Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

r BRIAN MITCHELL () (): What those opposite have failed to remember or, in fact, have conveniently forgotten is that interest rates started going up under them. We've inherited the mess, and we're cleaning it up. Every credible economist and commentator acknowledges that inflation is a global challenge. It is not restricted just to Australia; it's a global challenge. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand's rate is 5.5 per cent; the US Federal Reserve's rate is five to 5.25 per cent; the Bank of Canada's rate is 4.75 per cent; the European Central Bank's rate is 3.25 per cent; and the Bank of England's rate is 4.5 per cent. Clare Lombardelli, the Chief Economist of the OECD—who worked for a bloke those opposite know all too well, Mathias Cormann, the Secretary-General of the OECD—said:

The global economy is turning a corner but faces a long road ahead to attain strong and sustainable growth …

G20 inflation is expected to drop from 7.8 per cent to 6.1 per cent and then to 4.7 per cent in 2024. This is a global challenge, not just restricted to Australia. It is these global pressures from the war in Ukraine and neglected, broken supply chains that drive the higher inflation that is leading to these globally higher interest rates.

The situation in Australia was only made worse by the previous government due to its wanton neglect of energy policy and skills shortages, its wanton vandalism of the national finances and its failure to back advanced manufacturing. The coalition presided over a decade of missed opportunities and misguided priorities, resulting in deliberately lower wages, increased cost-of-living pressures and a trillion dollars of debt, without enough to show for it. They voted for higher energy bills for millions of households. They had the opportunity in December to come in here and vote for energy relief, and they decided not to do it. They voted against that relief for households and small businesses. They want more expensive medicines, and they won't support more affordable housing. There is a bill in the Senate right now that will deliver 30,000 homes over the next five years, including 4,000 homes for women and children escaping domestic violence. It would increase housing supply in this country, bringing down those pressures, and those opposite are voting against it, or they're blocking it in the Senate. Get on the phone to your senators and tell them to stop getting in the way of increasing housing supply. The Leader of the Opposition, when he was a minister, wanted a GP tax.

By contrast, the Labor government's economic plan prioritises controlling inflation while making sure we look after people who need it most: cheaper child care; cheaper medicines; expanding paid parental leave; tripling the bulk-billing incentive; wage increases; fee-free TAFE and more university places, especially for kids from the regions; building more affordable homes; providing power rebates; and increasing the base rate for eligible recipients of JobSeeker, Austudy, youth allowance and other working-age payments—effective action and structural change, not a grab bag of giveaways and rorts such as those opposite subjected us to.

It has to be said the Liberals are the eshays of Australian politics. It's free pizza and beer for their mates, except it's not free pizza and beer; it was all put on mum and dad's credit card. They trashed the house, they racked up the bills, they upset the neighbours and they left behind a whopping big mess. Well, mum and dad have come home. We're cleaning up, we're paying the bills and we're repairing relations with the neighbours. But it's going to take time.

The Albanese Labor government has carefully tailored its budget to ease cost-of-living pressures while tackling the inflation issue that Australians face. In fact, Treasury's advice is that our policies to ease cost-of-living pressures are expected to directly reduce inflation by three-quarters of a percentage point in 2023-24. It is still higher than we'd like and more persistent than is ideal, but it's down from where it would have been, making a meaningful difference to families around the country, and I've got it here it on the front page of the latest edition of Our Lyons Community. Labor is tackling the cost of living: cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, power bill relief, rent relief, fee-free TAFE, backing high wages, homebuying support and more support for over-55s. We're getting on with the job of delivering the relief this country needs while also making sure we don't contribute to higher inflation, because we know inflation is bad for the country and we're determined to tackle it.

See this speech in context