Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's telling that it's at the top of the priority list of those opposite to move motions in this place which pat them on the back and congratulate them on their time here as the government for the last six months. As the federal member for McPherson, I'd like to start by saying that six months is quite the milestone since the last election, and I thank the people of McPherson for giving me the opportunity to represent them in this place. It's an honour that I never take for granted. But, in light of the motion that we're seeing here today, it also reminds us of the six-month record of this Albanese Labor government. It's a record that the Australian people can see is not good.

The Albanese Labor government has failed on a number of fronts, particularly on the economy, the cost of living, health and defence—just to name a few items on this terrible scorecard. In relation to the economy and government spending, we've seen spending balloon to 27 per cent of GDP, with revenue limping along at 25.5 per cent. Aside from a temporary spike during the global pandemic, that means that government expenditure is at its highest levels since the Second World War.

When I came to this place and delivered my maiden speech, I spoke about the fact that we want to make sure that government doesn't leave a burden for its future generations. We've seen the gap alone adding $40 billion a year to the national credit card. We're seeing debt over a trillion dollars; it will be $1.2 trillion at the time of the next election. What does that mean? It means that, for each of us here, every 60 seconds—it looks like the power prices have gone up too much for this place as well!

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