James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate them putting that—sort of—on the record by interjection. I'll repeat into Hansard that the interjections were that yes, that promise is going to be achieved by 2025. We on this side look forward to monitoring that and watching it very carefully and very closely.

The most terrible cost-of-living pressure at moment for Australian families is the dramatic reduction in real wages under this government. If the Australian Bureau of Statistics are wrong, it's up to you to dispute your own government agency, but we certainly think that they are accurate, and we certainly don't dispute that inflation in the December quarter annualised ran at 7.8 per cent and wages growth ran at 3.3 per cent. That is a disgrace. Real wages are going backwards at the highest amount in decades. You've got a particularly unique record in the government, which is the highest reduction in real wages for decades. While people are doing it so tough, with their wages going backwards, in my home state of South Australia electricity bills are going up by more than 21 per cent. Again, that's the government regulator. That's the AER. They put that statement out a couple of weeks ago. They said that electricity prices in my home state under the default market offer are going up by more than 21 per cent. Nine interest rate rises since the election. Interest rates are going up at the most dramatic rate in decades, and you have to go back to the dark days of that Keating recession that we had to have to see any of these sorts of statistics replicated—mortgages going up so rapidly, electricity prices going up so rapidly, inflation running at 7.8 per cent and real wages going down.

These are the things that the people of this country care about and are worried about, and I know previous speakers are mocking the fact that we're having a debate about the cost of living. What else should we be talking about if not the most significant challenge facing each and every Australian right now, which is their relative standard of living going backwards on every competent, clear metric of what people face in the household budget, whether that's utility prices, rents, mortgages, putting food on the table, family holidays, or whether or not the relativity of their pay packet against those increasing costs is going up or down? We know from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that it is going down. That is the fate of the average family in this country right now under Labor. Those are the statistics speaking. There is no spin on that. That is the reality of the government agency which we all believe and trust to produce credible statistics on our economy, the Australian Bureau Statistics. They see wages going backwards, electricity prices going up, rent going up on and mortgages going up.

Regrettably, it is only going to get worse because the electricity determinations are for a future point in time. Electricity is going up in my home state on the default market offer by more than 20 per cent. So inflation is at 7.8 per cent and people have that fate to look forward to in the future. So, in three months time, however hard it is to pay your electricity bill now, it will be 21.3 per cent harder in the state of South Australia. That's in the future under this government.

What are the government doing about it? They brag and say that people should be grateful about the fact that prices haven't gone up by more than 21.3 per cent. That's the retort from those opposite—that people in this country should be grateful that it's not worse that 21.3 per cent. What a disgraceful proposition and what a complete abrogation of responsibility for the most important issue facing families in South Australia, my home state, right now, which is the cost of living. There is no plan. They are just sitting back and letting these prices go up more than 20 per cent. All they want to do is talk about the previous government because they have nothing to talk about as a positive plan for the future. Next election, there will be a chance to change that dramatically.

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