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

'Australians are in a per capita recession, yet, at a time when the Reserve Bank has increased the cash rate, the Labor government and many state and territory governments have continued to spend unnecessarily. In doing so, they have made the cost-of-living crisis go on longer than it needs to.' These aren't my words. These are the words—direct quotes, in fact—from the cost-of-living committee's final report. After a two-year-long inquiry, the evidence was clear that Australians are more worse off than they were 2½ years ago.

We know that Australians are struggling to meet basic costs of food and to have a roof over their heads and heating and cooling. Now Australian families and small businesses, in particular, are about to head into their third tough Christmas period under Labor. But what is left in the kitty? Their savings have been eaten away, the credit cards are adding up, bills are piling up and we all know that reward points only stretch so far. Australian households and businesses have been doing their very best to move their way forward, to get ahead, but we know that they can't do this on their own.

The government can't shy away from the problems that are facing Australians. They must not allow this cost-of-living crisis to go on any longer than it needs to. It's high time that the Prime Minister showed leadership and called a national cabinet to address what is a national issue, and that is the cost of living. The IMF, independent economists and the RBA have all said that government spending from all levels of government is pushing up inflation and keeping it higher for longer. We need to see the states and territories come together for a coordinated approach in reducing that unnecessary and ill-disciplined spending. Families and businesses have made tough decisions about their budgets; it's high time the government did something about its own.