James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without noticed asked by Opposition senators today.

There are two questions I want to focus on. The first are the three questions I put to Senator Wong, who was representing the Prime Minister. They went to the cost-of-living crisis that is endemic in Australia at the moment. It has grown at such a rate because of the policies of the Labor Party, because of decisions of the Labor Party and because we have a weak Prime Minister.

Working household costs have gone up 19.4 per cent under this government. To break that down even further, food costs have gone up 14 per cent, housing has gone up 14 per cent, health has gone up 12 per cent, education has gone up 11 per cent, and insurance and financial services have gone up 96 per cent since the Labor Party came to power. I'll repeat that. The cost of insurance and financial services has increased by 96 per cent since the Labor Party came to power. Yet, we have a ministry of ministers who pat Australians on the head and say, 'You've never had it better since the Labor Party came into power.'

We've got a Labor Party who don't understand how tough it is out in the real world. We have a Labor Party who believe the small businesses they go into are actually the Chairmans Lounge of Qantas or the equivalent of Virgin. We've Labor Party who have forgotten what it is like to walk into a small business. They've forgotten the people who work in a small business. They've forgotten how tough it is for those people struggling because of the cost of living in Australia.

The Labor Party try to blame everyone. They blame the dog that ate the homework. They blame the weather. They blame Robert Menzies. They blame Joseph Cook. They blame everyone except the fundamental truth, which is that they themselves are responsible for the economic security of Australians, and they have failed. They have failed miserably.

The second question put to the government was from my colleague Senator Paterson, from Victoria. Senator Paterson asked some very serious questions in relation to when the Prime Minister was briefed about the planned mass casualty terror event. A caravan full of explosives was going to be placed in front of a Jewish school or a Jewish synagogue or a Jewish home. This is mass terrorism coming to Australia. The coalition is not asking for operational details. We know this is a very serious matter. But we do want to know when the Prime Minister was first told about this.

The New South Wales Labor Premier was upfront and told the media about the planned terrorist event. This is the New South Wales Labor Premier. He did not hide behind the secrecy of operational planning or operational details. He was very upfront. He said, 'This is when I was told.' He did not go into details, and he was not questioned on the details. But we have the Prime Minister of this country, a weak Prime Minister, who either was not told by our security services because they don't trust him, because his office is known to be a leaky office, or was told and then decided not to do anything about it. Either way, Australians should be scared that Anthony Albanese is the Prime Minister of this country. He's either not trusted by the security services or not up to the job of chairing the National Security Committee of cabinet to make sure that Australians are safe. We just want to know the date, Prime Minister. What are you hiding?

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, let's add some facts to this debate that we're having in the chamber today. The facts are that when we took office 2½ years ago inflation, on your watch, had been high and rising. Wages were low, and real wages were going backwards as a deliberate design feature of the economy that Liberal governments built. Today, under out government, inflation is declining. And under our government more than 1.1 million jobs have been created—the most new jobs under any government on record. Unemployment under our government is at the lowest average level in 50 years. And, under our government, wages are growing again, and real wages are growing, too. So, inflation is down, jobs are up and wages are up.

Those opposite can talk down those achievements, not just of the government but of the Australian people. On our side of the chamber, as a government, we are determined to build Australia's future. But right now, today, the future we are building together with Australians is at risk, and that risk is Mr Dutton and the Liberals. What awaits Australia under a Dutton led government is $350 billion in budget cuts. Mr Dutton is not paying Australians the respect they deserve by detailing what these cuts would be.

But Australians probably don't need Mr Dutton to tell them what he is going to cut when he takes an axe to the budget and slashes and burns $350 billion, because Australians know that the very first place Peter Dutton will swing his axe is against Medicare. Why? Because he has form. When he was the health minister of Australia, he cut $50 billion from Australia's Medicare system. He was the health minister who was voted the worst health minister on record by some people who know something about that: Australia's doctors. He tried to end bulk-billing as we know it by imposing a GP tax on every doctor's visit that Australians would undertake. He cut $50 billion from our hospital system, and today we are proud to say that as a government we are reinvesting in Australia's public hospital system.

And of course it was Mr Dutton who, when he was health minister, launched the infamous Medicare privatisation task force. So, this guy has form, and it is no wonder that, as Australia has faced post-pandemic inflation—like every other advanced economy in the world—Mr Dutton has opposed every single measure we have put in place to provide Australians some help during these challenging times. He opposed a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer. He said we should go to an election about it. He opposed $300 of energy bill relief and even more for small businesses. He opposed cheaper child care. He opposed fee-free TAFE. He opposed raising the minimum wage so that it would keep up with rising inflation. And he opposed all the measures we put in place to make jobs more secure in this country.

Australians want to know what Mr Dutton would slash and burn as he goes after his $350 billion in budget cuts. Would it be Medicare? I think Australians know that would be top of his list. What about free TAFE? What about cheaper child care? What about energy bill relief? What about those pay rises for hardworking Australians? All of it would be at risk under Mr Dutton. Australians want to see a government that is committed to building their future, and the contrast couldn't be clearer: higher wages and help for all under the Albanese Labor governments, or lower wages and budget cuts under Mr Dutton.

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

Where to begin? It's quite interesting. I think I'll start with one of the comments that Senator Wong made to my colleague Senator McGrath. I think she said, 'We are in a far better place than we were a long time ago.' I was stunned by that statement, because I think that even if I tried really, really, really hard I wouldn't be able to find one single person that is better off today than they were three years ago. We've had some 990 days of this government, and wherever I go and whoever I speak to the regular messaging I get is how hard it is for them: how they're struggling, how they can't cope, how there is a mental and psychological toll connected to the financial toll of the cost-of-living crisis that we are all enduring.

My colleague on the other side made a comment about how we tend to talk down the achievements of the Labor government. We're actually talking about the facts of what this government have delivered, and their legacy is a cost-of-living crisis, a housing crisis, a crisis of small business insolvencies, and an antisemitism crisis. That's the legacy of this government. What we need them when we ask these questions—when we ask the questions that the Australian public rightfully deserve to know the answers to—are clear and straight answers, not some kind of talking-point concoction of different statistics that sort of make it look like they might be doing a good job.

Everybody knows how hard it is out there, and the Australia public deserves to know what this government is going to do about it. And there isn't much time left. We don't know when the election is going to be. We don't know if we've got a month or two months or three months. Perhaps that's where the focus is now, instead of running the economy and serving the interests of the Australian public, because that attention is certainly not where it should be. The attention is probably a little bit too much on Peter Dutton. The people on the other side speak about the Leader of the Opposition constantly. And I understand why. When you're lacking leadership in government, you're looking to somebody that might actually be able to deliver some results.

The thing you need to understand is that we don't have to provide all of the answers in opposition. In government you should be providing those answers. You should be able to tell us what you are going to do and why you haven't been able to deliver what you should have delivered. I'll tell you what you have delivered for small businesses: higher rents, supply chain problems, skyrocketing insurance premiums, utility and wage bills going through the roof, and just red tape after red tape after red tape—and much more expensive raw materials.

Questions around business insolvencies remain largely unanswered. But I have the answers for you. Since this government took office 27,036 businesses have gone under. In a housing crisis, it is devastating to know, even more than usually, that 7,183 of those businesses were in construction. A further 4,191 were hospitality businesses. Hospitality businesses are one of the largest employers of women in our economy. A further 1,765 of those businesses were retailers, small shops—maybe the local hairdresser, a pet-wash business, a local pharmacy, a local butcher or bakery. A further 1,383 were manufacturers—people, small businesses that made stuff here in Australia for other Australians to buy. Thirteen hundred and eighty-three have closed down since Anthony Albanese became our Prime Minister. That is a terrible shame, and that is an indictment on this government.

I don't understand how anybody can sit there and pretend that this isn't a real problem and then point to the good news story that we have more new businesses, so we don't have to worry about all the families that have been crushed by the loss of their family businesses. That is unacceptable. If you don't recognise you have a problem, you can't solve it.

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

I'll just talk a little bit about inflation, real disposable income and the cost-of-living matters that were raised today. But I think it's important to start by correcting something that my friend and colleague Senator McGrath said, which is that this government has never said that people have never had it better. In fact, the constant refrain both today during answers to questions and more generally has been a recognition that Australians are in a cost-of-living crisis. But the cost-of-living crisis is not ahistorical, and you don't need to go back to Menzies or to Cook—convenient exaggerations—you only need to go back to Scott Morrison. When we talk about the source of the inflationary problem, the inflation that has driven up prices for Australians and has made their disposable income far lower, it is the spending and economic policies of the Morrison government.

Now, that's not to say that there isn't some slack deserved by the previous government in relation to dealing with COVID. Of course there is some slack required. But, when those opposite try to sheet home an inflationary problem that was created in those circumstances to this government, it's important to go back and actually look at some of those facts. Some of that spending was justified and some of it was profligate. But Scott Morrison delivered deficits in the vicinity of $161 billion, 7.8 per cent of GDP. Government spending was a record at the time, of 32.1 per cent of GDP. There was some $40 billion spent in excess of what was required in the JobKeeper program—that is, $40 billion handed out to companies that didn't actually need it. It's that lack of fiscal discipline, that lack of proper economic and financial planning, that meant that inflation was 6.1 per cent in May 2022 and moving upwards. That trajectory peaked in December 2022 at 7.8 per cent.

For all the criticism we heard for most of last year, inflation has trended down under this government for most of its term in office. The Reserve Bank of Australia told the Senate Select Committee on the Cost of Living last year that inflation has significantly moderated across the last 2½ years. We have, in the first part of 2025, headline inflation in its target range for the first time in a long time, and underlying or trimmed mean inflation with a three in front of it and projected to return to band in either mid or late 2025. Those inflation numbers and the trajectories tell a story of an improving inflation situation, but they don't address the fact that, while inflation is moderating, prices for people remain incredibly high.

My friend Senator McGrath spoke about real disposable income, which is a function of income and expenses, and the effect of inflation on those two things. But, at a time when we know Australians are doing it tough, when they need that extra income, there's something fundamentally wrong—it's a kind of duplicity—with saying that the Labor government doesn't care about it but the Opposition does, in circumstances where that opposition has voted against policies and legislation that have delivered wage increases, including wage increases for those on minimum wage—that is, the very poorest of the poor. There were 2.6 million Australians who received multiple minimum-wage increases during the term of this government. It is estimated that, based on the opposition to wage increases, tax cuts and energy bill relief that this government has implemented, working Australians would be $7,200 per annum worse off. That's real money. That's money that has been delivered by policies that were opposed by the coalition or would have been done differently by the coalition. That's more money into their pocket, reduced expenses and increased income.

Wage growth across the economy is more than four per cent, and that's now for multiple quarters in a row. If you're doing it tough out there, you need to know that Labor has moderated inflation, has increased your wages and is providing some relief in relation to the higher cost of things. Those are real solutions.

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

Set the clock for three minutes. Senator Brockman.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Three minutes?

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

I understand from your own whip—

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy President, I feel robbed, but I'll do what I can in three minutes.

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

Well, speak to your beloved whip.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have three minutes, the opposition had three questions for the Labor Party and we had three completely failed answers from this failure of a government. The first question, from my good friend Senator McGrath, was on the cost-of-living crisis that is facing everyday Australians, particularly small businesses and families. We've got a serious problem in our communities through that cost-of-living crisis, and this government's failure to address it in a meaningful way, to understand it and to do anything other than give lip service to it is an absolute disgrace.

The second question was a serious question on a national security issue—potentially the most serious terrorist attack on Australian shores, if it had been able to go ahead—and that was the discovery of explosives in a caravan connected to Jewish sites that were potential targets for this explosive. The Prime Minister couldn't answer a simple question about when he was briefed on it, even though, as Senator Paterson showed, time and time again in the past this Prime Minister has had no hesitation in revealing such information where it suited him. Yet, in this particular case, because it clearly doesn't suit him, he hasn't revealed this information. Why? I ask the Australian people who are listening: why is the Prime Minister running scared on this issue?

Finally, question No. 3 was on the decimation of our small-business sector under this government. There have been 27,000 insolvencies since May 2022. That is just extraordinary!

This is a failed government. I had three minutes. I outlined the three questions we asked—

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

Senator Brockman, I understand that you now have five, so you have two more minutes.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, there you go! I'll need to think of a couple more questions!

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

You protest; I deliver.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not protesting! Thank you for letting me know. I will continue on, then, about the small-business insolvencies, because this is very close to my heart. In the electorate of Swan in Western Australia, where my office is based, I meet with small businesses every day and I hear the stories of those small businesses. I met with one last week who'd seen their electricity bill basically double over the period of this Labor government.

The Labor Premier, who's also facing an election campaign in Western Australia at the moment—the writs were issued today—really belled the cat for the Labor Party and their energy policy when he said that blackouts were part and parcel of Labor's energy plan. 'Part and parcel' was his exact phrase.

Small businesses are seeing their energy prices skyrocket—in some cases, almost double—under the Labor government, yet they can't even expect to get supply, because blackouts, as revealed by the Labor Premier of Western Australia, are part and parcel of the Labor energy plan. How does the Labor government in here answer these important questions? They answer these important questions by attacking Peter Dutton. That's all they've got. They spend more than half of every answer attacking Peter Dutton. They don't defend their own record, because they've got no record to defend. All they can do is go on the political attack, and the Australian people are waking up to this failure of a Labor government.

Question agreed to.