Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) | Hansard source

Let me be clear. I'm not standing before you to debate the need for those low-income earners to receive a pay rise. In this Labor-created cost-of-living crisis, it's desperately needed. In the last two years under this Prime Minister, we've seen promise after promise broken and we've seen the cost of everything going up.

Here are the facts. Under this one-term government, electricity is up by 21.5 per cent. The cost of groceries is up by 11.4 per cent. The cost of keeping a roof over our heads has gone up 14 per cent. The cost of health has gone up nine per cent. The cost of education has gone up 11 per cent. The cost of transport has gone up 13 per cent. The cost of insurance has gone up a whopping 26 per cent.

In my electorate alone, we've been inundated with calls from constituents who are struggling so severely that they are facing the threat of homelessness. We've heard from parents who have to make a choice about whether to feed themselves or feed their children. We've heard from people whose electricity bills have gone up by over $1,000. If the Labor government's claim to be doing everything they can to tackle the cost of living crisis were real, this wouldn't be happening. With this wage increase, those Australians who the Albanese Labor government claim to care about are going to see an increase in their salary of just over $30 a week. There is no way that this government can celebrate this when the cost of living or the cost of simply existing has gone up so much more for everybody in Australia.

Instead of curbing the cost of living, the Albanese Labor government were happy to spend $450 million on a failed voice referendum in the time when people needed our help. Those opposite are happy to spend trillions of dollars on a renewable energy fantasy that is going to see thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land and native vegetation wiped out and replaced with 28,000 kilometres of poles and wires, solar farms and wind turbines that will only provide Australia with part-time power and unreliable energy. Those opposite have implemented tax after tax on major industries, penalising the hardworking Australians who greatly contribute to our economy, making it more difficult than ever to be able to buy a house or put food on the table. Those opposite have axed foreign-worker schemes and implemented restrictions on remaining foreign-worker schemes, making it almost impossible for our farmers to afford to operate and get their food from paddock to plate, which is driving up the cost of living even more. Those opposite have passed their family car and ute tax, which will force car prices to increase by up to $25,000. That's not even taking into account the fact that some of these price increases could push vehicle costs up so high that they'll also incur the luxury car sales tax on top of that.

To make matters worse, those opposite have now voted to close down the live sheep export industry and to spend $107 million of taxpayer money to do so. Why is the Albanese Labor government shutting down an entire industry and destroying people's ability to make a living when we're in a cost-of-living crisis? I just don't get it. For some of these farmers, their families have worked their land for up to six generations, and it's all they've known. What are they meant to do now?

Those opposite have voted to employ 36,000 more bureaucrats in Canberra, at a cost of over $24 billion over the forwards. And those opposite want to pay Minister Shorten's NDIS speechwriter $600,000 over two years. Those opposite even sat on their hands when my colleagues and I called on them, time and time again, for an ACCC inquiry into supermarket price gouging.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 18 : 01 to 18:13

I have to ask seriously: is all of this just a joke to those on that side of the House? It truly defies all rational thinking. It shows the Prime Minister's ineptitude as a leader and lack of genuine care for the Australian public.

This motion is an insult to the people of Australia. It is an insult to the people on this side of the House, who wake up each and every day and try to make a positive change. The Albanese Labor government is failing and needs to do better.

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