Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

I rise today to support the motion moved by the member for Fadden. Under the Albanese Labor government, Australia has gone backwards, and families are struggling more than ever. Our living standards have fallen more than any other developed country, according to the OECD. We know that inflation is out of control, fuelled by Labor's spending addiction, resulting in 15 interest rate rises under this Prime Minister. And it is that spending addiction which is pushing our national debt towards $1 trillion.

At the 2022 election, Labor promised that our power bills would be $275 lower by 2025. The Prime Minister repeated that promise countless times, but Australians know the reality: instead of cheaper energy, households are facing rising electricity costs and continued financial pressure. This is not the outcome that Australians were promised, and it is yet another example of a government failing to deliver on its commitments. Families are feeling the pinch right across Australia. Small businesses are finding it harder and harder to keep their doors open and are being offered no relief by the Albanese government. The result: 41,000 small-business closures under this Prime Minister.

In the last sitting week the government had the opportunity to give Australians a bigger automatic income tax cut. Instead, they voted against the coalition's tax-back guarantee 11 times. Labor talks about cost-of-living relief, but in this chamber, only two weeks ago, they voted to make Australians pay more. In fact, Labor's secret inflation tax will cost taxpayers $200 billion more. It's shameful.

In the last four years Labor have done nothing on housing or housing affordability. They pretended it was not a problem until this recent budget, when they had to act as if something was being done by breaking more promises, introducing their toxic taxes on housing. We saw the Labor spin machine go into overdrive, trying to sell the changes to the capital gains tax and negative gearing as a positive for housing, when in fact Labor's own budget papers clearly stated that there would be 35,000 fewer homes available, not more, and higher rents as a result. Remember, this is the Prime Minister who promised there would be no change to negative gearing. It is time for the government and the Prime Minister to take responsibility for their blatant mistruths and for misleading Australians.

Let's face it: Labor's budget is in tatters, and now the government is planning to plug some of these bad policy holes. Well, these carve outs are not going to fix the problems. Across regional Western Australia, small businesses are unable to attract workers, because there is nowhere for them to live. Severe housing shortages are costing businesses and preventing regional communities from thriving. Further to this, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, this government has hit our older Australians with more cost increases.

How can they claim to be doing everything they can to help Australians when people over the age of 65 are now paying more for private health cover? It is such a callous and uncaring government. Our senior citizens have done exactly what they were told to do: work hard, take out your private health insurance, go without something else just to make sure you've got the cover you need to make sure we keep the pressure off our public health queues. Labor wants to prioritise politics and reduce the private health rebate for senior Australians. It is shameful. Effectively it's a 21 per cent increase for essential health care for our older Australians. I've heard from seniors who are on fixed incomes that it is going to be nearly impossible to keep their private health insurance while managing rising living costs. So many of my constituents in Durack are choosing between keeping their insurance and paying for essentials like groceries and electricity.

There is a consistent theme here with this government. They don't care for Australians, especially our older Australians. They don't want us to get ahead. They do not want to support everyday Australians—just cutting them down, piece by piece, taxing them harder and making life harder and harder. We all know that Australians deserve much more. They deserve a government that keeps its promises, takes responsibility when it falls short and puts the cost of living front and centre. That is what we will do. (Time expired)

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