Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Maybe the new member should talk to the member for McEwen, in front of her, and the members for Blair, Caldwell and Makin, who racked up $250 billion in debt during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years. We can't blame these new guys; they're all innocent. But you four racked up a quarter of it and then you come in here and say there's $1 trillion in debt—and don't forget the member for Fenner. All they do is tax and spend.

The reality is that the Australian people know that there is a cost-of-living crisis and that, due to this Labor government's lack of planning, the government has no plan to deal with it. There is no plan; it's all a thought bubble. Interest rates are up; rents are up; more people are homeless; mortgage repayments are up; electricity bills are through the roof; petrol is up; diesel is up; and the price of food is increasing quickly under the Albanese Labor government.

Earlier this year we had a federal election, and Labor won, and there are a few newbies that came in. On 8 May, some of them might have posted, as many Labor members did, that the cost of living was up and interest rates were up and what that would mean is that by Christmas—on their little Labor tiles that they put on their social media—mortgage repayments would be $400 a month higher. Well, post-election, we had an interest rate rise on 7 June, up 50 basis points; on 5 July, up another 50 basis points; on 2 August, up another 50 basis points; and on 6 September, up another 50 basis points. So, if you had a $500,000 loan at two per cent, you're up $833 a month since the Albanese Labor government was elected. Before the election, they were saying that mortgage repayments would be up $400 a month for the rest of the year. Since the election, since Labor was elected—for those in the gallery—they are up $833 a month. For those in the gallery, if you got a home loan of $600,000 at two per cent, that'd be an extra $1,000 a month under the Albanese Labor government, or $12,000 a year. Or you might live in a southern state and you've got a higher mortgage. A $900,000 mortgage at two per cent is up $1,500 a month or $18,000 a year since the Albanese Labor government and all of these new members were elected.

Whilst this is happening, by the way, we had the extreme Greens coming in here wanting Labor to abandon their election commitment on income tax cuts—and well done to Labor for not giving in to them. We know that lower income taxes encourage people to work harder and to do overtime, encourage less tax evasion and eliminate bracket creep. But the Greens come in here and want Labor to abandon their election commitment, they want the Liberals to abandon their election commitment and they want the ETU, who promised stage 3 tax cuts, to abandon their election commitment—while, at the same time, the Greens are too obsessed with everything else that's happening.

The reality is that this cost-of-living crisis under the Albanese Labor government is continuing to build. We have fuel prices which are going up this week. The member for Fenner says, 'Well, Labor was able to keep the pandemic leave payments.' They were able to reverse that, but, when it comes to the fuel excise, oh no, it's all going up. This week will see a fuel price increase across the country. Whether you're buying diesel or unleaded, it'll continue to go up. What that will mean is an extra $13.20 per tank on a 60-litre tank or $686 a year for those people on JobSeeker who can least afford it. We've seen homelessness go up. We've seen rents go up through the roof. And what do those opposite do? 'Oh, no, it's all fine. We're doing something about child care.' Forget fuel, forget rent, forget electricity.

And, talking about electricity, they promised 100 times pre-election—100 times the Prime Minister got up and said, 'We're going to lower your bills by $275 a week.' Yet the Minister for Small Business in question time today—

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