Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) | Hansard source

After 20 months of a Labor government, it is sad to say that Australians are poorer. Australians are poorer after 20 months of a Labor government, and what we've just seen here—with a very self-satisfied Treasurer coming in here with his grin and a Prime Minister looking very happy with himself—is that clearly they are disconnected from the pain being felt by households throughout this country. It's not often that, after nearly two years of a new government, anyone has been able to stand up and say that people in Australia are now poorer than they were when the Labor Party came to government.

The average household in this country has seen a loss of $8,000. That is the average household. It doesn't include households with a mortgage, and we know that if you've got a mortgage it's well above $20,000—$24,000, in fact, for an Australian family with an average mortgage. That's how much they are worse off after two years of a Labor government. Food is up by nearly 10 per cent. Housing, with this hapless housing minister with no idea, is up by 12 per cent. Electricity is up by 20 per cent. Insurance is up by 22 per cent. It'll be very interesting to see the next quarter's ABS data as Australians start seeing their insurance notices coming through. And, of course, gas is up by 27 per cent.

Let's touch on a couple of those. Electricity is up by 20 per cent and gas is up by 27 per cent, but this Prime Minister, whom the truth is not known to, said on 97 occasions before the election that energy prices for the average house would be down by $275 a year. He said it on 97 occasions. How many times has he said it since the election?

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