David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to questions asked by Senators Birmingham and Hume relating to the economy.

The headlines in the papers today give us an indication of what is happening in this country despite the rhetoric of the Albanese government—headlines such as 'Labor presiding over longest run of negative GDP per capita since 1970s'. Those opposite in the Albanese government would have you believe that the country is better off since they came to government. That's their rhetoric. But what is the reality? The reality, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the National Accounts figures is that, quarter after quarter, there have been decreases in GDP, gross domestic product, per capita for a number of times in a row, six, that we have not seen since the 1970s.

The government opposite says that some of the cost-of-living subsidies, which are short-term measures and actually increase spending from the government, putting pressures on inflation, and makes the problem worse in the long run, is having an impact on the people of Australia—that longer term trajectory that we're on. The lived experience of Australian families, Australian individuals and Australian businesses is that each dollar they have now buys less. Every time a bill comes in, whether for insurance or for, particularly, energy, they pay more. You have to compare the rhetoric of those opposite, the Albanese government, with the reality.

Mr Bowen, Mr Albanese and Labor senators in this place have a rhetoric, which they repeat ad nauseam to the Australian people that the energy transition that this government is implementing is going to lead to lower prices and cleaner energy. But the reality is that the leader in that transition, my home state of South Australia—with up to 70 per cent penetration of variable renewable energy—pays the nation's highest electricity prices at 45 cents per kilowatt hour. That's in stark contrast to many nations overseas that are paying in the order of 13 to 14 cents per kilowatt hour. The reality is that in Europe we see nations such as Germany, which has long been held out as an exemplar by the Albanese Labor government as the sort of nation that we should follow, where the government has just collapsed. In large part, according to analysts, it was because of the debate over the transition and the fact that the cost of all of their transition to renewable energy has actually led to the three parties splintering because of a reduction in confidence in that nation.

The reality doesn't just affect people at a personal level. The rhetoric here from the Albanese government is that they are spending more on defence. The reality, as has come out during estimates and various reports in the media over the last few weeks, is that there is not enough money to fund the items that even the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Defence, Mr Marles said only a few months ago were a high priority for Australia's national defence.

So JP9102, the project to have sovereign satellite communications—military grade communications—which Defence has indicated in their arguments underpinned so many of our defence capabilities, went from being a high priority just a few months ago to, after significant questioning during estimates, the Department of Defence admitting, 'When we prioritised, it didn't make the cut.' Read: there's not enough money to actually pay for the things that Defence sees as a high priority and that even this government said was a high priority.

At a time when the government is saying that they care about quality of life, the cost of living and jobs for people, the rhetoric and the ideology that is driving them is actually driving up prices, driving down the quality of living and driving down the available funding for the Department of Defence, which weakens the security of Australia. We see shipbuilding programs cut, satellite programs cut, and maintenance decreasing on vessels that we need for the security of this nation. The Australian people will soon have a choice: do they want to continue on this trajectory which is driven by ideology and rhetoric, or do they want to change to a government that has a track record of building a strong economy and defence on facts?

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, let's start there, shall we? Let's start on that record. What we saw when those opposite lost government in 2022 was that living standards were already falling. We weren't living in some sort of utopia. Living standards were falling, there had been no action on any major policy issue for a decade, and I particularly highlight the lack of any meaningful action on energy and the lack of any meaningful action on housing.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They had 22 policies on energy.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is right, Senator Bilyk, they did. Not one of them came to any major fruition—no outcome. And housing has been wallowing in this dark place for a very long time. We did not get to a place where we have a housing shortage overnight. Those things don't happen overnight. It was 10 years of neglect that we saw there. And what else was going on in 2022 when those opposite lost government? Inflation was more than six per cent. They stand there, day after day, and go on and on about how bad things are, but inflation has halved—more than halved—in 2½ years. As they stand there and spit out their talking points about how terrible things are under a Labor government, they're still sore that they lost in 2022. Things are not worse in that sense.

We know that there are real global pressures, we know that there are significant issues and we know that people are doing it tough, which is why for the last 2½ years we have worked on making the situation better by supporting Australians and helping them to do better. We know that it's tough, we know that we're seeing this global scenario and we are working to make a difference. Not only did those opposite not have any major policy agenda for 10 years, not only did they particularly neglect energy and housing, but they also did everything they could to rail against real wage increases for people. Their whole approach now is to cut, to restrict and to tax our health services—that's what we hear: slash government and services, and reorient the tax system as it stands to focus on the wealthy. Let's not even start talking about education and training, because we're hearing an awful lot of crickets from over there.

We know Australians were really starting to feel the pinch in 2022, but we are seeing positive indicators now. We've seen inflation more than halve since 2022 and we're starting to see some real tick-ups in opportunities going forward. We particularly see that Treasury is expecting that real disposable household income is going to grow by 3½ per cent this year. That would be the fastest growth in more than a decade. There are those green shoots. In 2 ½ years we have worked so hard to clean up the mess that those opposite created in a 10-year space of time. I think that's pretty good start.

What we've done is actually get wages moving. What we've done is create more job opportunities and more training opportunities. One of my favourites is the fee-free TAFE and the opportunities that fee-free TAFE provides for people out across our community, not just for young people but for people transitioning into those industries of the future. We're cutting student debt.

We've had significant increases in rent assistance—increases we haven't seen in 30 years: 10 per cent this last year and 15 per cent the year before. We are targeting exactly where people are feeling the pain, and it's starting to work. We are starting to see the fruits of that work. We're starting to see people's incomes look better. Like I say, real disposable income is looking to grow. That's real money in the pockets of real people.

That's the big difference. We believe in supporting people. We believe in people earning more and keeping more of what they earn. That is how we make a difference—as opposed to those opposite, who have a completely opposed approach to that. They want to see your wages cut, they want to see your jobs cut, they want to see your services cut and they want to see your taxes increase.

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

I can't help but reflect on the word of the year by the Macquarie Dictionary, listening to those opposite here today. The word of the year is an:

… Anglo-Saxon term wrapped in affixes which elevate it to being almost formal; almost respectable. This word captures what many of us feel is happening to the world and to so many aspects of our lives at the moment.

This is the word of the year.

Everywhere I go in Western Australia, I hear from locals that Western Australia and Australia is now heading in the wrong direction. Nobody has ever said to me that they feel that the nation under Labor, after the last 2½ years, is going in the right direction. While we've just heard from those opposite, 'We believe in all of these things,' the facts demonstrate that they cannot deliver it. In fact, everything they do makes everything that impacts on Australians worse, particularly their financial situation.

What are the facts? Under Labor we've had 12 interest rate rises which have been caused by Labor's deliberate policies. The $315 billion, so far, that they've pump primed into the economy has resulted in interest rate rises and also inflation which, as everybody knows in every household across Australia and Western Australia, makes it even harder to live. Whether it's a weekly grocery shop, the monthly bills or the cost of doing business for so many small businesses, everybody is hurting. The reality is that, under Prime Minister Albanese, every Western Australian is worse off. While interest rates are well and truly falling in New Zealand, Canada, the United States and the UK, there is no sign of relief in the upcoming months—not even one interest rate drop here in Australia.

A recent report by the Financial Wellbeing Collective, collated from its 12 partners, including Anglicare in Western Australia and Uniting WA, shows that financial hardship is now being experienced by families and individuals it has never touched before, even those earning two incomes. We see that at Foodbank in Western Australia—record support for double-income families who cannot meet their mortgage and feed their families. There has been a 111 per cent increase in employed clients accessing emergency relief in the past three years. There's been an 85 per cent increase in financial counselling in Western Australia. There's been a 27 per cent increase in couple households where at least one person is employed but they are still seeking financial support because those opposite have made it impossible for them to afford to live. In Western Australia, those opposite's housing policies—despite all of their rhetoric over the last two-and-a-half years, including today—have not built a single home yet.

Perth is now, sadly, the most unaffordable city for renters, with rents climbing by 80 per cent since those opposite came to government.

Today's national news, which those opposite were desperate to try and hide—if there was any doubt, absolutely, it bells the cat—shows that, under this Albanese government, Labor is presiding over the longest household recession, with GDP per capita going backwards in the last six quarters. This is a trend that is not only the worst in the recession or in the pandemic but the worst in our lifetime. Economists are warning us that this will extend with the possibility that Labor may record two years of continuous negative GDP growth. It is time for Western Australians to say, 'Enough is enough,' and vote out Anthony Albanese and his government.

This brings me back to the word of the year by Macquarie Dictionary Online, which so captures what those opposite have done.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What is it?

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

Senator Bilyk is asking me what that word is. The word is 'enshittification', which, as I said, is 'a gradual deterioration of a service or a product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Reynolds. Senator Bilyk.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, Senator Reynolds, it took you five minutes to come up with one word. That must be a classic. Let me tell you what word comes to my mind when you lot come in here bleating about the cost of living. The word that comes to my mind is 'ironic'. Isn't it ironic that those opposite come into this place and actually complain about the cost of living—because I remember when the current wave of inflation started. They have very short memories on that side. The peak of quarterly inflation was reached in March 2022. Who was in government? Those opposite were in government. They created this crisis through the last decade. The decade they were in power was just a complete waste of opportunity. What did they do in that decade? Nothing—there was complete inaction. They did absolutely nothing.

But, unlike those opposite, we're actually doing something about it. After the almost decade of failure by those opposite to tackle the housing crisis, we're investing $32 billion in providing more social and affordable homes for Australians and helping more Australians own their own home. We've made health care cheaper by tripling the bulk-billing incentive and rolling out bulk-billed Medicare urgent care clinics across Australia, including five in my home state of Tasmania.

Cheaper medicines continue to deliver savings to all Australians. Across the country, Australians have now saved more than half a billion dollars thanks to cheaper scripts following major reforms to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. This includes over $9 million in savings, once again, for my fellow Tasmanians. As of 1 September this year, there are now approximately 300 different medicines available for 60-day prescriptions, providing more cost-of-living relief to those who need it most. We've also made the largest cut to the maximum patient co-payment in the 75-year history of the PBS. And we're providing $300 in energy bill relief to every Australian household.

We've provided $3 billion in HELP debt relief and delivered over half a million fee-free TAFE places. On top of this, we're reducing all HECS and student debt by 20 per cent, wiping more than $16 billion in student loan debt to take the pressure off more than three million Australians.

Not only are we helping reduce household expenses but we're also boosting household incomes. Just recently, more than five million Australians benefited from an increase to their income support payment when the last indexation took effect on 20 September. On that same day, over one million households got an increase in rent assistance. With these latest increases, the rate of JobSeeker payment has increased by more than 21 per cent and Commonwealth rent assistance by about 45 per cent since we came to government.

As we know, housing is a major impact on family budgets.

I'm pleased to say that, after 2½ years of political protesting and holding up our housing reform agenda, yesterday, the Greens finally saw the light. It's a shame there's not more of them in here at the moment. They finally saw the light and decided to support it. The Greens finally realised that they misread the electorate really badly and that their cynical attempt to boost their brand had backfired miserably. They, to be honest, were just too cocky for words—they really were. But did they apologise to Australians struggling to find suitable and affordable housing for delaying our much-needed housing reforms? No. Instead, we heard that they had to capitulate and do the highest backflip I think I've ever seen, because they simply couldn't get what they wanted. They were going to hold out. They thought that we would cave. Guess what? That's not how it works. You don't always get what you want, according to Mick Jagger, and that's a lesson that I think the Greens need to know.

What is it they wanted? We all know what they wanted. They wanted headlines to take to the next election. They wanted social media to be able to increase their chances at the next election. But what has happened is that they have kept thousands of Australians that could have been in secure and affordable housing by now on waiting lists and made it so that we couldn't get on with the job of increasing our housing stock. And, while they pretend to care, every time the government seeks to deliver on our election promises—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bilyk.

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

That's been interesting.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm glad you were listening.

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

I have been listening, and I don't know where to begin, to be quite frank. I'll go back to what Senator Wong said to Senator Birmingham, which is that Australians don't want a recession, but we do actually have a technical recession. We have had six quarters of negative GDP per capita. We are in a technical recession, whether we want one or not. And then the response to Senator Hume's question was around the government not agreeing with our economic descriptions of what is going on in Australia. You don't have to agree with the opposition. The Reserve Bank and economists across the economy are actually giving the same descriptions. I'll just give you two. One from the AFR yesterday said:

Higher spending and lower company tax revenue will push the budget into a deeper deficit this financial year, according to economists at Deloitte who forecast Treasurer Jim Chalmers will have presided over the largest deterioration in government finances on record outside the pandemic.

That's not the coalition saying that. Another one—this time from the Australiansaid:

Economist Saul Eslake said it was possible negative growth on this measure would continue for the next two quarters before rising again. "It is significant issue … while GDP per capita is not quite as salient to voters as real disposable income, the two are very closely linked … it's another indicator that the economy is performing poorly," Mr Eslake told The Australian.

That gives us some perspective about what's being said.

Then I thought about what Senator Bilyk was saying around the government working hard to make the situation better and that some pretty good stuff had been done, particularly to get wages moving. For me, that's quite ironic because, in working hard to make the situation better, what we actually have is health costs going up 10.4 per cent, education going up 11.5 per cent and food going up 11.7 per cent. That's not better for people needing medical treatment, paying for education or buying food. By the same token, housing has gone up 12.9 per cent. Rent has gone up 16 per cent. Insurance has gone up 18 per cent, and gas has gone up 33.9 per cent. This is 'making the situation better', according to the government. Well, it's certainly not better for everyday Australians, who can't afford to fill their cars up with petrol and who are deciding what will or will not go into the trolley and determining which bills they will pay this week to stretch out their ever-reducing disposable income.

That takes me to my next point. Getting wages moving again isn't relevant whatsoever when disposable income has dropped 5½ per cent under this government since 2022. You're effectively giving with one hand and taking away with the other. So we need to get some clarity around what Australians are really experiencing, and it is not good. I've spoken about this before. I've spoken about it many times. Young Australians believe, no matter how hard they work, they will never own their own home. Can you imagine what it's like to try and save to buy a home when everything that you need to pay for and buy is getting more and more expensive? How are you meant to save? You've got no options to cut back on your food and on your housing—your rent. If you're saving to buy a home, unless you're living at home with mum and dad, you are paying rent, and that has gone up 16.4 per cent.

This government is sitting there and telling us that they're doing a great job. 'Everything is really good. We've made everything better. We've done some pretty good stuff.' Well, I'm telling you that, when you go out there and when you speak to everyday Australians, they're not saying that they are better off. They are saying that they are absolutely worse off. I think we need to get away from the talking points and the narratives and some of the bubble mentality and go, 'What is actually happening to everyday Australians?' And that is that they cannot afford the things that they need to buy, and they need people in this building to act to make things better.

Question agreed to.