Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

When I first came into this role, I made the point that Australians want to see their standard of living restored and want to see their way of life protected. Nothing threatens their standard of living or their way of life more than not having access, at an affordable level, to the energy and fuel they need. We're seeing right across this great country now the fear and the concerns that Australians have about whether they're going to get fuel and what they're going to pay for that fuel.

After four years of an Albanese government curtailing investment support for our endowment of natural energy resources, today we're presented with the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill to help fuel suppliers acquire the fuel we need as we stare down this energy crisis. We are, of course, supportive of emergency measures to secure our fuel supply. But make no mistake: this is happening at the worst possible time.

The economic situation Australians are facing in their household budgets and in their businesses is dire. It is absolutely dire. Australians are feeling as though this is the straw that is breaking the camel's back. That is how they feel right now because this government has let them down time after time over recent years. They were promised that inflation had been beaten. They were promised that prices would go back to that comfortable range of between two and three per cent that the Reserve Bank targets. They were promised that interest rates were coming down and that they would stay down.

The Treasurer sacked and stacked the Reserve Bank board. He got rid of the old board and stacked it with his appointments. That's a statement of fact. Then, lo and behold, there was an interest rate cut during the election campaign. We were told during that election campaign that that was it. Interest rates were down; inflation was down. It was all beaten. They'd beaten the beast.

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