Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. What measures will the government implement from 1 July to help families with the rising cost of petrol and groceries? What is the government’s response to market research which has been undertaken on the budget?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question because this is a government that does deliver for working families and those finding it tough to make ends meet around the kitchen table. We do understand that, at the end of the week, a lot of people have trouble paying the bills. We absolutely understand why they need to shop for specials. We on this side of the House are absolutely in touch with the fact that people are under tremendous cost-of-living pressure at the moment and that is the reason we are putting so much effort into tackling inflation. That is also why we put so much effort in the budget into delivering the tax cuts from 1 July this year—because prices are going up at the supermarket and at the petrol bowser and inflation is high, as the Reserve Bank has indicated again today. On top of that we have this oil shock going on. So many people do have to shop for specials and that is why they need the tax cuts that we are delivering in this budget.

In two weeks time, a young couple earning $87,000 a year will have an extra $20 in their pay cheque each week from tax cuts alone. That will help them. That will help them with the rising cost of living. That will help them with rising petrol prices. But it is not just tax cuts. There is a range of measures we are bringing in that were never contemplated by those opposite while they were in government. A typical young family with two young children will be $51 to $54 per week better off as a result of our initiatives, which will kick in in a fortnight. Let us just take child care. From 1 July this year, this young family will receive a 50 per cent rebate for their children’s child care, saving them $24 a week. That recognises cost-of-living pressures. The family will also be eligible for a $375 education tax refund—something the Liberals never delivered. And the Liberals never delivered on child care either. They made people wait. They make them wait initially for 18 months to get some relief for their out-of-pocket childcare costs. We are delivering in all of those areas.

Meanwhile, the shadow Treasurer is sitting around organising focus groups asking questions like: do they think he was an old Liberal or a new Liberal? I think we got the answer today from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition: he is an out-of-touch Liberal. The pretender from Point Piper is an out-of-touch Liberal, and he is an out-of-touch Liberal because he does not understand that we need to fight inflation and we need to do it for all of those people out there that are being hit by the high cost of living. We have to do it; otherwise, they will face permanently higher interest rates. This team opposite left this country with eight interest rate rises in three years—10 in total attributable to them. That is their legacy to the Australian people and they still do not get it—they still do not understand that we have to fight inflation to put downward pressure on interest rates. This government will do it, and they will continue to behave recklessly. For doing that they will be condemned by the Australian people.