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

With an assistant minister like that, it's no wonder the Prime Minister is so out of touch! He doesn't recognise the government's continuing failure to address the cost-of-living crisis facing Australian households and businesses. From power, to rent, fuel, insurance and groceries, the cost of living is now a national crisis, and every single one of these backbenchers is responsible. We would all remember the Prime Minister pledging to Australians that we'd all be better off under Labor—do we remember that? We warned the Australian people that life wouldn't be easy under Albanese! Yet this bizarrely out of touch Prime Minister claimed last week that it's been a pretty good 10 months. Well, let me tell you what my constituents think about the last 10 months. Sarah Jane from Griffin: 'Times are very tough at the moment. We have noticed a huge change in our grocery bill. Every single bill we have has increased. It's all becoming very overwhelming and hard to stay afloat. Wages haven't increased and I cannot see them increasing to cover the cost of all the other price increases either.'

Shenelle Leighton: 'Family of five used to spend $400 a fortnight for a huge shop. Now we need to set aside an extra $200 per fortnight just to get us through. Our rent just went up $90 per week and we are spending almost double what we used to on petrol.' We remember that the Albanese government removed the fuel excise. She continues: 'Couldn't afford to drive an hour for a friend's shave for a cure because we needed to save for petrol to get the kids to school. It is a joke.'

Rebecca Deverell from Griffin: 'Two adults and four kids spend around $400 a week which has increased to $100 per week, with my husband and I generally only eating one meal a day to be able to afford lunchbox snacks for the kids and cat food.'

Kelli Barker from Bracken Ridge: 'Family of seven with one adult, two teens and four little kids. We have a budget of $500 a fortnight, and now rent is up that's down to $340. We live on noodles and pasta for most of the second fortnight just so we can afford fuel to get to and from school.'

Jasmine Muir from Deception Bay: 'I used to be able to comfortably spend $350 a fortnight on groceries, meat and fruit and have some extra snacks for the kids. Now that hardly covers groceries and meat, and the kids are lucky if they get fruit to last two weeks or if we have food to the last fortnight.'

Hayley Jellis from Mango Hill: 'It's actually cheaper for a parent to give their kids a McDonald's happy meal for $5 than a home-cooked meal.'

Alexandra Tramacchi from Griffin: 'As a single parent of four kids under six, it is definitely cheaper to have takeaway every night. My shopping bill went from $150 per week 12 months ago to $220 for exactly the same stuff.' Twelve months ago it was way cheaper, Deputy Speaker, through you, to the assistant minister, and since the Albanese government has been elected cost of living is out of control.

Kylie Holley from Griffin: 'We have two teenagers and what used to cost me about $200 a week is now regularly $300-plus a week. That's buying cheaper cuts of meat and getting things in bulk or when they are on special like laundry powder. I'd say that groceries have gone up by about a third to a half in the last six months. It's a massive change in, I'd say, the last six months.

Linda Garner from Deception Bay: 'Between exorbitant rent prices and the cost of groceries increasing out of proportion, the current government has succeeded in making us a society struggling to survive.'

I have got more pages, more pages, more pages. Bec Aitcheson: 'I used to spend around $200 but now it's reached $450.' This government is absolutely hopeless and completely out of touch. They come in here and make up porkies every day of the week. Let me tell you, Prime Minister, through you Deputy Speaker, it hasn't been a good 10 months. For people in my electorate it has actually been hard to make ends meet. For last 10 months they've been waiting nervously to see how they're going to pay the bills. Small businesses have borne the brunt of the government's empty words over the last 10 months. It has been 10 months of going hungry. It has been 10 months of people wondering where they'll sleep each night. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, the lot of you. Stand up and fight for the people who are doing it tough.

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