David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, 'What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say,' and in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis we've got the government prioritising giving millions more in taxpayer money to politicians rather than actually tackling the cost of living for Australians.

Australians are feeling the pain every time they go to the check-out and pay for essentials, yet, with just four days of parliament left for the year, the government still hasn't introduced a bill to legislate a new mandatory food and grocery code. They released an exposure draft back in September but haven't actually prioritised bringing it to the parliament. They pushed the bill to increase funding for politicians through the House of Reps ahead of new legislation to protect Australians from scams. There's a bill that would build 105,000 new homes in a housing crisis and give renters better conditions, through banning no-cause evictions and giving five-year leases. That's being used as a political football. A bill to reduce the rate of indexation for students keeps getting bumped from day to day.

The government is missing in action on gambling advertising. Almost 18 months after the landmark Murphy review laid out what this parliament needs to do, the government is nowhere to be seen. There are the urgent reforms to protect nature that the government seems to have given up on. The Prime Minister is not interested in protecting nature this term. Australians are looking at this place, looking at the major parties, and asking, 'What are your priorities?' because, regardless of what you say, actions speak louder than words. When will you start putting Australians first?