Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Well, colleagues, it feels a little bit like back to the future coming in here, and the reason for that is that we all recall—those of us that were here when we left parliament—the jeering, the sneering, the hubris and the born-to-rule attitude from this Labor prime minister and this Labor government. Unfortunately, in their dedicated refusal to answer sensible questions today during question time, in which it is their job to come here and present themselves not just to us but to the Australian people and to answer those questions transparently and honestly, they were full of obfuscation and avoidance, and, in doing so, they let down the people they say they have come here to represent.

I want to start with something that was really important. There was a reason why my first question to the Prime Minister was about housing for young Australians. It was because we care deeply about housing for young Australians, and, when you break the compact between the generation that the Prime Minister and I are from and the generation that can't afford to get into a home today, then you break faith with the Australian people. And that's what we saw. So I made it very clear that 1.2 million homes was the promise—in fact, it was repeated many times. Those 1.2 million homes cannot be delivered. We know this not because the government's been open and transparent about it but because leaked Treasury documents have told us this. Now, if that happens, if the government accidentally leaks their own documents, they should fess up. They should acknowledge it and they should tell us what they're doing about it. More importantly, they should tell young Australians.

So what did the Prime Minister give in his answer? Quotes here, state policies there—muddles here, there and everywhere. He didn't actually answer the question. No question was answered about this. It was interesting, though, because, later on in question time, the Minister for Housing actually said building homes for Australians is in a crisis. She's open to any ideas. She effectively ran up the white flag and she didn't deny the parlous state of building homes for young people in Australia. And it's really, really important that we focus on that. It's really important. It is in a crisis, and the Minister for Housing actually did acknowledge that it was in a crisis. This is not good enough. It's not good enough for a government to not step in to a critical policy area that matters.

I've said we'll be constructive when they have a good idea that's in the national interest. We'll be critical when they have a bad idea that hurts Australians. I want to call out some of those bad ideas and those bad initiatives right now because we have been out there. We have been listening, and Australians are struggling. Members of the Liberal and National parties are out across every corner of this country. We're listening, and Australians are struggling.

I've talked about young Australians finding it impossible to find a pathway into their first home, but mums are struggling everywhere with the family budget. I've been a mum and I know what it's like when you just don't have enough money at the end of the week, when you're too scared to open the bills on your kitchen windowsill, when you don't even want to know how much your power bill's going to cost and when you've got the back-to-school costs—which of course come at this time of year—and you're feeling terrible because you know there are new shoes and new uniforms and you don't know what you're going to do about it. Young mums are struggling, and that means families are doing it tough. Just because we've had an election and we've a whole lot of new rhetoric from this government doesn't mean families are finding it any easier. They are not.

Small businesses are struggling. We're the party of small business. We know that. We love our small businesses; 97 per cent of all Australian businesses are small businesses. So many of our members here have actually worked, raised their families and lived a life in small business. I want to say to the small businesses out there that we're here for you every single day of the week because we know what it's like. We know that people aren't coming into your businesses and that they're not spending money, but we also know that you are the fabric of our towns, the fabric of our society and the fabric of so much of what goes on in volunteering, in sporting and in schools. But you're drowning, small businesses, under red tape and regulation. We care about that. We understand that.

Australians work hard, but they feel like they are running harder and harder and they're just standing still. The first question to the Prime Minister was about meaningful cost-of-living relief. Where? How? When? Who is getting this meaningful cost-of-living relief? We still remember the Prime Minister saying, 'Life will be cheaper under me.' We heard him say in the last couple of days he 'won't leave anyone behind', but none of these statements, these rhetorical flourishes, are going to actually help out there in the real world.

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