Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

SHARKIE () (): It's hard not to feel a sense of dread and despair with the direction of the Australian economy. The discussion du jour across every household is the worrying increase in the cost of living, and it's easy to see why. Inflation rose by 1.8 per cent in the September quarter to reach 7.3 per cent for the past year. This is the highest increase since 1990. I remember 1990 very well, and it is my deep fear that we are heading back there, where we will have double-digit interest rates.

The cost of non-discretionary items rose at an annual pace of 8.4 per cent in the September quarter, up from 7.6 per cent in the June quarter, which the Australian Bureau of Statistics dubs as a new high. These are essential items that consumers typically cannot avoid buying, such as fuel and food staples. The cost of discretionary items rose by 5.5 per cent. I just read that Stephen Koukoulas has said that retail spending is very, very low.

The impact is real. I've personally seen anecdotal evidence in my local supermarkets in Mayo. One really easy way to see that people are really struggling is that they're trying to buy exclusively home brand. If you look around at home brand in your stores, that section of the shelf is empty at the moment. Foodbank Australia, another community food distribution organisation, are servicing more people, many of whom have never reached out to these services before. Foodbank Australia CEO Brianna Casey commented on the Foodbank Hunger Report 2022. She said:

I have witnessed firsthand the rise in demand for food relief services over the past year as the country has been 'recovering' from Covid-19, but even I'm shocked by the picture that is exposed in this report.

Adding to the pain, Treasury estimates that wages will not outstrip inflation until 2024 at the earliest. However, by then, Australians will have experienced a 20 per cent rise in electricity bills this year and a further 30 per cent rise in the next financial year. That is a 50 per cent increase. Similarly, gas bills are also expected to rise by 20 per cent this year and a further 20 in the next financial year—40 per cent in total.

Ahead of the election, the Labor Party did spruik its credentials on its ability to lower power prices—and I'm assuming that that's from the time of the election and not where we're going to in a couple of years—by $275 per annum. I've been listening to the debate, and everyone is blaming each other, which is the usual thing that happens in this place, with nobody really coming up with any solutions. I ask the government to be truthful. When will Australians see that $275 or the equivalent on their power bills? And, if it can't deliver, I think it's time that the government was honest with the Australian people. In my electorate, I have constituents saying to me, 'Rebekha, when is my power bill going to get cheaper?' And I say, 'I just don't know.' I think I'm correct in hearing that the member for Moreton said that that $275 would be delivered by 2025. That's too far away. That's effectively another election away.

For many Australians, there really is no light to the end of the tunnel. It's quite the opposite. Under the poor guidance of the Reserve Bank of Australia, which touted for months that record-low interest rates would remain low until 2024, we've seen lots of people get mortgages right up to their borrowing capacity on sub-two-per-cent interest rates. That's going to be converted to a variable rate for many very soon of between five and seven per cent. The extent of this impending calamity is enormous. Forty-six per cent of home loans written in July and August last year were on a fixed rate. A total of $158 billion of fixed-rate mortgages will mature before the end of this financial year. It's going to mean a very bleak Christmas for a lot of people.

Inflation, cost-of-living increases, out-of-control energy prices and mortgage increases are seriously hurting Australians. I support this motion that calls on the government to focus on the issues that really matter and to deliver a real and comprehensive plan to address these issues. I listened to a speech by the member for Sturt in the Federation Chamber last week. He said that what we don't want to see are high wages creating this effect of spiralling inflation further and further into double digits. Let's focus on families. Let's focus on our communities. Let's focus on getting inflation down. We don't want to go back to 1990; it was a horrible time. It was the recession that we supposedly needed to have, but, let me tell you, it was a horrible time to be a young person in Australia. We can do better.

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