Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that before the election, the:

(a) Government promised a $275 reduction in people's power bills; and

(b) Prime Minister promised 'cheaper mortgages', and promised that families would be 'better off', yet in just 18 months:

(i) food has gone up more than 9 per cent;

(ii) housing has gone up more than 12 per cent;

(iii) electricity has gone up more than 23 per cent;

(iv) gas has gone up more than 29 per cent;

(v) after 12 interest rate rises, interest rates are at their highest level since 2011, meaning a family with a $750,000 mortgage now needs to pay an extra $24,000 per year; and

(vi) rents are experiencing the highest increase since 2009;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) this Government's economic and energy policies are making inflation worse with Australia's inflation still higher than almost every major advanced economy; and

(b) higher inflation means higher interest rates which contributes to higher rents; and

(3) recognises that in the past year, household disposable incomes fell by 5 per cent, more than any developed country.

Australians are hurting. Nationally, over the last 18 months, we've seen groceries go up by more than nine per cent and housing go up by more than 12 per cent. For many, electricity has gone through the roof and is now up by over 18 per cent. Insurance costs have risen by 22 per cent, and gas is up by an incredible 27 per cent. Prior to the last election, the Prime Minister promised every Australian that they would have a saving of $275 on their energy bill. Now we see the reality of his promise. It is not worth a cracker—zero—because now we're seeing a situation where many Australians cannot afford to heat or cool their homes. This is just the first of many broken promises from this government when they said people would be better off under their leadership. It just hasn't happened.

With inflation remaining higher than in any other developed country, Australian households are no longer able to keep up. In real terms, net disposable income per person has fallen by 8.6 per cent across the same 18-month period. For an average income earner, this is a decline in take-home pay of just over $8,000 a year. This has translated into disposable incomes falling over the past year more than in any other developed country. More and more Australians are being forced to use what money they have saved just to stay afloat. We heard that in the testimony from the Reserve Bank governor in Friday's committee hearing. She confirmed that people are running down their savings in order to continue to make ends meet—savings that in many cases are there for a rainy day, not to cover everyday costs.

Compounding all of this, households have faced a record 12 interest rate rises since May 2022. Australians with a $750,000 mortgage are now paying an interest bill some $24,000 a year higher than when the Prime Minister said at the election that mortgages would be cheaper under a government he led. That $24,000 of higher interest costs is out of after-tax income and it doesn't take into account the capital repayments on top of that, so many Australian households are not just $24,000 a year worse off; they are far worse off than that. This pain has continued to spread and is now being shared by those who are renters. Renters are not only experiencing the tightest market globally in terms of supply, but they have also been forced to take on higher increases to their weekly rents because of the increase in the interest costs that landlords have had to bear. All of these things feed through to a feeling of Australians being worse off than they were when this government came to power.

Also, we have failed to hear anything from this government in support of small to medium business, who are also paying the price for these poor decisions by those opposite. We have continued to see the government fail to address the issues raised by the cost of living. We see presently before the House some proposed reductions of on average $15 a week for an average income earner, but that's just a fraction of the $150 a week-plus in additional living costs that have been incurred by Australians under this government, and we see no sign whatsoever of this government having the intestinal fortitude to do what needs to be done to rein in the cost of living. As we have seen consistently from this government—we see great consistency—they break every single promise they took to the last election and expect the Australian people to continue to believe them. It is just not good enough.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am proud to talk about the real and tangible work that we as the Albanese Labor government are doing to support local people in my electorate of Gilmore on the New South Wales South Coast as they deal with the cost of living. The most recent consumer price index figures put out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics have shown that quarterly inflation moderated to 4.1 per cent in the December quarter, down from 5.4 per cent in the September quarter; headline inflation is now at its lowest level in two years; and the monthly CPI is now around half what it was at the time of the election. That isn't a coincidence. It's the result of this government's carefully calibrated, targeted cost-of-living plan. The ABS data shows that, without these policies, inflation would have been half a percentage point higher through the year to the December quarter in 2023. Policies that the Liberals voted against, like our energy price plan, our support for renters and cheaper child care, are all putting downward pressure on inflation.

Just last week I was really delighted to join with the member for Cunningham and the member for Whitlam to announce that more than 1,500 local people across the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands have been helped into their own homes thanks to the government's improved Home Guarantee Scheme. It's an all-too-familiar story on the South Coast: people who were born and raised in our communities, when it comes time to buying a home, are forced to move away because they can't find an affordable place to buy or rent. We're suffering from a workforce shortage. How can we address that if our young people are continually forced to move away? Our Home Guarantee Scheme is on top of our $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator, our $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund and, importantly for so many local people in my electorate, the biggest increase to Commonwealth rent assistance in 30 years.

What else is there? What about $3 billion in electricity bill relief, co-paid with the states? Since July last year, this has been providing eligible households up to $500 and small businesses up to $650 off their electricity bills. There are cheaper medicines. I jump for joy every time we talk about cheaper medicines. Twelve thousand eight hundred and fourteen 60-day prescriptions were dispensed for people with chronic illnesses in my electorate between 1 September and 31 December last year. That's just the first stage of medicines released under this policy, which cuts the costs of those medicines in half. Not only this, but a further 119,075 scripts in Gilmore were dispensed last year at a cheaper rate of $30 per script. This has saved local people more than $1.3 million just on the cost of medicines under the Albanese Government, because we reduced the copayment.

We've also tripled the bulk-billing incentive for the most common GP consultations for children under 16 and Commonwealth concession cardholders. This will not solve a decade of cuts and neglect to Medicare by the Liberals, but, in the first two months of this change, bulk-billing rates in my electorate have increased by 4.3 per cent. That's more than an estimated 6,000 additional bulk-billed trips to the GP, saving an estimated $252,000 in gap fees. In just two months, that's a huge difference. Another fabulous health investment for local people in my electorate is the Batemans Bay Urgent Care Clinic, which is helping local people access urgent critical care using just their Medicare cards, easing pressure on GPs and the local emergency departments. The Batemans Bay Urgent Care Clinic opened on 4 December, and, in its first two months of operation, nearly 1,900 patients were treated there. How great is that?

There's so much more in our plan, too. There are nearly 4,800 local families benefiting from cheaper child care. There's our expanded Paid Parental Leave scheme. Don't forget the local students now studying fee-free TAFE, the workers who've received pay rises, like those in aged care, who are now getting 15 per cent more, or the thousands of local people who have seen their income support payments boosted. We haven't stopped there, either. With our improved tax cuts plan set to leave 87 per cent of taxpayers in my electorate better off than under the Liberals' plan, we're delivering a tax cut to every local taxpayer, because it's the fair and right thing to do. The fact is our cost-of-living plan is supporting those doing it tough with targeted assistance while also tempering inflation. I'm proud to be part of a government that is delivering for our community.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's my pleasure to rise and speak on the private member's motion moved by the member for Forde. The people I serve in the Longman electorate are just good Aussies, who simply want to be safe in their homes and out and about. They want to ensure that they have good roads and infrastructure to support our fast-growing community and a good healthcare system that ensures, when there are medical issues, they can be dealt with professionally, efficiently and affordably. And they want to be able to pay their kids' sporting fees. But the No. 1 thing they expect from their governments of all levels is to be able to afford to live their lives in a comfortable way. They want to be able to afford to pay their rent, mortgage, power and grocery bills without having to get a second job, which takes away from precious family time. Unfortunately, many are telling me they feel that this Labor government has let them down in these areas, especially in the cost of living.

When the coalition was in government, my community and all Australians enjoyed the lowest interest rates, the lowest credit card debt, the highest personal savings and the lowest unemployment rate in decades. They were promised at the election that they would be better off under Labor. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Forget the spin; the numbers simply don't lie. In its first 18 months of government, this Labor government has overseen a personal income tax rise of 27 per cent. Core inflation is at an incredible 5.4 per cent. Energy prices have risen despite a promise before the last election to reduce energy bills by $275. Interest rates have risen an incredible 12 times, which means someone with a $500,000 mortgage is now paying an extra $18,000 per annum, which is $346 per week. This not only affects homeowners but also renters, as we know that most rental properties are owned by mum and dad investors who have no choice, in most cases, but to pass on these interest rate hikes to already suffering tenants.

Labor sort of adopted the coalition's stage 3 tax cuts, which people do appreciate, but they simply do not go far enough. To put it into perspective, a worker on an average income has had their real net disposable income fall by an enormous 8.6 per cent. In dollar terms, this equates to a figure of just under $8,000 per annum—no wonder people are struggling. We have to stop talking about gross wages and talk about net wages after tax and real wages, which is where we measure what people actually get for their money and, quite simply, the only true measure.

What Labor has always failed to understand is that when you increase gross wages, this puts pressure on inflation. I know Minister Burke will say that the member for Longman is against wage growth. Let me state right now: that is not the case. I, more than anyone, want to see the financial burden on low- to middle-income earners ease, and I support real wage growth. But the fact is that when you keep increasing gross wages, this increases prices as these higher wage costs must be recouped by businesses. So I pose the question: what is the point in getting a $50 gross wage increase if $15 goes in tax and your weekly grocery bill goes up by $70? In real terms, it means you're actually $35 worse off—and that is exactly what is happening. Of course Labor aren't interested in helping people; they are only interested in the headline, which is reprehensible.

I was shocked that one of Labor's first decisions in government was to not continue the coalition's excellent low- and middle-income tax offset. This initiative gave workers on $120,000 per annum a boost of up to $1,500 when they did their tax return. I've had so many people ask me, after they had done their tax, why this cost-of-living measure had been quashed. My only reply is: good question.

Good government is about prioritising the most important issues that the people of Australia face, and I can tell you that many in my electorate are questioning the way this Labor government prioritises. They watched in dismay and disbelief as this government spent their first 15 months in charge using time, energy and money on a divisive referendum that cost taxpayers $450 million at a time when interest rates and inflation were increasing dramatically. It's what my constituents describe as being 'completely out of touch'. After this divisive referendum was soundly defeated, the government almost had an awakening and decided, due to the polling results, to do something about it. Unfortunately, as always with Labor governments, their solutions are rarely effective and I fear that Australians have not seen the worst of this government and that there is more pain to come.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to speak on this motion, to rebuff some of the things that have been said and to talk about some of the great things this government is doing to put downward pressure on living costs for Australians. It gives me the opportunity to talk about our policies on electricity, rent and child care, let alone the cheaper medicines that we have brought into fruition during this government, which are directly putting downward pressure on inflation.

Like all of us in here—you'd hope!—we talk to people in our electorates. I talk to people in my electorate of Adelaide; I talk to constituents continuously. There's no doubt that the cost of living is hitting hard no matter where you are. But before we dive into the present, let's not forget who steered us into this mess over the last 10 to 12 years. Under coalition leadership, Australia faced its deepest recession since 1959. With the Albanese Labor government, the ABS data provides that without our cost-of-living policies—in other words the policies that this Labor government has put into fruition—inflation would be 0.5 per cent higher. Strange they would say that—that is, if we were not in government, inflation will be higher. That's from the ABS data, which proves that, without our cost-of-living policies, inflation would be 0.5 per cent higher. The ABS also shows our policies on electricity, rent and child care have directly put downward pressure on inflation. Yet this opposition voted against all of those measures that are putting downward pressure on inflation.

Our budget strategy is solid. It's backed by the RBA, the IMF, the OECD and Fitch, and it has secured Australia's AAA rating. Let's keep it plain and simple: we should all be here to ensure every Aussie not only meets the basics but has more, that they have enough to put food on the table, a safe home, peace of mind that their hard-earned money is staying in their pockets. This cannot be a political game for either side. This ensures that whatever we do in this place has an effect on real lives. That's why I was proud to deliver in my electorate of Adelaide the news that every taxpayer will receive a tax cut under Labor's plan, with approximately 84 per cent receiving a bigger tax cut from 1 July. That's more money that they will have in their pocket. If we weren't in government, it would be less money.

It's a big deal, when you think that 11.5 million Australians, or 84 per cent of taxpayers, get a bigger cut than what was planned by the opposition and the Morrison plan back then. But here's the twist: the opposition wants to scrap it; they want to get rid of it, leading to higher taxes for those who can't afford it and who genuinely need the relief. It's quite baffling, when you think about it. They criticise us for not addressing the cost of living while constantly voting against measures aimed at fixing. The logic just doesn't add up. We heard the debate last week on those tax cuts, where they all spoke against them, yet they're voting for them. Why are they voting for them? Because they know it will put extra dollars into people's pockets.

Yet, regardless of the barriers facing this House, the Albanese government is not just talking. We are delivering. Things are tough for households—we know they are—and for businesses. But we've got a plan that is working. I'd just ask those on the other side to check the numbers. Quarterly inflation is down to 4.1 per cent, the lowest in two years. Its progress is maybe not perfect, but we're moving in the right direction. The Albanese Labor government is making changes because it sees what's really going on in 2024, in the present. Flash back five years and the coalition's plan, stage three, was locked in, but the world was a very different place back then. When things change, you've got to change your plan as well. It's as simple as that.

We're boosting wages, keeping inflation in check, fighting for fair prices and giving real help for daily costs, like energy bills. And we're fighting for cheaper medication. We've seen the great things that have come into fruition here. So, when you hear what those on the other side are saying, I would tell the public to ignore it, because they're playing politics, and that's not what we do. Our record is straight and plain. It's a sign that we're doing something right. We're urging everyone to see the progress and to join us in securing a prosperous future for all Australians.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's an important motion that the member for Forde has raised today. The cost of living is impacting many people across the community, and the member for Forde has got a lot of support for this motion, including from the Prime Minister himself, at the Press Club. He likes to talk about how he stood up at the Press Club—as though anyone outside the Canberra bubble actually watches the Press Club addresses; let's be honest. But he did say in that address that the reason he broke his promise and misled the Australian people over 100 times was because his policies are not working. Eighteen months into this government and they have not addressed the cost-of-living crisis that this Prime Minister promised to solve before the last election. And they're actually making it worse every day: energy prices up, food prices up, electricity prices up, inflation continuing to increase.

It's interesting that the government's solution—a very good little political trick that this government has done—is to take with one hand and give back with the other. As the member for Longman said last year, many Australians were shocked when they got their tax return and it was about $1,500 short of what it normally was. The reason for that is that the low and middle income offset had ceased. We didn't hear anything from this government at the height of this cost-of-living crisis, 12 months ago. So, they were happy to take $1,500 from low- and middle-income Australians last year, in the middle of the year. They took that money away. And then in January the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the cabinet and the caucus broke their word to the Australian people that they took to the election. Their solution for Australians is not a dollar of relief today, not a dollar of relief in March, not a dollar of relief in April. Members of the Australian public who are on a low or middle income will get an extra $15 a week starting on 1 July. That is this Prime Minister's, this Treasurer's and this government's solution to the cost-of-living crisis that people are experiencing today. That's what happens when you have a Prime Minister and a Treasurer who have spent their whole lives in this building, in politics. They don't understand the challenges that people are facing. They look at the challenges the Australian people are facing, and they look for a political solution.

We know that in December the Labor backbench were getting a little bit antsy. The member for Bennelong, the member for Macarthur and the member for Hunter all spoke out about the government's lack of focus on the cost-of-living crisis. Others, unnamed backbenchers, didn't have the courage of the member for Macarthur and others and didn't put their name to their challenges, but we know there was unrest. That's the real reason that this Prime Minister broke his word: because he didn't want to lose power. He must've rewatched The Killing Season. We know he loves documentaries. He probably put that on over Christmas and realised he had to do a little bit of work.

And then what did the Treasurer say? The Treasurer had one of those Freudian slips last week on ABC, on 7.30. He misspoke. Mind you, Sarah Ferguson didn't pick him up on it—not a surprise. He misspoke and he said that we had to get these changes in before Dunkley. We have to get them in before the Dunkley by-election—those were the words of the Treasurer last Monday on ABC.

In one sentence, he summed up everything that is wrong with this government. They are focused on the politics and the spin. They think that $15 a day in five months time is the solution to this cost-of-living crisis that Australians are facing. Let's be honest: under this government, Australians need to keep every dollar that they earn because costs are going up and up. A $275 decrease in electricity bills was what this Prime Minister promised before the election. We're not going to see that. We are seeing inflation continue to rise. At 4.1 per cent, it's almost double the target of 2.5 per cent. It's a long way off. The RBA governor herself has said this inflation is home grown and demand driven—because this government continues to make the wrong decisions on the economy.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired.

Debate adjourned.