Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Gold Coasters are hurting, and the Treasurer's budget recently failed to outline any plan to assist. Indeed, last week's 25 basis point increase means a Gold Coaster with a typical mortgage of $750,000 will now pay $1,200 more per month than when rates started rising in May. Australians are being told by this Treasurer that their power bills are going up by a staggering 56 per cent. Their mortgage payments are going up, the cost of groceries is going up, inflation is surging, and the government still has no plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

Australians can't wait another seven months. Almost every day during the campaign, Mr Albanese promised he would show up and take responsibility. It's about time the Prime Minister actually did that: stop making excuses and deliver a plan.

The government had the opportunity to deliver a budget that outlined a short-term plan to reach or even approach budget balance, and to contain interest rates and inflation. It had the opportunity to map a longer term plan to empower aspiration and enterprise, and to reassert the role of productivity and lower taxes in driving growth in real wages. We said we would work with the government if it stayed true to commonsense principles but, overwhelmingly, the budget was a missed opportunity. This is, ultimately, a higher-taxing, higher-spending traditional, old-fashioned Labor failed budget.