wasted that.

We have now had six consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth per capita. Productivity is down 6.3 per cent under this government. But the question has to be: Why? Why are prices so high? Why is inflation so high? Why are interest rates so high? Why are savings being diminished? Why is disposable income so low? And why is productivity so low? Well, there is a simple answer to that—because of the policies and actions this government.

This government has spent over $300 billion more than was previously budgeted. They have flooded the economy with this money, this inflationary spending. So much for the promised $275 reduction in power bills that we heard so much about from this government before the election. It feels like ancient history but is probably more like a very poor and sad fiction. The reality is that this government is all talk about the economy, with broad statements, platitudes, and one summertime manifesto from the Treasurer, and nothing about what matters to Australians, nothing about what makes a difference to them. If they really cared about the impacts, they wouldn't continue to pursue this inflationary budget. This government's decisions are making life harder for all Australians. It is because of this government that interest rates in this country remain high; it is because of this government—and I repeat—that interest rates in this country remain high and Australians continue to struggle. That is why the cost-of-living crisis continues to remain a matter of public importance. (Time expired)