Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today's cost-of-living pressures are as a result of nine years of incompetence and negligence by the former coalition government. For the Manager of Opposition Business, the member for Bradfield, to bring this motion before the House, when he was a senior member of the last coalition government, quite frankly is appalling, in the sense that he takes no responsibility for a government that he was a senior member of.

Inflation, interest rates, energy costs, food costs, health costs and housing costs were all on the way up in May 2022 because of the Morrison government's failure to manage the economy. The only thing that didn't go up, as other speakers on this side of chamber have made absolutely clear, is wages. They remained stagnant for almost the whole nine years that those opposite were in office. Every day that the coalition raise the cost of living in this House they are reminding the Australian people of their own incompetence. The Australian people understand that economic conditions don't change overnight, that they actually change over long periods, and, for that reason, it will take the Albanese government time to repair the mess that we inherited. It seems to be part of history: every time Labor come into office it's time to repair the mess. We have found that again this time.

I'll briefly talk about some of the issues that go to the heart of the cost of living, which is what we are talking about today. I'll talk about interest rates. The first interest rate rise occurred under their watch, and it was very clear at the time that interest rates were on their way up. Interest rates were on their way up because inflation was rising, and inflation was rising because of the mismanagement of the economy by those opposite. Inflation is caused by a number of factors. I'll touch on only some of them, because time won't allow me to go through them all. First is energy costs, possibly one of the most important drivers of inflation at the moment. The member for Hume, just prior to the election, hid the truth about energy costs because he knew they were rising and he knew that they were rising because of failures on the part of the coalition government at the time. What policies did they have in place to manage price rises? Absolutely none. Then, when the Albanese government brought into this parliament legislation which capped the price of gas, which has made a difference, what did those opposite do? They opposed it. Again: no thanks to those opposite for trying to help the Australian people, who generally are struggling with the cost of living.

Let's turn to food prices for just a moment. Food prices come about because of supply and demand. Supply and demand are directly impacted by extreme weather events—in other words, weather events which are becoming more frequent and more severe because of climate change. And where were they on climate change? Doing absolutely nothing. So if you want to blame this government for the problems of today, look at your own history, where you didn't act when you could have.

With respect to extreme weather events, one of the issues that is hitting families hard right now is insurance costs—again, as a result of those weather events. Insurance costs have skyrocketed to the point that some people simply cannot afford them, because insurance companies have to wear the costs every time there is major flooding or major fires, and those costs have to be shared throughout all of their policyholders.

I'll turn to health costs for a moment. After nine years, we had a health system in absolute crisis. Bulk-billing rates were going down, there were doctor shortages across the country, the aged-care system was in crisis—all because the previous coalition government starved all of those areas of funding. They come in here and talk about the cost of living. It's because of their negligence over so many years, across so many portfolio areas, that we face cost-of-living pressures today.

This government, to its credit, is gradually working through all of those issues, whether it's getting wages moving, cheaper medicines, cheaper child care, expending paid parental leave, controlling energy prices, or offering more affordable housing. All of those areas will make a difference, but they're not going to get through unless we get the support of this parliament, and they won't go through overnight.

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