Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion on the cost of living because it is of great interest to me, as it is to 27 million Australians who have never been doing it tougher than they are today. You see, when Labor were campaigning for the last election they promised Australians the world but have given them an atlas. They promised Australians that they would have a better quality of life and a better standard of living, but what they've delivered and continue to deliver is more and more and more hardship.

For the bulk of Australian families, there is more month at the end of the money. They can't make ends meet anymore. And why? There are a multitude of reasons, but one of the main reasons is this government's energy policies. In the 2022 election campaign they promised that Australians would see a $275 price reduction in their energy bills. Three years later, we've seen energy prices go up by 30 per cent—over $1,200 a year. So instead of getting $275 off, Australians are paying more than $1,000 than they were under the coalition government.

Australians just cannot fathom why this government continues down its all-renewables policy when it is impacting upon them and their businesses. So many Australian businesses—a record number of businesses—have gone broke under Labor's watch.

I want to send a shout-out to the member for Fairfax. The member for Fairfax endured a three-day love-in session here last week at the roundtable. I want to give the member for Fairfax a shout-out not just for his patience but for calling out the Treasurer on the fact that this government has overseen a significant increase in government expenditure. We've gone from spending 24 per cent of GDP on government expenditure to 27 per cent in just this last term of government. This government is addicted to spending. Now it poses these questions at this roundtable about how to somehow provide a better quality of life and a better standard of living for Australians. Well, I've got a tip for them: stop spending.

This government is due to hit $1 trillion of government debt by the end of this year. By the end of this term, it'll be around $1.2 trillion. That's the estimate: $1.2 trillion. And, as every Victorian would be able to point out, at some stage the music is going to stop. Governments can keep spending and spending, but at some stage it has to be paid back. At some stage the music will stop and Australians—particularly Victorians—will know that their Labor governments have driven them into the depths of despair and poverty.

The Victorian state is now a basket case, just as it was when I left it back in the early 1990s after the collapse of the State Bank of Victoria in the Joan Kirner and John Cain days. What we are seeing today under this Labor government is a repeat of that. It's a repeat of what the Labor government has done in the state of Victoria over the last dozen or so years. We do not want to see that replicated across the country, but that is part of the reason why Australians' standard of living is dropping so markedly, why Australians can't afford to pay their fuel or energy bills and why they can't afford to put food on the table anymore. Australians are being called upon to make a decision as to whether they want to heat their homes or whether they want to eat. That is a decision that Australians should not be having to make in 2025, but they are because of this economically lazy federal Labor government.

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