I don't need to tell anyone in this place that next Tuesday is the Melbourne Cup—the race that stops a nation—but, of course, next Tuesday something else happens. The Reserve Bank meets. The strong expectation is that we will see the 17th interest rate increase under Labor. This will be the decision that shatters the nation. I shudder to think what it will mean for so many Australians if they see a 17th interest rate increase under Labor.

If it comes to pass, we know the average new mortgage holder in Australia will have to find $33,000 of after-tax income that they didn't have to find when we were last in government—$33,000. You can understand why so many Australians are giving up hope. Among those hit hardest are those who have taken out a loan in recent times. We know many of them are staring down the barrel of having negative equity over their house as they're paying that kind of mortgage. Australians are having to cut back not just because of mortgage costs but because they're seeing surging inflation. It was up again yesterday. It doesn't stop. It's not just mortgages and rents. It's groceries. It's electricity. It's gas. It's insurance. It's education. It's fuel. We're about to see new records on fuel. We're getting close to it in terms of what we'll see at the bowser in the coming days. We expect to see it continue to go up. It's child care. You name it and it's going up.

Sadly, those opposite declared victory on this a long time ago. I was lucky and privileged enough to be at the grand final at the MCG. There it was, 15 minutes before the end, well before the final siren, we saw wharfie time. Well, can I give you a bit of wharfie time here? This is from the Prime Minister in March 2025. I think this was at about half-time he was declaring victory. 'We have dealt with inflation'—that's what he said. He said:

It's now down with a two in front of it.

That was early last year. I have another one, another clanger and more wharfie time from the Treasurer when he said in January last year:

The worst of the inflation challenge is now well and truly behind us.

Well, I'll tell you what, it's meant that they have had to dig very deep into their bag of excuses. Every time inflation rises and every time the interest rate goes up—the interest rate going up the 17th time is what we're looking down the barrel of next Tuesday—the Prime Minister reaches into that bag. If it's not the war in Ukraine, it'll be the war in Iran, Donald Trump or President Putin. He keeps going back. Of course, there are past prime ministers, like Prime Minister Morrison. I think Prime Minister Abbott's been on the list. He'll go back to Menzies. I think Barton's going to get a look-in on this one! I think he might even go over to the UK. I think Disraeli and Gladstone might get a look-in on this one! He will not stop. He will look for an excuse wherever he can possibly find it.

But the truth is that he's run out of excuses. Most of all, he underestimates the intelligence of Australians. He absolutely underestimates their intelligence. They know we have the highest core inflation of any major advanced country in the world. That is the reality, and there is no excuse for that. We are used to being at the right end of the league table. We are a nation of exceptionalism. That exceptionalism is being destroyed by those opposite, who do not understand the economy. They do not understand it.

Yesterday, in question time, the Prime Minister was looking for excuses. He cherry-picked the Reserve Bank governor's quotes. But I'll tell you what she actually said. She said:

… we still see inflation arising from domestic capacity pressures.

This is an economy that doesn't work. It doesn't work because they don't understand it. I say give the member for Parramatta a go. Even better, give us a go, because we'll get this right. We will get this right. But all we see from those opposite is deflection, deception and omission. That's the Labor way.

In terms of hypocrisy on this, I've got another quote here from a former opposition leader. They said:

His Prime Minister is happy to claim credit whenever things go well but when things don't go right it's always blame someone else, it's never accept responsibility.

That was said in April 2022 by the Prime Minister when he was the Leader of the Opposition. The hypocrisy knows absolutely no end when it comes to this Prime Minister.

Australians know that government spending drives inflation and higher interest rates. That's what does. It always has. There's nothing new in that. We have a crisis of big government in this country, and those opposite cannot help themselves. Spending is at a 40-year high, outside of the pandemic. We were told by Treasury officials just in the last 24 hours that over a hundred billion dollars has been spent in net spending by those opposite in their budgets since they came to power, and that drives inflation.

What we need is to save, to save the nation. That's what we need. We announced earlier this week $31 billion of savings. We have already announced that. The Treasurer told us just a few days ago that anyone with good ideas for cutting spending should come forward with them. Well, we have.

He can get rid of his net zero bureaucracy. He can get rid of his climate bureaucracy that's not reducing emissions. His green hydrogen mythology—even the Minister for Climate Change and Energy's realised that's not working. He can stop the climate boondoggle that saw $35 million go to the pre-COP flop—that snoozefest. Even the energy minister couldn't stay awake. He couldn't even stay awake at his own conference.

And, of course, there's their housing bureaucracy that's not delivering extra houses. We know housing construction in this country is in freefall, sadly. It's been in freefall because those programs are not working. We will terminate their pie-in-the-sky corporate welfare, their handouts, to big companies. I'll tell you what, there are no handouts going around right now to small business in this country. Small business is being crushed by those opposite.

We'll save billions of dollars by stopping welfare to non-Australians. I mean, seriously! Charity begins at home. It begins with Australian citizens. That's what our welfare programs and the NDIS should be focused on, as should the home deposit scheme. Isn't it extraordinary? One of the first things those opposite did when they came to power was to say, 'Let's give access to the home deposit scheme to non-Australians.' Seriously!

We'll save $8 billion by crushing the illicit tobacco trade in this country. This is extraordinary—they could reduce taxes, by 80 per cent in this case, and raise $8 billion. And they refuse to do it, because they are so in love with higher taxes.

Well, as I said, there is a better way, and that is to fix our economy and protect our way of life. That means axing Labor's toxic taxes, waste and red tape. It means ending net zero. They're embedding net zero as a legally binding obligation in the European free trade agreement. No wonder they love it so much! That's what they love about it. And, of course, we will put Australians first every day of the week, and that means an immigration policy that works for Australia. We need to get the numbers down and the standards up, moving away from their mass migration to our skilled migration. We will always put Australia first.