Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

With all due respect to the member for Mallee, whom I have quite a lot of personal regard for—oh my goodness! We've now had two speakers—following every other MPI of this parliament put up by the opposition—which just have complaints, complaints, complaints, and the suggestion that we do not have a plan—and they can make that suggestion only because they do not listen when the Treasurer and Prime Minister talk about our plans—and not a single suggestion of what actually should be done. We had the shadow minister for industry, who was the head boy, really, of a pathetic mob of performative whingers—just be negative, negative, negative for his entire 10 minutes in this MPI, with not one suggestion of what should be done or could be done other than what this government is doing. He just wants to say everything's bad and everything's wrong, but put not a single suggestion forward.

This is why the Liberal Party is not in government anymore. Australians are sick and tired of negativity, negativity, negativity from an oppositional opposition for opposition's sake without any suggestion of how it might actually make things better. They are sick and tired of responses from politicians to important, complex and deep conversations about how to fix some of the structural problems in this country which are all: 'Oh, what a pathetic essay! Oh, you've got an idea of changing something and we don't like change!' How about engaging in an actual conversation about where we need to go and how we might get there? Change is hard, but be part of the conversation, instead of being so negative all the time without any suggestion as to how things might be fixed—things like the inflation crisis, as the member for Mallee rightly described it, and its impact on Australians. Families, single people, young people, old people—people all across this country—are feeling it, and it's tough; it's absolutely tough.

It's not as though this has happened overnight or in the last 10 months. When the shadow minister talked—over 10 successive minutes—about 10 successive rate rises, he didn't talk about their almost 10 successive years in power. He didn't talk about almost 10 successive years of making decision after decision that made the structure of the economy, the housing market and inequality worse. Apparently, the Albanese Labor government is to blame for not fixing all of those problems in its 10 months in government. When we do put forward positive plans and legislation to fix those problems, what do those on the other side of the parliament do? They vote against them. They come in here, talk about the difficult lives Australians are having, raise issues that exist and then vote against the solutions. That's the way to get back into government! Keep on it!

The government, we on this side of the chamber, are providing responsible cost-of-living relief, like my colleagues have said: cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, direct energy bill relief. The National Reconstruction Fund—which the mob over there, in continually wanting to be performative whingers, oppose—is a key platform to support, diversify and transform Australia's industry and create sustainable, well-paying jobs that will help families pay the bills and help manufacturers in my electorate, like Australian Blowmoulding, Brumby's, Clark Masts and many others across the Carrum Downs industrial precinct. Why don't the opposition come in here and support positive plans for once?

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