Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians know they are poorer than they were before, due to this Labor government's mismanagement of the economy. The PM promised Australians a cheaper Australia, yet Australians are paying between 10 and 34 per cent more for basic essentials such as electricity, gas, rent, loans, insurance and food. I overheard shoppers in a supermarket sharing with each other that they can no longer afford to eat what they've eaten for years. Let me give you some local red-hot examples why. It is your industrial relations agenda, your energy policy and your rhetoric, which is so far removed from reality and is crippling businesses.

South Australia has the highest percentage of renewables in its energy mix and it pays some of the highest electricity prices in the country. Family business Vili's Family Bakery produces 50,000 meat pies each day, and so much more. Their electricity bill is up 22 per cent, and they have to pass that on to consumers. Family business Nippy's has been producing flavoured milk and juices for over 50 years. They've reported a $100,000 power bill in a single month at a single plant. It is another cost they will have to pass on to customers. Golden North, which produces ice cream and other products, is expecting a 50 per cent increase in electricity prices. After 34 years, SA dairy company Beston Global Food, which produces cheese, butter and milk, has collapsed, entering administration.

If these companies don't absorb or pass on costs, they will go broke, like the record number of businesses across Australia that are doing so. In South Australia, 150 more businesses entered insolvency in 2023-24 than in the previous year. Nationally, it was 3,000 more. Labor, you can't say that electricity prices are cheaper under your plan. That's simply not true. What is true is that your Labor government has increased and presided over this economic mess.