Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is Mr Turnbull's first day as Prime Minister. It has been marked by the release of a NATSEM-Anglicare report that serves to demonstrate that the Liberal Party has yet again promoted another out-of-touch leader. This research for Anglicare Australia focuses on the changes in living standards for a broad range of family types in Australia up to 2014. It is almost like two worlds colliding. They could not be more different and they could not be more stark. One of the first points the report makes is that the gap between the rich—that is, Mr Turnbull—and the poor, those on low incomes and benefits, has only grown under his predecessor and shows no signs of slowing down. Our egalitarian culture and our fair go for all are now well and truly under attack by this LNP government.

The NATSEM/Anglicare report states very clearly that life will get harder for those on low incomes. For hundreds of thousands of Australians, their decline in living standards is a direct result of the proposed cuts to pensions and family tax benefits supported 100 per cent by Mr Turnbull. For wage earners it is the very low growth in wages supported by Mr Turnbull and his government. The report predicts flat growth over the next 10 years, along with a very low GDP. Income growth is slow, and last year members of the then Abbott government applauded that. But of course that affects what people have to spend. Whereas in the past wages growth has been about four to five per cent, it is now around two to three per cent. This is only marginally above inflation—not enough to enable individuals, couples or families to get ahead.

Earlier this year, in an arrogant attack on his own Public Service, Senator Abetz accused public servants of living in a 'pay rise paradise' and wrongly claimed that the Public Service had received wage increases far above those in the private sector. His economic leadership—or, rather, no economic leadership—failed to acknowledge that the ABS statistics, the real truth, and not Abbott's 'never let the truth get in the way of a story' rhetoric shows clearly that there is not very much difference between the public and private sectors on wage increases. In the decade between 2004 and 2014, private sector total wage growth was 42.5 per cent. In the same period the broader public sector wage growth was 45.9 per cent—hardly the pay rise paradise that Senator Abetz was trying to invent. The LNP government has failed its Public Service. There has been a high 'no' vote on the unfair Abetz enterprise bargaining deal, and levels of industrial action not seen in many years are now happening right across the public sector.

The LNP government, no matter who the leader is, has failed to provide any economic leadership. It has record unemployment and very high youth unemployment, particularly in the seat of Canning, where youth unemployment is at an alarming 14.6 per cent, with no plan to change that. Since the coalition government's first budget was handed down in May 2014, economic growth has slowed. The annual growth rate has declined from three per cent in the March quarter of 2014 to two per cent in the June quarter of 2015. Australian incomes are down right across the board, not just in the public sector. Living standards have fallen, and Australians' disposable income is down 1.8 per cent in real terms. Consumer confidence is down. Again, that has gone down since the coalition came into government. That is based on the Westpac-Melbourne Institute index. Wages growth has slumped. Apparently the LNP government thinks it is a good thing that wages growth has slumped. But of course it is not a good thing, because there is less money in the economy. Unemployment is up at record levels. It never had a six in front of it when Labor were in government, not even at the height of the global financial crisis. What a disgrace. Unemployment is well and truly up. Those opposite will talk about the jobs they have created. But what are those jobs? They are part time, casual and low paid, mainly occupied by women. That means those people need continued support from a government that is hell-bent on making sure that that support is not there—that wants to pull the rug away from families and from single parents struggling to survive under its harsh budget.

What is Mr Turnbull's response to that? We know he backed in both budgets of the LNP government. He backed them in 100 per cent. Today he has backed in the old-fashioned view of marriage equality to waste millions of taxpayers' dollars holding a vote that is not necessary, and he is sticking to an old-fashioned, outdated climate change policy. The coalition have well and truly bungled the economy, and it will not change under the leadership of Mr Turnbull.

All over this nation Australians have been hurt by the failed economic leadership of this government—formerly the Abbott government and now the Turnbull government. What is Mr Turnbull's approach? He just seems to think he needs to communicate better. The voters of Canning and, indeed, all voters across the country deserve better than that. But Mr Turnbull will not change. He will continue to back in, as he has done in the past, the harsh, unfair policies of the LNP government. The people of Canning know that—and, thankfully, they get to vote this Saturday.