Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I hasten to interrupt the member for Lyons quoting the member for Lyons in a publication that the member for Lyons produced and disseminated, seeking to hoodwink his electorate into believing it was a community newspaper. In any event, in the lead-up to the last federal election, the now Prime Minister said voters expect leaders to 'take responsibility'. I agree with that statement. Leaders need to take responsibility. But the problem is that that rhetoric that was provided in the lead-up to the election, no doubt as a last-minute attempt to make sure that undecided Australians voted for him to become Prime Minister, isn't matched by his actions now as Prime Minister, because as Prime Minister, rather than taking the responsibility for the circumstances we find ourselves in, which I'll provide some detail about in a moment, he says: 'Oh, no, no, no. This problem about inflation hasn't come from Canberra. It's come from the Kremlin.' That's not a leader taking responsibility. As for the Treasurer, the Treasurer says, 'Well, we're not making it worse.' No, you're not, but you're not making it any better, either. With respect, this is like the CFS volunteer who turns up to the fire with the equipment to put the fire out and says: 'Don't blame me; I didn't start it. I didn't start the fire.' Fair enough, but you've got the means to put it out. So it's time you pulled those levers.

What do Australians face right now? Don't take it from me. Take it from those opposite and their budget. What does their budget say about what Australians can expect over the next four years, or at least over the next 12 months? Next year real wages will be stagnant. They are stagnant and they will remain stagnant. The budget makes it clear that the cost of living will continue to increase. It goes further, and it assumes that gas and electricity prices will continue to go up, that unemployment will rise—these are the assumptions that those opposite have made in their own budget—and that inflation will remain stubbornly high for longer. But, as we heard today in question time, the assumption those opposite have made for a peak cash rate have already been exceeded within a month. And Australians will continue to face higher taxes. That's what those opposite have baked into their budget. Real wages will be stagnant, the cost of living will continue to increase, gas and electricity prices will continue to go up, unemployment will rise, inflation will remain stubbornly high and Australians will continue to face higher taxes. And that's after 12 months. Imagine a poor, hardworking Australian out there today thinking to themselves, 'Well, if this is how much harder it is under Labor after 12 months, imagine what it will be like after three years.'

All the while, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, those opposite obfuscate responsibility and blame the Kremlin while they pursue the Voice. I have a suggestion for the leader of our nation, the Prime Minister. He can start dealing with this issue. Australians are unquantifiably more concerned about the cost of living than they are a referendum around constitutional change to implement a voice to parliament. So why don't we do this: why don't we pull back from that proposal. Why don't we spend the next six months not arguing about the Voice but seeking, in a bipartisan way, to address the cost-of-living issues. Australians would thank the Prime Minister if he were to make that his priority. They would absolutely thank him. Instead, what's going to happen—I'll predict it for those opposite—is that we will have a referendum around the middle of October. I estimate—nay, I expect—it will fail, and Australians will wake up with a hangover, a referendum hangover, on 15 October. They will turn to their government and say, 'I cannot believe that you have spent the last six months pursuing this idea instead of addressing cost-of-living challenges.' An average Australian household is $25,000 worse off today than it was when the coalition left government. For the benefit of those opposite, that's $25,000 after-tax. That's more money then you can fly a rocket ship over.

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