Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

This Prime Minister is so consumed by and obsessed with the politics of yesterday that he has no interest in dealing with the issues, the real issues, that face Australians today. This new government has failed dismally to address the rising cost-of-living pressures facing Australians. Today homeowners have been hit with yet another interest rate rise, adding further pressure to already-tightening household budgets. And Australians will rightly be asking that if their Prime Minister couldn't even name the interest rate five months ago, how on earth could he be trusted to keep rates down?

We know the Prime Minister struggles with numbers; we got that through question time. But he's been caught not knowing the cash rate, he's been caught not knowing the unemployment rate, he's been caught not knowing Australia's borders were open and he's been caught not knowing his own NDIS policy. We have a Prime Minister who struggles with the facts, so let me remind him of some facts. A homeowner with an average mortgage of $750,000 is now paying around $900 more on their monthly repayments than they were in May. That might not mean much to the Prime Minister—yesterday he was joking around about living in public housing at The Lodge—but it means a great deal to millions of Australians paying their mortgages. And this arrogant Prime Minister, who thinks shooing away these problems will make them disappear, has done absolutely nothing to fix them.

That's $900 a month more for your mortgage under this Prime Minister. What's he doing about it? Nothing! The Prime Minister refuses to talk about it because he has no plan to fix it. At Christmas this year, when Australians are wanting to spend money on gifts for loved ones, get together with their family and go on holidays, the pain of this rate rise will really start to sink in. When the Prime Minister sits in his 'public housing' at The Lodge, let him reflect on every single family who is hurting as a result of his government making a bad situation worse.

Australians going to the supermarket are finding they have to pay more and more for less and less. The Prime Minister told Australians more than 90 times before the election that Labor would cut power prices for families and small businesses by $275. In 100 days of this Labor government, the Prime Minister has not repeated that commitment once. Families are going broke, businesses are going to the wall and Australians are hurting. And what do they get from this Prime Minister? Excuses, excuses, excuses. In April, when the Prime Minister couldn't name the unemployment rate and couldn't name the cash rate, he said:

Earlier today I made a mistake. I'm human. But when I make a mistake, I'll fess up to it, and I'll set about correcting that mistake. I won't blame someone else, I'll accept responsibility. That's what leaders do.

The Prime Minister has been caught giving families false hope about a $275 cut to their power bills. Has he fessed up to that mistake? Has he apologised to Australians for doing it tough? No. All we get is historical revisionism from this Prime Minister—another broken promise and no responsibility. He still thinks he's Leader of the Opposition. He's stuck in the past, with no plan for the future—obsessed by and consumed with yesterday. No interest, no plan and no ability to deal with today.

Most governments like to hit the ground running but this Prime Minister has hit the ground reviewing, when Australians need concrete action from their government—which they needed yesterday. Before the election the Prime Minister said, and I'll say this very clearly, 'Australians will be better off under a Labor government.' It's just another broken promise. Inflation under the Albanese government is running at 6.1 per cent, the highest rate of inflation in almost 32 years—the highest rate of inflation since Labor's recession that we had to have.

The Prime Minister this morning attended the launch of a report which found that 40 per cent of Australians felt more distressed over their finances compared to last year. Suicide Prevention Australia CEO Nieves Murray said:

The rise in financial stress coincides with surging demand for suicide prevention services …

She said:

The issue of cost-of-living and personal debt is ranked the biggest risk to rising suicide rates over the next 12 months.

She continued:

This is higher than previous years and is the first time an economic issue has overtaken social issues like drugs, loneliness and family breakdown.

So we need more than empty words from the Prime Minister. What is the government actually doing to help with this crisis today? Every day of delay from this government is putting more and more Australians at risk.

Over the last few weeks, I've been out and about around this country with colleagues, listening to small businesses, workers and local communities about how they're doing and what they need. With the member for Casey, I met with a window manufacturer who was grappling with rising power prices and needed more support for apprenticeships.

With the member for Flinders, I met with 15 fabulous female small-business owners, who all cited the workforce shortages as their No. 1 issue.

With the member for Menzies, I met with a group of disability carers, who were crying out for basic support systems just to be bolstered.

In the Macedon Ranges, in regional Victoria—woefully represented by the member for McEwen—telco coverage is so poor they can't even get phone reception. In some areas they can't use the EFTPOS machine at the farmers' market where they sell their wonderful local produce. Where is the advocacy? Where is the support? It is outrageous.

In Queensland, with the member for Bowman, I visited a business park and a local nursery. Again, you could not miss the crunch of the cost-of-living crisis facing them.

Last week I was in southern Sydney with the member for Hughes, where we visited a local manufacturing business struggling with the rising cost of inputs. We also visited a small business absolutely crippled by the skills shortage.

I also visited Lismore with the amazing member for Page, where the floodwaters have receded but so too has any interest from the Prime Minister. He still hasn't gone there since being elected in May. They need ongoing support, and this federal government is failing them.

In regional Tasmania, the member for Bass and I met with the George Town Chamber of Commerce, where we heard firsthand how the regions are facing unique issues that just won't be solved by a cookie-cutter, Canberra-centric approach. That won't do it.

In my own electorate—Griffith, in the amazing Riverina—we recently had the Bush Summit, where the Prime Minister came in for a fly-in fly-out photo-op. He was one hour and 15 minutes on the ground, and then he left. It was a shame he didn't stay. He would have heard harrowing stories of rising power prices smashing our local food producers.

What do we hear from the Albanese government in response to these challenges? Nothing. What is the response that they have mustered up? Well, this week there was a lot of backslapping and self-congratulation on a mandated, indexed rise to the pension. They lauded it as the biggest rise in decades. Out they went, talking it up. What they didn't say was that the reason it was so big was that it's linked to skyrocketing inflation. It was an automatic increase. It would have occurred if Kermit the Frog were Prime Minister!

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