Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

Labor cannot manage money, so they continue to come after yours. The average Australian's paying 39 per cent more tax under this government. Since Labor was elected, Australia suffered the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world. No matter how much spin and nonsense you get from the other side, they cannot avoid that fact—the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world. This goes to the heart of their failure. Every day brings another cost hit under this government. Fees, charges, household costs and fuel are all going up or being indexed. This inflation is Labor's silent but deadly tax.

The government has kept inflation way above the target band of two to three per cent for way too long. It is still sitting at four per cent. It's lifting prices, inflating government charges and pushing hardworking Australians into paying more tax. While Labor profits from this inflation, their tax cuts do not keep up. At 70c a day, they won't even buy a cup of coffee a week. In contrast, at the current inflation rate, our tax-back guarantee would give a typical worker $400 back automatically each and every year.

Living standards have collapsed, GDP per person has gone backwards, migration is running at around 2½ times higher than it was under the coalition and power bills are up 40 per cent. Meanwhile, Labor's record spending means the budget is forecast to be in debt and deficit for a decade, with debt about to pass $1 trillion. Imagine sitting around the dining table with your family and telling them, 'We're going to spend more money than we receive every year for the next 10 years.' You wouldn't. In fact, you can't, yet that's exactly what this Labor government and this Treasurer are doing. To pay for this, they deploy toxic taxes, assaulting aspiration. They are locking young Australians out of the opportunities afforded to older generations, by whacking taxes on savings, investment and small businesses. Australians work harder than ever, yet fall further and further behind.

While we are talking about standards, it's not just standards of living that have fallen under Labor's integrity standards. Look no further than the Matt Kean issue, which simply does not pass the pub test. Mr Kean was personally chosen by the Prime Minister to lead the Climate Change Authority. It has now been revealed that he spent over $32,000 on one single trip to Brazil last year for an international climate conference. During this trip, Mr Kean appeared on a panel alongside executives of Woolemi Capital, despite being an executive of that very same private investment firm himself. I agree with my colleague the member for Wannon, Dan Tehan. He cannot remain chair of the public Climate Change Authority while concurrently serving in this private firm.

At the very least, the perception of a conflict of interest warrants an investigation. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, needs to explain how he allowed the situation to fester, what action he has taken and if he still holds confidence in Mr Kean. Sending mates on exotic overseas trips on the taxpayers' dime during a cost-of-living crisis is an absolute gross waste.

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