Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've received a letter from the honourable the Deputy Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The impact of the government's spending spree on Australian households.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It took the Albanese government three years to realise that Australia's living standards had dropped more than those of any other developed nation. It then took them three months to organise a meeting that would go for three days to ask other people what to do about it.

I was one of 25 people issued a golden ticket from the Treasurer to attend that roundtable. On accepting the Treasurer's invitation, I put out three markers on behalf of the coalition. If we're to deal with Australia's living standards, these three markers are key: No. 1, you do not raise living standards by raising taxes; No. 2, you do not raise living standards by raising the cost of doing business, and, No. 3, you do not raise living standards by raising the burden on future generations. Those with even the smallest knowledge of the bare basics of economics would see these markers as self-evident truths, yet Labor's roundtable defied all three. The outcomes of Labor's roundtable will be higher taxes, higher costs of doing business and a higher burden on future generations. Let me be very clear: the coalition did not agree to the outcomes of Labor's roundtable, and the coalition did not agree to the principles against which this government wants to raise taxes for everyday Australians.

As I reflect, albeit only one week after the roundtable, I realise this was less a productivity roundtable and more a socialist summit. What we saw was an unholy trinity of big government, big unions and big superannuation funds. This is the plan of the Albanese government: to basically concentrate the power of these three and to expand the tentacles of government into the lives of everyday Australians. It is Labor which sees government at the centre of Australian society. It is the coalition that believes that the centre of Australian society should be the Australian people.

Now, in the government's fourth year, the Australian people are starting to feel the real symptoms of a government that puts itself at the centre and not the people. The Australian people are feeling that through their everyday living expenses. It's why we heard this week that, since Labor came to government, the cost of electricity has gone up by 39 per cent and the cost of gas has gone up by over 38 per cent. Today the shadow minister asked the Minister for Climate Change and Energy for an explanation as to why these energy costs are going up, but the government cannot answer the question. It is a direct consequence of government policy, and it's the Australian people who are paying the price. This is a government that puts itself at the centre and not the Australian people.

Of course, the Treasurer claims that this government has done a wonderful job when it comes to interest rates. However, the average mortgage holder today is paying $1,800 more in interest payments every single month than they were when Labor came to office. As of today, they're paying $1,800 more every month in interest payments, and that is just the average mortgage holder. Why? It's because this government cannot manage money; this government cannot manage the economy.

The thing is that it's not just the pain of the Australian people today. We know this government is quickly raising the debt to $1 trillion. By their own estimate it will hit $1.2 trillion by the next election. This is Labor's debt, which will be left to the next generation of Australians to pay off. Our children and theirs will pay the price of this government's debt. Their plan is 10-plus years of deficits. And why? It comes down to one reason: this government cannot stop spending. They're on a spending spree. We know that spending as a percentage of GDP has gone from 24 per cent up to 27 per cent. In this financial year, they are spending $160 billion more than what the coalition spent in our last budget. They just can't help spending.

I raised this at the roundtable and made it crystal clear that the government has to stop spending. The Treasurer didn't like that. It smashed his glass jaw. You could feel his ego going everywhere, slashing anything in its wake; so upset was he about his spending spree. But it has to stop. The recommendation that I made on behalf of the coalition at the roundtable was that the government adopt some fiscal rules, some discipline, to contain the Treasurer's spending. Do you think the Treasurer accepted the idea of rules? Did you know that, since the Hawke government, every single government has adopted fiscal rules for their Treasurer, except the Albanese government?

We put it to the Treasurer this week and asked if he would introduce fiscal rules. He said he doesn't want to introduce fiscal rules. We put it to the Prime Minister and asked if he will rein in the Treasurer—is he strong enough to do that? If every Prime Minister since Hawke has been able to apply some discipline to the Treasurer, will this prime minister do it? No. They don't want rules. They are addicted to spending. Who wants rules when you just want to spend? That's what the candyman wants to do. He's a big spender, so there are no rules.

I'm not the only one calling for rules, by the way. Ken Henry, Philip Lowe, the chief economist at KPMG and the chief economist at AMP are all calling for rules. And, under pressure, the Treasurer came out and said he's now got a rule. The rule is he is going to bank most of the upward revisions to revenue. In other words, when revenue comes in that's unexpected, he's going to bank most of it. So he's only going to spend up to half of it.

I thought I'd check this out. I looked at the Treasurer's own budget figures, and you wouldn't believe what it tells us. This financial year the upward revision for revenue is $7 billion. Guess how much of the $7 billion the Treasurer is planning on banking? None. He's going to spend $7.2 billion of the $7 billion. The very week he fabricates a rule, he breaks it. This is the problem we have, you see. We have a government that cannot control spending. That is why they call him King Taxalot. King Taxalot and the knights of the round table, creating ideas so they can take those ideas to be considered by the nitwits of the cabinet table.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay, enough! Order now. Order, order, order! I have been listening to a number of these imaginative names you are making up for people who sit in the parliament. You know you have to use correct titles, so let's stick to it.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor has one plan—increase taxes. They'll run out of money and they're coming after yours.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a mug. Don't be afraid. Don't be scared. It's a mug.

Opposition members: Prop!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: If members want to shout at me as they leave the chamber, it will be regarded as highly disorderly. Assistant minister, I didn't see that, but I saw it at the tail end, and you aren't to have props at the despatch box. Member for Goldstein, you can sit down now. I'm assuming that's what your point of order was. Let's start again with a little less heat, and that includes interjections. Let's try it again.

You talk about mugs and suddenly there's the member for Goldstein! The fact is those opposite—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order from the member for Cowper.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Reflections on members.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did not hear—my apologies.

Excuse me! Would you like to challenge my reading of the situation? If so, get into your seat and make a proper point of order, or leave the chamber quietly and respectfully, please. Member for Cowper, you've raised a point of order. Assistant minister, I did not hear, but if there was something unparliamentary, or a reflection, could you please withdraw for the assistance of the House?

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we talk about glass jaws, the fact is those opposite printed the mugs. They're pretty embarrassed about it—that's why they're jumping to their feet the moment anyone mentions it. They never delivered a surplus. Labor has delivered two back-to-back surpluses. We've kept average real spending growth to 1.7 per cent. What about their average real spending growth? It was 4.1 per cent. We have found more than $100 billion in savings since coming to government. Those opposite talk about hard choices—what was the hard choice that they came to the last election with? A $600 billion nuclear plan, delivering less than four per cent of Australia's electricity needs, in decades. They took a plan to the last election that would not have turned on a light for 20 years. It would have pushed up energy bills by $1,200 a year and would have involved spending more.

They took another policy to the last election—their long lunches for bosses policy. Who remembers that wonderful policy? A policy they were so proud of that by the end of the campaign they weren't talking about it. If every eligible business had claimed the maximum, the cost would have been more than $10 billion. What would it have done for productivity? It would have driven productivity down. That's what happens when you take long lunches. So we're taking no lectures from those opposite about budget sustainability and about productivity.

The other side talk about the importance of lower taxes, but to the last election they took a policy of higher taxes. They were going to increase income taxes on every single Australian. They talk about not burdening future generations, but the fact is that their policies of scrapping net zero and putting their heads in the sand on climate change are the very epitome of handing the burden on to future generations. They'll say one thing when they're talking to business and another thing when they're talking in the House. The Leader of the Opposition this week was speaking at an Australian Industry Group event and she described the Treasurer's economic reform roundtable as being 'a welcome conversation' and 'a constructive discussion'. And then the Deputy Leader of the Opposition comes in here and tells us that it was a socialist summit. Yes, you got us on that one—the kind of socialist summit where you invite along the Business Council of Australia, ACCI, AiG, COSBOA, a current banker and a former banker or two!

The fact is that those opposite talk a lot about spending restraint, but, at the last election, their costings revealed deficits $7.9 billion higher over the first two years. Bigger deficits, bigger debt and a $600 billion nuclear plan was what they took to the Australian people last election. You just need to compare the track records to see what coalition rhetoric produces compared to what Labor's delivered in office. Payments as a share of GDP rose under the coalition from 23.9 per cent of GDP in 2012-13 to 26.4 per cent of GDP in 2021-22, and payments as a share of GDP were forecast to be above 27 per cent in the 2022 Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Gross debt as a share of GDP was forecast to peak just under 45 per cent of GDP in the 2022 Pre-election and Economic Fiscal Outlook. It is now, thanks to Labor's tough decisions, forecast to peak at around 37 per cent of GDP. We've delivered those surpluses, we've reduced coalition deficits and debt will now peak lower as a share of GDP than it would have done if the coalition had stayed in office.

Debt now is $177 billion lower, saving some $60 billion in interest costs as a consequence. Real payments growth is less than half the average under our predecessors. The budget position has improved by more than $207 billion. We have turned two big Liberal deficits into two Labor surpluses and almost halved the deficit in our third year. We have done that while ensuring that the Australian people have seen better economic outcomes. We've kept unemployment low. We have ensured that the minimum wage has increased for low-paid Australians. While we're seeing unemployment in Canada of 6.9 per cent, in New Zealand of 5.1 per cent and in the UK of 4.7 per cent, here unemployment is sitting at just 4.2 per cent. We've recorded stronger employment growth since the 2022 election than any major advanced economy.

We have seen progress made on inflation, which has resulted in interest rates being cut three times in six months. For a household with a $700,000 mortgage, that means they're saving about $330 a month or around $4,000 a year. Since Labor came to office, inflation is down, debt is down, real wages are growing, unemployment is low and interest rates are falling.

We know we have more to do, and that's why the Treasurer brought together the economic reform roundtable in the cabinet room last week. Along with the Assistant Treasurer, I was pleased to join that three-day roundtable. It was a constructive discussion where participants took off their sectional interest hats and put on their national interest hats—well, maybe with the exception of the shadow Treasurer. It was a conversation in which attendees acknowledged the productivity challenge that we face, productivity growth being the worst in the post-war debt era in that decade ending in 2020. We know that we were left with a significant productivity challenge, and we need to turn that around.

In doing so, we can take a leaf from sport. Sport shows us that we don't need to make a trade-off between excellence and fairness. Sport shows us the importance of dynamism and the value of having a lot of different teams competing in a competition. But, in some parts of our economy, we have too few firms and market concentration that's gotten worse, rather than better. If sport were like some sectors of the economy, we'd have one team, one set of fans and one very bored mascot. Sport teaches us the importance of inclusion. Sport shows us that, by including those who grow up on the wrong side of the tracks, by creating more opportunities for women and by ensuring that people have a chance to play, we get better results. Those who play enjoy it more, and it's a better result for the fans. That's the approach that Labor takes when it comes to a productive economy. Our free TAFE program is about inclusion. Our programs to champion more low-SES students getting a spot in uni are about inclusion, too.

The work we've done to ensure that aged-care workers and early childhood workers are fairly paid is reflected in the understanding that sport is strong when the players are fairly paid. Australia does fabulously well on the sporting field, but it's thanks not just to our sportspeople but to the institutions that support them—the Australian Institute of Sport, the great coaches that we have, the talent scouts that are out there and the sustaining work that we do making sure that we prevent injury. All of that can teach us about getting more productive education, health and economic systems. Labor is committed to a more productive economy and a more inclusive society.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor's big-government dream is coming to fruition, with nearly half of the country now relying on public sector jobs, welfare, pensions and government contracts. We know that this trend is only going to get worse, with 82 per cent of new jobs created in the past two years being taxpayer funded. That is a dramatic reversal from over 75 per cent of new jobs being private sector jobs under the last term of the coalition. Having low unemployment is a good thing, but it doesn't take a PhD in economics to understand that taxpayer funded jobs are not the answer.

The Treasurer might like to point to statistics to claim that the economy is strong, but Australians living in the real world know better. Around my electorate—and I'm sure it's the same in your electorates, and I do mean across the floor—businesses are doing it tough. They're closing their doors at record rates. You get accustomed to seeing 'vacant' signs popping up in increasingly high numbers.

People and businesses out there are hurting. They know that, under the Labor government, food has gone up 15 per cent; health care, up 15 per cent; education, up 17 per cent; housing, up 19 per cent; rents, up 20 per cent; insurance and financial obligations, up 20 per cent; and—we all know this one because we all feel it—electricity, up 39 per cent, with gas on par at 39 per cent. It's no wonder people are closing their businesses and aren't able to put food on the table after going out and working all week. We now have working poor because of the policies of this government.

In the year to June 2025, real wages grew by just 0.3 per cent, with most of that coming from the public sector pay rises. In simple terms, taxpayers are paying for wage growth. If you work in the private sector, that means that you are paying for bureaucrats' wage increases while your own wage remains flat. How often do you hear that?

And then we see that productivity has gone backwards, under this government, by 5.7 per cent—the lowest in 60 years. Small business, the engine room of the economy, is on the brink, with insolvencies up 57 per cent in 12 months. The productivity roundtable talkfest was just another expense on the taxpayer, with predetermined outcomes. It is shameful.

We've already seen Labor's idea of the productivity plan. It's called Future Made in Australia—a multibillion-dollar ad campaign dressed up as a policy. There's nothing productive or visionary about it. It's just old-school Labor, where politicians and bureaucrats pick the winners and taxpayers pick up the bill. What if, instead of another scheme, the government just stopped making things harder? Wouldn't that be nice? What if it paused the relentless red tape, got out of the way of business and let the private sector lead on jobs and innovation, which they do so well?

We on this side of the floor know this: you don't raise living standards by raising taxes, you don't raise living standards by raising the cost of doing business and you don't raise living standards by increasing the burden on future generations. Australia's prosperity has always come from the hard work of entrepreneurs, innovators, small business and individual workers who get up every day and get on with the job, not from the hand of government. The coalition will back those who take risks, reward effort and investment and clear the path for the private sector to thrive. This is the only way to truly lift wages, ease cost-of-living pressures and build lasting prosperity.

Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wages are rising, unlike under those opposite, who kept wages deliberately low for almost 10 years, hurting working families and hurting the households that they proclaim to get over the line. Why? Where does that money go? Our children have been locked out of the housing market. The best part of economic development is owning your own home. For almost 10 years, they didn't even bother to have a housing minister. We have built more homes in the last three years than the coalition did in almost 10. There are 490 social and affordable housing homes being built in Cairns right now. By the end of 2026, that number will top 500.

You want to talk about households? We're building them. We're building them for people to live in, for people to build their lives and for people to participate in the economy and make their time here on this planet better. That's what Labor does. We think about the people, and the people impact the economy. You want to talk about the economy? I'm the basketball player, but I understand supply and demand, so we're addressing supply. You look at our cheaper renewables—the batteries, including home batteries. Guess what that produces? Demand. There we go. It's economic management.

But, if you're looking at it more closely, interest rates are lower. Unemployment remains low and steady. There are tax cuts for everybody. Wages are going up. Child care is getting cheaper. Health care is getting cheaper. We are building more roads, and that includes $7.2 billion for the main artery in Queensland, the Bruce Highway, which will improve transportation, reduce costs and make sure we don't have so many problems during the wet season. That, by any definition, is good economic management.

As to surpluses—a lot is made of surpluses—we've had two. The opposition had the merchandise. They had some cups. You could get a T-shirt. I could wear an NBA T-shirt; that doesn't mean I played in it. It's always good to wear the shirts that you actually earn.

The clean energy policy is an investment in our future—Australia's future, our children's future. It will create real jobs, real opportunity and manufacturing jobs in places that need them the most, because where are the most renewables? The regions. We've got the most wind; we've got the most sun; we've got the most space; we've got the most water. The regions will lead the way in a renewable energy tidal wave that will take Australia into the 21st century—not looking backwards, not trying to prop up ageing and failing coal stations and not thinking about nuclear, the most expensive form of electricity. What was it? An $18 to $100 increase that every single Australian would pay for a nuclear ambition that was 20 years in the future? I'll be 65. My children will have bought their own houses—well, they'll build their own houses because of the five per cent deposit. They wouldn't have built their own houses if those opposite had had their way—but they would have had less super; they would have been on their knees. But we are preparing them for a great future. We're delivering them the economy they deserve and one that they can thrive in.

Deliberately, wages were kept low, hurting people. But we've enshrined penalty rates. So, after I get back to Cairns tonight, when I go and have a beer with some mates on the weekend I'll know that the bloke serving me the beer is being paid properly. He's giving up his Sunday so I can enjoy mine. But the best thing about that beer? It's cheaper. Everybody loves cheaper beer. It's going down great guns in the far north. So I'll be having a cheaper beer from a bloke that I know is getting paid well as he saves up for a five per cent deposit for his first home. What a great day!

We know that the job is not done. We know that there's more work to do. While those opposite are workshopping clever nicknames—I notice 'Nuclear-man' didn't get a run—we're getting on with the job. We were voted in to lead and to build Australia's future.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will remind the member for Leichhardt and others to use correct titles in the chamber.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is so important for the next generation of Australians that this parliament understands the importance of fiscal prudence, because, when it comes down to it, when governments borrow from the future what they do is not just prime the economy today but indebt future generations. They then increase taxes on future generations. But they then add on inflation today. When you see an uptick in inflation, as people are seeing right now—and we saw that in the data this week—that is because this government is spending too much money. State and federal governments simply can't contain themselves, and, when they do that, you pay the price today, you pay the price tomorrow, your children pay the price, and your children and your grandchildren will continue to pay the price into future—all because they can't manage money today. But, in addition, they can't figure out and they're not prepared to invest in the reform this country desperately needs to build out the future economic growth that it desperately needs right now.

It is hard; I am not going to try and pretend otherwise. But people elect governments to take responsibility, to stand up to the moment and to choose to be part of building Australia's future—and they are not stepping up to the occasion. Their only solution is to try and spend their way out of their present problems and indebt future generations in the process.

It's even worse than that, because the legacy of where we are now is only likely to compound. While we've had this government engaging in victory laps every step of the way to date, it has not ended the problems of inflation. We've had the Treasurer out there saying: 'The problem's over; we've reached the peak. It's all over.' The data is increasingly showing that's not the case, and in fact, because they haven't addressed the root cause of the problems that are now confronting the economy, they are going to compound. We have a problem of centralised wage fixing, and that is going to make it harder to get economic growth. Because of that, it's going to be harder for Australians to get jobs. When you have centralised wage fixing, when you have the problem of low productivity, that only leads to one thing, which is higher inflation, higher interest rates and higher unemployment. That is a disaster for Australia today and it is a disaster for Australia into the future, and for future generations. This stuff matters because we are all going to live with the consequences into the future.

Now is the time for the adults to stand up and take responsibility, but instead what we have, and we just saw it in question time only a few moments ago—the Prime Minister, every time he was confronted with a difficult question, deflected and either said things were above politics or tried to run interference for his ministers who couldn't answer questions. That's what's so disappointing. Whatever I think of the current prime minister or of his government, there is a simple reality: he has been given a very large majority and entrusted by the Australian people with an opportunity to do something significant. And, at the moment, they are not meeting that trust.

My hope is that they will actually do something great for this country, because the Australian people need them to do something great for this country. Instead, what they're doing is creating future subprime problems in our mortgage market. They are making it harder for future generations to be able to go and buy their own home. They're taking money that younger generations desperately need for savings, to put towards their deposit for their first home, and putting it into savings accounts, while the evidence increasingly shows that people have too much money in their super but do not have enough for their savings for their first home. Their priorities are wrong, because every bit of their decision-making is focused on how they can empower themselves and control Australians, not empower Australians.

There is one other matter that I want to raise, and I'm saying this with generosity. During the 90-second section before question time, I asked to table some documents. They include an ANU study that focused on the homophobia directed towards politicians—which, by the way, included homophobia directed towards people like Senator Wong. I asked for leave, with generosity, to table that study as well as other documents, and I'm again asking politely to table those documents. I seek leave to table the documents.

Leave granted.

Thank you.

Jess Teesdale (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to respond to this matter of public importance as raised by the member for Fairfax. His MPI claims that the Albanese Labor government's so-called spending spree is harming households. Honestly, it baffles my mind. The truth could not be further from this claim.

When we came to office in 2022, we had inherited, from those opposite, a trillion dollars of Liberal debt, deficits as far as the eye could see and a budget weighted down with waste, rorts and mismanagement. Since then, the Albanese Labor government, our government, has turned the nation's finances around, doing so while putting cost-of-living relief at the centre of its agenda. In only three budgets we have delivered two surpluses, which would be unknown to those opposite. We turned around more than $207 billion of budget deficit, reduced the projected debt by $177 billion, saving Australians $60 billion in interest payments that would otherwise have gone to the banks. It's amazing what you can do with that extra $60 billion when you're not giving it to banks. Our Labor government has achieved this while carefully restraining its spending. Real payments have grown under Labor. We're doing it at 1.7 per cent a year, less than half the average of what it was under the coalition. In contrast, those opposite had not found a single dollar to save in their last budgets.

But numbers on a balance sheet are not the measure that matters the most. What matters to us, to Labor, is the impact on families, workers, pensioners and young people—particularly, for me, those in communities like Bass. In Bass, households were under severe pressure from global and other factors beyond the government's direct control. But the question for Bass households that I get asked is simple: is our government helping to ease this burden or is it leaving them to fend for themselves? I'm very proud to say that we are helping.

How are we doing it? Well, since 1 July this year, eight new measures have come into effect that have put real dollars back into household budgets. Minimum and award wages have been increased. The superannuation guarantee has gone up again, building stronger retirements. Energy bill relief is flowing to households across the country, building again on the work that Labor has been doing since 2022. We have cut the cost of medicines twice. We've introduced 60-day prescriptions and boosted bulk-billing incentives and are freezing PBS co-payments.

For families in Bass, these changes are not abstract. They've saved them real money at the pharmacy counter. Since 2022, cheaper medicines reforms have saved people in Bass more than $9 million. Across Tasmania, more than $32 million has been saved. That's money that would have otherwise come out of family budgets every single time a script was filled. You can't tell me that that doesn't make a difference. You can't tell me that that doesn't matter.

We've also delivered cheaper child care, free TAFE and expanded paid parental leave. These are not luxuries; they're essential supports that help families get ahead and keep our economy strong. This is not wasted money. It is planned for, and it is important.

While helping with those costs today, we're also focusing on the future in energy, skills, health care and infrastructure, the building blocks of long-term productivity and prosperity. Those opposite may want to talk about a so-called spending spree, but we wouldn't have to be spending this much money if they had done their job. What they don't want to talk about is their record: the trillion dollars of debt with nothing to show for it; nine years of stagnant wages, and missed opportunities on energy, skills and health. The economy was weaker and more vulnerable, with fewer tools to actually help households. In contrast, the Albanese Labor government, has delivered responsible economic management and real help with the cost of living. Inflation is in the target band. Wages have been growing. More than 1.1 million jobs have been created. You cannot tell me that that does not make a difference.

People in Bass didn't vote for more of the same old cuts and excuses. They voted for action on cost of living. They voted for a government that backs them in, and that is exactly what Labor is delivering.

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The take-home message from this matter of public importance this afternoon is very simple. It's an important message for all of us in this place to remember, and that is that government spending and government decisions impact the lives of everyday Australians.

It is more than fair for all of us on this side this afternoon to draw a clear line between what this Labor government have done over the last three years and the way that everyday Australians feel about their lives and their hip pockets. There are many examples of how they feel about their hip pockets and the bills that are landing in the mailbox.

One example is in relation to mortgage expenses. As a result of government spending, inflation stayed too high for too long. The impact of that is that the Reserve Bank's hands are tied. There's only one mechanism that they can use to try and counteract what the Treasurer does, and that is to keep interest rates higher for longer. What does this mean for everyday Australians? It means that every single month the average mortgage holder is paying about $1,800 more on their mortgage than what they did when Labor first came to office in 2022. There are other markers that show why this Labor government is failing Australians: electricity prices are up by 39 per cent; gas, 39 per cent, rents, 20 per cent; and education, 17 per cent.

I was recently contacted by a mother whose got some children in day care at Hope Island in my electorate. They explained that their daycare costs have now gone up by 25 per cent over two years. At the last election you would have believed nothing other than the fact that Labor would deliver cheaper child care. But the reality is so different for the average Australian.

I have a few words on our Treasurer. In the last three years, Labor has added $100 billion to the national debt. We'll hit a trillion dollars this year and $1.2 trillion by the time the next election rolls around. The Treasurer is planning a decade of deficits, and now he has, really, one option in his sights, and that's to come after everyday Australians to help him pay for it. We know that the Treasurer wants to etch himself in the history books. He wants to be on the mugs and the tea towels out there in the parliamentary shop. But no other Treasurer has sat on that bench and been responsible for a higher level of national debt. That is an achievement not to be proud of.

After three years, the Treasurer offered up a three-day think tank. But that wasn't even real; it was staged, because we know that big government, big unions and big super had already decided what the outcome was going to be. Everything was already in the newspapers. We read about it. The coalition has clearly outlined markers for success, and Labor has failed them. You don't raise living standards by raising taxes, you don't raise living standards by raising the cost of doing business and you don't raise living standards by raising the burden on future generations.

The Treasurer wants you to believe he is careful with the nation's finances, but he has thrown out the budget rulebook so he can go on a spending spree at every Australian's expense. He's given himself a credit card, and it's got no limit. But the bill is going to be paid by every Australian—the ultimate buy-now pay-later scheme but with a repayment plan that's dumped on every Australian household. Over the last three years, Labor has racked up debt equivalent to every man, woman and child having a debt of $4,000. Australians deserve better, and the government's two strategies of debt and taxes are not a recipe for success.

Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians spoke pretty loudly at the last election, and the make-up of the chamber pretty much tells that story. Why? Because they wanted to see cost-of-living pressures reduced, and they didn't want to see a $600 billion nuclear fantasy—which is, incidentally, a very big spend. I think many members in this House would agree that, during the campaign, cost of living was the No. 1 issue, and in my electorate it didn't matter whether it was Seb, who was studying at university, or the young couple trying to buy a house or even retired Ray, who was gardening when I dropped by. Our No. 1 priority was helping Australians with the cost of living, raising the standard of living, and we make no apologies for that.

Let's look at what we've already done: tax cuts for every Australian, $300 in energy bill relief for every Australian household, and $325 for small business. We've tripled the bulk-billing incentive and restored bulk-billing to 11 million Australians, creating an additional six million bulk-billed GP visits. We've delivered cheaper medicines at a cost of $25. We've cut student debt, we've delivered free TAFE, we've delivered cheaper child care and we've delivered real wage increases for Australian workers. Not only did we see three consecutive pay rises for Australian workers on awards; we also delivered pay rises for aged-care and early childhood education and care workers. Who does this greatly benefit? Women, because women make up the majority of workers in those sectors.

But wait; there is more on the way. We will deliver new tax cuts for every taxpayer, we will deliver more energy bill relief, and we'll wipe 20 per cent off student debt—well, that's happening right now. We will deliver the biggest boost to Medicare, delivering those extra GP visits I mentioned. We're expanding the growing network of Medicare urgent care clinics across Australia, including one in Brisbane. We're making free TAFE permanent, and we're delivering affordable child care close to home.

In case you missed it, we're building the biggest ever house build. We want more Australians into their own home. We'll give first home buyers access to that five per cent deposit, which will start in October, and invest $10 billion to build up to 100,000 homes for sale to first home buyers only.

We're making the tax system simpler by delivering $1,000 instant tax deductions, and we're delivering our Cheaper Home Batteries Program to help with energy cost relief. We have also legislated to protect penalty rates in awards. That went through today, and I'm very proud of that. And we're ensuring that the wages of around three million workers do not go backwards, as they did under the opposition.

The shadow Treasurer hasn't really learnt anything from the election results. Australians made it loud and clear that they wanted action on cost of living. On this side of the House, we believe in helping one another while the opposition over there would rather focus on cuts. When Australians are hurting, it's the role of government to step in when we can.

Let me remind those opposite of their record when they left office. As the minister and others before me highlighted, Australia's budget was at its weakest point under the former Morrison-Joyce government. The coalition inflicted immense economic damage and inflation on Australian households and families. Their shameful record of waste and rorts led to skyrocketing inflation and interest rates. Households were under immense stress and pressure to make ends meet, yet the coalition continued to spend and mismanage Australia's finances. Despite this pressure on households, the Morrison government still decided on tax cuts that left behind people earning $45,000 a year or less. Where did they want their tax cuts to go? They went to the rich, to those who did not need it the most. Households were simply forgotten by the former coalition government.

Here we are today, under Labor, and more households are working and earning more, and they're keeping more of what they earn. Under this government, real wages are up, superannuation is strengthening, inflation is down, unemployment is low and incomes are growing. We won't be lectured by those opposite on how to lift living standards, nor on economic management. Your record speaks for itself. To use a previous speaker's words: what we do matters.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have heard a fair bit of drivel in this discussion of matter of public importance. It's no wonder as we’ve got the member for Leichhardt and the member for Bass. I appreciate that they are new members, but they've got basketball backgrounds. The member for Leichhardt played the game at the highest level in Australia, and the member for Bass was a basketball coach. Well done to them both for that. Sport is healthy, and basketball is a fantastic sport. But when you come into the chamber on an MPI, don't always take the talking points that you're given by the dirt unit of the Labor Party and just spout them in the chamber, because sometimes you might get led astray. Sometimes your pass might be misplaced.

We heard the member for Leichhardt talking about the tidal wave of green energy projects in regional Australia and suggesting that this was a good thing. Let me tell you that, if he visits the Riverina, he will hear completely the opposite, because those green energy projects are going to hurt, and they are already hurting the lives and livelihoods of my constituents. The member for Bass talked about the trillion dollars worth of Liberal Party debt. I might remind the member for Bass that it was the Liberal-National government. We are in a coalition. I appreciate she acknowledges that. When there's talk about the trillion dollars—

Member for Fenner, just be quiet for a moment. You might learn something too. When Labor members talk about the 'trillion dollars of Liberal Party debt', to quote them, I just want to refer them to the RMIT ABC fact check article of Monday 8 May 2023. This is the ABC; this isn't me. This isn't the Liberal or National Party talking points unit. They say this:

During an April 13 interview with Sky News, Treasurer Jim Chalmers—

I'm reading here. I know he's the member for Rankin—

said he was concerned "about the cost of servicing that trillion dollars in Liberal debt that we inherited from out predecessors".

That's what he said, and the RMIT ABC Fact Check investigated it. It said:

Mr Chalmers's claim is spin.

When the Coalition left office in March 2022, Labor was left with $888 billion of gross debt—

I appreciate it's a big number—

or $517 billion of net debt.

Listen to this one. The article goes on:

But while most of that debt was accrued during the Coalition's term, a sizeable chunk was inherited from the previous Labor government.

Labor's share amounted to either 25 per cent of gross debt ($218 billion), or 31 per cent of net debt ($161 billion).

In neither case did this represent a "tiny fraction" of the total.

I appreciate the member for Bass is a new member, but what she should know—and what the member for Fenner would know because he was here at the time—is that there was a global pandemic. We had to address the most challenging of times, and we kept small businesses open.

I sat in silence while you had your contributions. Please give me the respect of doing the same for me.

Emma Comer (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You interject all the time.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I didn't interject. You can trust that the Deputy Speaker would have told me to be quiet.

Government members interjecting—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay, members on this side! You have about a minute and 20 seconds left to behave. Over to you, Member for Riverina.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These were challenging times. Money needed to be spent, and money was spent, not only to keep the doors of business open but, indeed, to keep people alive. When we talk about keeping the doors of business open, here is a number which doesn't need fact-checking—29,521. Between June 2022 and March 2025, while Labor's been in government, according to ASIC, the corporate regulator, that's the number of businesses that have gone broke, gone insolvent. When we talk about housing, there's been a number of construction companies that have gone to the wall. When we talk of spending, in the last three years, Labor has added $100 billion—more, probably—to the national debt. We'll hit a trillion dollars this year, and that will be on Labor's watch. It'll be $1.2 trillion by the next election.

When we think about the jobs that have been created, they have been on the public purse. What they've done is add to compliance for businesses. This is hurting the economy. This is hurting everyday households. This is forcing prices up. So, when you're given the talking points by the Labor dirt unit, do your own fact-checking and know that they're not right.

Sarah Witty (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition would have us believe that this government is on a reckless spending spree. But let us be clear: what they call a 'spree', families in my electorate call a 'lifeline'. Before entering this place, I was the CEO of the Nappy Collective. That work started with the simple idea to collect nappies when children had grown out of them or toilet-trained too quickly and pass them on to families in crisis, families looking for help because of the crushing weight of the cost-of-living pressures following years of Liberal-Nationals cuts and attacks on workers, parents who were unable to afford essentials. We all do our best for our children, but what if, at even your best, you can't provide them with a clean nappy not because of a crisis but because of rising costs that have pushed you to the edge and the failure of minimum wage to keep pace? That is the reality outside this chamber.

That is why this government has chosen action over slogans and responsibility over scare campaigns. From 1 July, every household in Australia will see another $150 taken off their power bills. That relief matters when you are sitting at the kitchen table, wondering how to pay the next bill. We have delivered a 3.5 per cent pay rise for millions of Australians on minimum and award wages. These are workers who spend every cent on food, housing and school costs—not luxuries but basics, like nappies. This government is making sure their wages keep pace with the cost of living.

We have extended paid parental leave to 24 weeks and, for the very first time, super will be paid on parental leave. That will not just help families in the here and now; it will mean long-term financial security, especially for women, who often retire with less. We are making sure student nurses, teachers, social workers and midwives are paid during their practical placements. Young people training for those critical professions will no longer have to choose between gaining experience and paying their bills.

We are strengthening Medicare, with a $1.8 billion boost for hospitals, new rebates for longer consultations and better care for women's health. We have just spent the week speaking about how the cost of prescriptions will come down. Good health care should not depend on your bank balance and women's pain should never be dismissed or ignored. It's not just about the cost of living; it's about the quality of life you live. We are backing ambition with support for apprenticeships in housing and construction, with discounts on home batteries to permanently lower power bills. We will continue to provide help for small businesses to invest and grow.

This is not a spending spree. This is a government stepping in responsibly and carefully to make sure families do not fall through the cracks. When I think of the parents who came to the Nappy Collective for the first time, parents who never thought they would be in that position, I know exactly why these measures matter. They mean fewer families pushed to the point of desperation. They mean a little more breathing room. They mean dignity.

Those opposite can talk all they like about numbers on a page. On this side, we will keep talking about the people behind those numbers—the families, the workers, the students, and the small businesses who need and deserve a government that has their back. This is not about ideology; it's about compassion. It's about security, and it is about fairness. That is exactly what the Albanese Labor government is delivering.

Seriously, those opposite have no idea what families are going through. The choice is clear: Labor delivers relief and responsibility; the Liberals and Nationals deliver nothing but defects, debt and cuts.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for this discussion has now concluded.