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

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

The failure of the Government to curb its reckless spending, now at the highest levels in 40 years outside of recession and making Australian mortgages more expensive.

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—

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise on this matter of public importance because Australian families are being squeezed harder and harder, and this government clearly refuses to take responsibility. If people were tuning in to question time—and apparently fewer and fewer Australians are—to listen to this Prime Minister, to his Treasurer and to the response from his ministers, they would feel an incredible sense of disappointment in their government and they would say: 'They just don't get it. Do they not understand what the lives of ordinary Australians are like at this point in time?' Clearly not.

For millions of Australians, today's decision isn't read in an economic statement, the arcane pages of a financial publication or a financial market update; today's 25 percentage basis points rise in interest rates hits like a hammer blow, and that is something that this government clearly does not understand—but we do. This announcement will be felt at the kitchen table, in the mortgage repayments of Australian householders with mortgages, in the rent notice, in the power bill, in the grocery bill that somehow just keeps getting higher and higher week after week, in the cost of supplies for a battling small business and in the cost of fertiliser and diesel imports for a struggling young family farmer. For somebody whose mortgage is just coming off a fixed interest rate, to look at this 13th interest rate rise under this Labor government will bring real pain. But it's a pain that the Labor Party simply does not understand.

It is the 13th interest rate rise, and it will hurt. It is a reminder that inflation is not going anywhere under Anthony Albanese's Labor government. To listen to the Prime Minister say, as he did, 'We've turned the corner'—we haven't turned the corner. If we have, we're stuck on completely the wrong road.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We're on a roundabout!

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolutely, Member for Durack; we're going round in circles, in some sort of holding pattern, with inflation high because spending is so high.

When you listen to the miserable excuses from the Treasurer like, 'Oh, read the fine print'—people aren't interested in the fine print in the discussion; they're interested in the decision. They're interested in what happens to their household mortgages and what happens to their bank balances. I don't think this government has met anyone running a battling small business today but we have, and I have. If you go into any small business, they will tell you: 'Nobody's spending money. Everybody's worried. Kids are going back to school. Everything costs more. How do you pay for everything that the schoolkids need as they go back? How do you look at the credit card balance after Christmas?' It's really tough times.

The point I make very clearly is: if you listen to this government, they don't understand it. We are on our own here; I make that point. Every time you hear the Prime Minister say, 'Oh, it's all part of the big picture internationally; we're all working together,' he has no understanding. Two years ago, Australia had lower interest rates than the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and the euro area. Today, after this rate increase, Australia will have higher interest rates than all of them—and we need to let that sink in. Canada has cut interest rates nine times without a single increase. New Zealand has cut nine times, the euro area eight times, the US six times, the UK six times. We stand alone not because global conditions are different here but because the government have made the Reserve Bank's job harder, not easier, with their reckless spending.

The simple truth is this: inflation is staying higher for longer because Labor have spent too much, have borrowed too much and have refused to put guardrails around government spending. That's not the Liberal Party saying that; it's economists—the economists that the Treasurer clearly despises because they don't agree with him; he'll be on the phone now, giving them a piece of his mind. He always tells them they need to back him in. But today, and this week, and this month, and this year, they haven't and they won't. It's economists saying this.

It's businesses saying this. This morning the Australian Financial Review reported that big business is urging the government to cut more than $50 billion a year in spending to help tame inflation. Big business don't always come out and have a lot to say about what the Labor Party, or even the Liberal Party, is doing. They stick to their knitting, as they should. They're getting on with the job. But even they have come out to say—wow. Cut $50 billion a year in spending—that's their advice.

Shane Oliver, well-respected chief economist for AMP—another chief economist that was pooh-poohed today by the Treasurer—said very plainly:

The best thing that Australian governments can do to help bring down inflation would be to cut government spending back to more normal levels …

We hear this excuse: 'It's the private sector.' What the government has done is shrink the private sector by increasing public demand. The private sector is shrinking, but the private sector is the one of people who take risks, who give back, who build this country, who build our communities. That's the private sector. Those are the battling small businesses that we walk into every day of the week. That's who's hurting right now. Those are the people that this government does not understand. It flows into every sector of the economy and every household.

Under Labor, the cost-of-living crisis is just getting worse and worse. It's not modelling; it's lived experience. What does that mean? What do these numbers mean in real terms? Insurance is up 39 per cent. Electricity is up nearly 40 per cent. Rent is up 22 per cent. Health costs are up 18 per cent. Education is up 17 per cent. Food is up 16 per cent. I'm not reading out luxuries; I'm talking about essentials.

While families are tightening their belts, Labor keep spending. Every time they answer a question in this place by talking about money they're spent, I just want people to think of two things. We are paying—this country is paying—$50,000 a minute in interest on the debt. That's not going to Medicare. That's not going to schools. That's not going to hospitals. That's not going to tax relief. That's just interest on the debt. This is a government that is very generous with borrowed money.

And every time more money is borrowed—and it is; we're heading towards $1.2 trillion in debt—people need to think, 'What does that mean for the next generation?' It's them that I think of today. It's the next generation who can't find a pathway into a home, whose rents have gone up 22 per cent. It's gen Z and millennials who say, when asked, that the biggest worry they have is the cost of living and whether they will ever be able to afford a home. There's no time to talk about this government's dismal record when it comes to building houses, but trust me: it is incredibly dismal indeed, and Labor's debt is climbing fast and making it harder and harder. It's not fair on the next generation. It's not responsible. It's intergenerational recklessness.

Now, with today's announcement, the average mortgage holder is paying around $23,000 a year more in interest than they did under the coalition. Monthly repayments are up around $1,800. And small businesses are going under at record rates, as the member for Goldstein reminds us. He's in those small businesses too, and he knows the pain they're feeling. Nearly 15,000 collapsed last year. These are not statistics; these are families and livelihoods.

Labor treat these small businesses like an ATM. They pile on more costs. They pile on more debt. They pile on more red tape and regulation. Senator Bragg in the other place made some very strong announcements yesterday about red tape and deregulation, because that's what we want to do. We want to take this pain away. We want to give people the capacity to grow stronger, build their businesses and contribute to their community.

The Liberal Party believes in aspiration—that, if you work hard, if you play by the rules, if you do your best for your kids, if you contribute to your community, you should be able to build a better life. But that promise feels distant today because Labor have lost control of the budget, and they've lost control of the economy. We believe that you must live within your means. It was the first statement I made as opposition leader—how we do, in fact, have fiscal guardrails, live within our means and recognise that we should do that because that's how we deliver fairness to the next generation, and it's how we look after the vulnerable.

Our plan is clear. We will ease the squeeze. We will fix the budget. We will keep Australians safe. We will rein in the reckless spending. We will respect every single taxpayer dollar. We will always back small business. We'll make energy more affordable, and we will restore confidence that hard work in this country is always something to reward, not something to punish. Australians deserve better than the higher prices, higher rates and higher debt they're getting. That's the alternative the Liberal Party offers.

Rebecca White (Lyons, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our government knows that some people across our country are doing it tough. That's why we're so focused on helping them responsibly, thoughtfully, deliberately. If you look at the statement that was released by the RBA today, it talked about an increase in private demand. It didn't talk about government spending, which is the premise of the motion that we're debating here in this House today. That's a false premise, because what we know is that what our government is doing is helping Australians.

Have a look at what our government inherited from the opposition. They left us inflation with a six in front of it and rising. Now it's much lower than that. They left us with higher spending, no savings and bigger deficits. They went to the election with a plan for bigger deficits and more debt and a plan to hike up taxes for every taxpayer to pay for nuclear reactors. And weren't they popular—particularly in my home state of Tasmania, which is renowned for and proud of its renewable energy efforts with hydro? The fact that you were taking a plan like that to the election went down like a lead balloon.

We are focused on the cost of living; they are focused on themselves. We're focused on turning two budget deficits around and making them budget surpluses. Wages have come up. Unemployment is down compared to what we inherited, and our government is focused on supporting Australians dealing with the cost-of-living issues that they are facing. And we are serious about that—not just empty statements from the Leader of the Opposition about a plan. What plan? The opposition doesn't have a plan. They haven't even got a plan to reconcile with their former coalition partners. It's false promises from the Leader of the Opposition.

I think it's important to put it in context. Look at the decade of the former coalition government and think about that decade as a lost decade, a decade of cuts and neglect. They left the country with structural deficits, wages stagnating, a housing crisis. They did nothing about it. For the Leader of the Opposition to come in here and lecture us about our program to build more homes, to support Australians into homeownership and to support them into affordable and social housing, when they did barely anything at all to support Australians dealing with this, is offensive. Think about the way that they left families struggling to access affordable child care and people struggling to find a bulk-billing GP. How many Medicare urgent care clinics did you build? Zero. The member for Lyne up there is giving the member for Lyons a bad name because she gets ejected and people think it's me! Our government is building Medicare urgent care clinics; their government didn't build a single one.

The records of those opposite speak for themselves. The Australian people voted them out for a number of reason. Amongst them was the fact that those opposite didn't have a plan to help tackle the cost of living. In fact, the opposition leader got up just now and said they've got a plan. Where is it? You certainly didn't take it to the election. You didn't present to the Australian people an option for them to vote for you, because you were outlining a range of measures to help to support them to deal with the cost of living, and you haven't done that since. The reality is that those opposite have nothing to offer Australians today. What solutions are they providing? Those opposite can't agree on who should sit where in the chamber. We saw that again today. We're focused on the cost of living and delivering for Australians; those opposite are focused on themselves.

I thought it was notable today that, when the opposition leader was giving her remarks, the member for Hume was missing. Where was he? The division in the opposition benches is clear for all to see. Those opposite can't help but have a giggle about it because they know it's true. It's on display for all Australians. How can we take you seriously—how can Australians take you seriously—when you can't take each other seriously? You can't even show up for the speech the opposition leader gives in this chamber on the first day back of the parliamentary year on the official calendar. I think it was interesting, some of the remarks made by the opposition leader. She spoke about a 'pain the Labor Party simply does not understand'. Was she talking about herself—the pain of the coalition split? When she talked about going around in circles, stuck in some kind of holding pattern, was she talking about this malaise the opposition find themselves in as they negotiate behind closed doors to roll her?

The government is focused on Australians. Our priority is supporting them to make sure they live a life of dignity and live a productive life. That's why we've been serious about taking deliberate steps to support initiatives that not only reduce the cost-of-living pressures Australian families are feeling but also increase the productivity of our economy. Look at some of the measures that our government has invested in. This is not wasteful spending, and I challenge members opposite to tell me which of these initiatives you don't support. Some of them we know—you don't support tax cuts, for one. We know you don't support tax cuts for hardworking Australians. You've made that plain. You voted against it, and you took a policy to the election to increase taxes. So we know you don't support that. Energy bill relief is another thing you didn't support. In fact, you wanted to spend taxpayer money building nuclear reactors—billions of dollars. That would have put power prices up through the roof for hardworking Australians.

What about more free GP visits? This has been a hallmark of our Labor government that understands the value and the importance of Medicare. It's in our DNA. Do you propose to roll back the investments that we've made to fund Medicare urgent care clinics across our country? Is that reckless spending? What about the increase in the bulk-billing rate? We've seen 1,300 more practices convert to be fully bulk-billing across the country since 1 November last year. Is that reckless spending? Is it? Are you going to roll that back? Are you going to introduce the co-payment again? Why don't we go back to the ghosts of Liberals past, like the former member for Dickson, and introduce a co-payment? The opposition leader, when she was the health minister, did nothing about addressing the falling rates of bulk-billing. What did she do about the Medicare rebate? Did she increase it once? Doughnuts.

I think the record of the Liberal Party speaks for itself, but maybe it's an interesting question for constituents in their electorates and the Australian public to ask them. Is spending on health care reckless spending? Is increasing the bulk-billing rate for Australians, who can now finally see a doctor for free, reckless spending? Is investment in Medicare urgent care clinics, which are supporting millions of Australians to see a health professional in their time of need, reckless spending? What about cheaper medicines and the $1 billion that Australians have saved on cheaper medicines because of our government's commitment to lower the price of medicines to support Australians to get the health care that they need? Is that reckless spending? These are serious questions for the opposition to confront, and there's no response.

What about free TAFE? We know you're not a fan of that. This is a productivity-enhancing measure. This is about equipping Australians with the skills they need to be able to go and pursue their dreams to get a job here in our country and support in areas of economic activity, in child care, in aged care and in teaching. These are investments that are supporting Australians to live a good life. This is not reckless spending. What about the cuts we made to student debt of 20 per cent? Are you going to put that back on? You're going to increase student debt by 20 per cent. This is what Australians need to ask themselves when they hear the Liberal opposition leader talk about reckless spending.

The RBA has been clear in its statements today. It's private demand that's been the key reason why they've made a decision as an independent board to lift rates. There is no doubt that this will hurt some Australians who've got a mortgage, and that is why our government has been so single-mindedly focused on delivering cost-of-living relief to all Australians. It's why we've supported pay rises for some who are working in highly feminised industries, like aged care and child care. It's why we've supported pay rises for those who are on the minimum wage. We're supporting parents through enhancing paid parental leave, access to cheaper child care and more childcare places, because I know that this is one of the key ways that we unlock opportunity for women, in particular, to participate in our economy. These are productivity-enhancing investments. This is not reckless spending.

I would like to just finally make the point that, when Australians think about who's going to give them a fair go, I feel confident when I look at our benches that there is a competent group of ministers and a team here working every single day in their electorates for that single purpose—to give Australians a fair go. Do those opposite really think they have anything to offer Australians at the moment with respect to a comprehensive economic narrative? Do you? Really? You can't even work out who's going to be your shadow Assistant Treasurer. It's just embarrassing. You can mark yourself up if you like, but I think Australians are marking you down right now. (Time expired)

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

It actually genuinely is with great sadness that I stand today, because Australia, today, has received some very bad news. I think first and foremost of the families who have come through Christmas and whose family budgets are looking awful. They've been dropping the kids off to school. They don't know whether or not they have to forego takeouts or school sport. They're having to buy the shoes, the uniforms and the textbooks. They're struggling. Today, they received the news from the Reserve Bank of Australia that interest rates are going up. I don't know how bad this has to get for the Australian people before the Albanese government starts taking this matter seriously.

Throughout question time today, despite this being the most important issue facing Australians, we had continuous hubris from the Prime Minister and giggles and laughs and jokes from the frontbench of the Labor government. Meanwhile, the Australian people are struggling. It might be true, of course, that most Australians aren't going to be glued into question time, but it does go to the character of those who are running this country. The fact that the Treasurer continues to refuse to take any responsibility for the fact that interest rates are going up due to his spending spree—I can't find a credible economist in the country who is not saying that the Albanese government isn't overspending. All economists are saying they are overspending, and the more they spend, the more it's basically putting pressure on the RBA to lift rates.

This government cannot stop spending. This is the highest spending government in 40 years, outside a pandemic. In 40 years, no government has spent as much as this government. It's an extraordinary amount. Spending as a percentage of GDP has gone from 24 per cent to 27 per cent—amazing! Every single time we see an economist come out say the government is overspending and it's driving up interest rates, the Treasurer denies it. And who are the ones who lose? It's the Australian people.

Spending is so bad that, last week, we revealed a $60 billion black hole in Labor's government. That is a deterioration of $60 billion since the election. Did they come forward and transparently tell the Australian people about this? No, they didn't. We had to go and find it. We had to go and find it in the MYEFO report that they laid down in December. They want to keep it a secret—$60 billion. To put that in context, that's around the size of our entire defence budget. But here's the thing, when the Treasurer has been asked to explain that deterioration, he hasn't known the answer. So spending is so bad the majority of that $60 billion, according to the official figures, is due to more spending, but the Treasurer himself doesn't know what he's going to spend that money on. This is how bad it is. In fact, when he was challenged to explain, he tried to brush it off and say it's only a small deterioration. Since when is $60 billion a small deterioration? We know economist after economist is coming forward and saying that this government is overspending.

We have also revealed that, in this financial year alone, there is an additional $50 billion being spent by the Albanese government on discretionary items. We're not talking here about health, education, the NDIS and social welfare. We're not talking about those pressures on the budget. We are separately talking about cabinet ministers sitting around the table and deciding on separate initiatives. Governments have every right—they are entitled to decide what they want to spend the money on, but they have an obligation to find offsets in the budget, and this is what they are not doing. They are pouring more money into the economy. The economy has capped out with a speed limit, but they keep putting money in, forcing the Reserve Bank to come in and take money out. And how do they do that? They do that by increasing interest rates. This is why it is the responsibility of this government. But they refuse to take responsibility.

So let's not take this debate today really as being the Labor Party versus the Liberal Party. This is about the Labor Party versus the Australian people. This is the Labor Party against Australian families. This is the Labor Party going to hardworking Australian families, taxing them more, taking more money out of their pockets to feed a spending spree, forcing interest rates up—and then they have to pay higher mortgages. That's this problem.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am privileged to have the opportunity to stand here and talk about this moment. It's interesting to hear the shadow treasurer lecturing the government on credibility. It is fascinating, considering that, during question time, he did not know how interest rates were set and that they're independent from the government. Neither did he read the RBA governor's statement on interest rates. If he had read the statement, he would have seen that it was a growth in private demand. The truth is that, if we have a shadow Treasurer that lacks credibility, what does that say about the coalition as a whole? But I won't talk about that, because what we really want to talk about is Australian families.

I am the member for Swan. I have an electorate which has many people that have households. I got to drop off my daughter at school yesterday. Sometimes those opposite talk about things in an esoteric way. I had the privilege of dropping her off for her very first day of full-time school, and what I would say is that I'm in touch with what's happening in our communities and I know that households are doing it tough, but what I also know is that people out there in Australia know which government or which side of politics has their backs, and it is indeed the Albanese Labor government.

We are a government that managed to deliver two surpluses. We have been looking for savings for every single part of our budget. I know that the Minister for Finance has been working very hard on this, and what I would say is that the finance minister and the Treasurer are a dream team. There is so much talent on this side of the bench. The truth is that, when we talk about dream teams, theoretically that should be the Liberal Party and maybe the Nationals, but they can't even decide on whether or not they're a team. It's fascinating that we're at a time in politics where the opposition and the crossbench have exactly the same numbers. When you talk about numbers, you want to trust a side that understands numbers, and it doesn't sound like that side understands the numbers—very, very concerning!

This government has been working very intentionally to bring down inflation, and we have been doing that for a long time—slaying that naughty inflation dragon.

I totally recognise that. It has been persistent. There are parts of it that have been persistent. But I'm going to say that we have done a better job of dealing with inflation than the other side. What our side of politics has been doing is looking at what sensible investment looks like, and I have seen that in my community. And an example is METRONET, where we have seen the elevated rail line, which is increasing productivity on our roads. It's also activating community spaces.

Also, last week, I got to attend the Chung Wah community centre, which will be a new project, again, in the heart of Swan. One of the things that we got to hear about is the Lunar New Year and the project that symbolises something bigger. The Lunar New Year calls us to remember that prosperity is not created overnight. It is built step by step, one brick at a time, one apprenticeship at a time, one community at a time. That is what responsible delivery looks like.

It also looks like strengthening Medicare so people can get care without a credit card. Medicare urgent clinics are providing fully bulk-billed care for urgent care but not life-threatening issues. We began this commitment with 50 clinics and we've already delivered 90, with a plan to expand the network further. This means that more families are getting seen sooner and putting less pressure on our hospital departments.

Cost-of-living relief also looks like the two tax cuts that are coming this way towards households, something that those opposite did not take to the last election. Yes, the Labor Party is the party of lower taxes. We are also moving on wages because the Labor Party fundamentally want to see incomes increase, something that those opposite do not believe in.

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

Today is a sad day for millions of Australians. As they finish their work and drive home—or catch the train or a tram if they're in Melbourne—they'll be hearing over the radio about how the Reserve Bank has increased interest rates off the back of inflationary data that shows that the government has lost all control of its fiscal purse strings. Australians are going to receive this news at a time when their Christmas credit card is coming and when they've just paid for new uniforms and books and all the other costs of kids going to school for the new school year. There has never been a time in Australian history where people can less afford to absorb higher interest rates, particularly families who are only just getting their head above the financial water.

But, unfortunately, the Reserve Bank has delivered some terrible news to those households today. And, of course, we know it will be passed on by the banks quickly. While the government want to defer responsibility and say they are not to blame, that simply isn't the case. Even IFM Investors' chief economist has said, 'The fiscal guardrails have come off.' Time and time again we have heard from economists that it's government expenditure at both the state and federal level that is driving inflation. Debt spending of borrowing from tomorrow to fund today is driving the inflationary pressure and the pressure that sits on the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates.

You can see it in the headlines of only a few days ago, where it was reported that the government got its projections around expenditure $57 billion off. Well, Deputy Speaker Claydon, have you ever watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the episode with the Black Knight? I think they, on the other side of this chamber, in the Albanese government, are trying to pretend that it's a fiscal flesh wound. It is so much more serious, because, when you borrow from the future to spend for today, you have too much money chasing too few goods and services, so prices rise and interest rates go up. And that's precisely what is happening under this government.

We know it's not just their fiscal recklessness; it's also industrial relations inflation. They come into this parliament every single time and make the case about why they need to increase the costs on employers, directly attacking the root and branch of small business in this country. That's why, off the back of inflationary data, you don't just see a rise in the cost of prices of goods and services; you also see it in tax rates, where so many state governments now engage in the active process of taxation inflation to increase the charges that are going on small business.

Households are doing it tough. Small business are doing it tough. What does the Labor Party say? 'There's nothing to see here. It has nothing to do with us.' Well, that isn't the lived experience of the 40,000 small businesses that have gone insolvent under the Albanese government. They can't bear the cost any more of higher interest rates, higher inflation, higher industrial relations inflation and higher taxation inflation—15,000 in the past year alone, a record in Australian history since records have been kept. And I can tell you, Deputy Speaker, that I would never come into this parliament and boast, as members of the Labor Party have, about how I'm such a successful economic manager when 15,000 Australian households lost their capacity to be able to fund their costs last year, lost the pathway to be able to support their families. It isn't something to be proud of. It is an absolute disgrace. Forty thousand Australians have lost their incomes since this Labor Party came to government. Labor have their priorities wrong.

I hear so many Labor members screaming out, 'Well, what would you cut?' I'll make it crystal clear: we would not resist for one second cutting the cartel kickbacks that the Labor government wants to pass on to the CFMEU, which is increasing the cost and passing it on to Australian taxpayers and consumers. We know the Labor Party is compromised after the Prime Minister said previously that he would never accept donations from the CFMEU, and in the ABC disclosures he was exposed for telling a fib. We know directly that the Prime Minister has now been caught out misleading the public—and why? So they can continue the cartel kickbacks from taxpayers' dollars at the state and federal level, funded by Australians, to the CFMEU, who have direct connections to bikie gangs and organised crime. Taxpayers' money should never land in the hands of organised crime or bikie gangs, but this seems completely irrelevant. There is only one pathway through this: we must change the government.

Matt Gregg (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This afternoon, we have outrage unencumbered by self-awareness. The assistant minister asked earlier why the member for Hume wasn't in the chamber before. I think I can guess: it may have something to do with the fact that he, as the shadow Treasurer at the last election, proposed a budget that would have had a $7.9 billion deterioration in the first two financial years of a hypothetical Dutton government. When they wave the finger at big spending, they forget the fact that they were kind of for it only a few months ago. This isn't ancient history, and we're not going back to 2022 or 1981; this is recent history. They did not propose responsible spending measures. Now we have yet another misdiagnosis of economic reality.

Today is a tough day for mortgage holders; we shouldn't walk away from that. There are many people in my electorate, often described as part of the mortgage belt, for whom today is going to be a really difficult day—another weight on the shoulder. When something that serious happens, we have to take the issue seriously, which means we have to look at the driving factors that have led to it. The RBA says it's largely from the private sector this time—and that's not about a blame game or saying, 'The private sector has done the wrong thing'; it means we have to dig a little deeper.

What are the issues? One of them is that our demand is starting to be too high relative to our productive capacity. Where do we go from there? The Albanese Labor government has been investing in the productive capacity of our economy, skilling up our workforce with free TAFE and working to cut red tape. Since the productivity roundtable last year, we've seen a number of measures begin looking at simplifying government processes, ensuring that pieces of information don't have to be inputted more than once—time-wasting silly forms and things like that. They have been a focus of our government because we know that in order to support our industry, to support our economy to get that kickstart it needs at this point in time, we need to ensure we are as productive as we can possibly be. That means working with the private sector. It means ensuring we, as government, are setting an example by ensuring we're as being as efficient and effective as we can be. But we don't let fairness go by the wayside. We have focused on the impact of households, ensuring that medicines are cheaper and that young people and people returning to the workforce have access to the skills they need to get the job they deserve—and that in turn means employers have access to the labour they need in order to improve the way their businesses are operating and to maximise their profits in the long term.

Inflation is the most pernicious tax. It is something that affects all of us, and we as a country get nothing in return. The fight against inflation is real and important, and it's been one of the three focuses of the Treasurer in recent times. It is looking at doing what we can to support a reduction in inflation over time, ensuring we are resilient to global headwinds and making sure we are building productivity in our economy across the board—and that is exactly what we're doing.

Today is a very serious day, and that is why we need to talk about serious solutions rather than relying on tropes and cheap tricks and trying to throw blame about—'Is it the amount of money?' or things like that. The RBA has said the reasoning for its decision—the fact that private consumption has gone up in relative terms to public is there in black and white. It wasn't only in recent data; it was in the last monetary statement as well. It's right there in the ABS data. It's not a mystery. We also know there are variations between states in terms of what's going on in their economies—housing prices and increases in other particular prices. It is a complex set of circumstances, and that is why we have to work to deal with it in a very serious, very methodical way, rather than relying on what has, frankly, become cheap theatrics and predetermined indignation. We've got to take this job seriously. Governing isn't as simple as throwing away lines that might make the other side feel a little sad for a moment; it is about getting the important work done. It is about identifying what we can do to support the success of Australians and ensure that our economy is going at the best pace possible.

When we look at today's announcement, this isn't one of glee. It's not one where any of us should be saying, 'Job well done.' The job is nowhere near done. There is a lot of work to do. The good news is that this government is doing it. We are focused on the task of improving the economy, improving the impact that has on households in Australia.

Things are getting more expensive because of inflation. We need to deal with inflation, which means we have to take it seriously. Misdiagnosing it is not the solution to that problem. Simply throwing out political tropes, cheap tricks and saying, 'Your fault, your fault, your fault'—that does not get anything done. We need to invest the time in reading the full report by the RBA. Rather than drawing our own conclusions, rather than cherrypicking quotes from economists here, there and everywhere, the RBA tells us why they have made the decisions they have. Read the full document, and then we can have a serious adult conversation about what steps to take next. We should be taking the politics out of this. We should be a solutions focused parliament. It is the least we can do for the hardworking Australians who are having a very, very tough day today.

Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

By representing more than 92 per cent of South Australia, I represent small-business owners, farmers and families who understand the value of a dollar. Out in the country we know that weather, like the economy, can be unpredictable. We know that good years can be followed by lean ones. Because of this, country people understand the discipline that, when you have a good harvest, you don't run into town and blow every cent in the pub. No; farmers put money aside to prepare for the drought that they know is coming. They show restraint.

Unfortunately, our Treasurer, Dr Jim Chalmers, is no diligent farmer. Indeed, he has no economic credentials at all. He has a PhD in political science. He, by its very definition, is a spin doctor. I'll go again: he's a spin doctor! I'm a farmer from Bute, but I also went to uni and studied economics and engineering. Economics 101: a fundamental principle of government is to act in a countercyclical fashion to the private sector. In fact, Mr Maguire, my high school teacher, taught me this very fact. Unfortunately, our Treasurer, the spin doctor, cannot stop borrowing our money and spending it, completely ignoring the inflation right under his nose. We saw it today. The Reserve Bank of Australia has been forced to raise interest rates again, and Dr Jim, with a PhD in spin, has nobody to blame but himself.

The facts are simple. Rates are higher than they should be because this Treasurer has absolutely no discipline. Higher grocery prices; higher mortgage repayments; higher energy prices. The Treasurer's own budget papers tell this story. Since Labor came to office, they've added $50 billion of new discretionary spending to this financial year alone—$50 billion! To put this massive number into simple terms: that is money the government chose to spend, but it wasn't scheduled and it wasn't necessary. It was Labor sitting around the table, deciding to spend more money without finding any savings. When a farmer spends more money than they earn, the bank manager steps in. In this case, the Reserve Bank is that bank manager. When the government borrows more and pumps that extra money into the economy, it drives up prices. It makes inflation worse. To fix that, the RBA must raise interest rates to slow the economy and increase prices in the process. And here we are. What a surprise!

Standard economic analysis tells us a scary truth: to cancel out the damage of Labor's $50 billion spending spree, the RBA will need to raise interest rates nine times. You heard that right: nine times. The Treasurer tries to hide. He blames the former government, yet he's the one responsible. It's like being surprised that everyone is drunk when you were the one buying the beers.

The Treasurer even hides behind the Governor of the Reserve Bank. He boasts that she hasn't explicitly called him out. Well, out in the country we know that polite folk don't always go around shouting at people. The governor is polite; she tries not to embarrass this Labor government. But for the Treasurer to use her professionalism as an excuse for his bad management shows a total lack of respect.

Here is the reality for families in the country. If we swapped out one for the other, economists say that Labor's extra spending spree has the same impact on the economy as nine interest rate cuts. Think about that: if Labor had done the responsible thing, if they had acted like the disciplined farmers I represent in regional SA and showed restraint, we could effectively be enjoying the benefits of nine rate cuts now. For the average mortgage holder, that is worth about $14,000 a year. That is $14,000 that should be in the pockets of Australian families, but it isn't, because Jim Chalmers couldn't say no to more borrowing and more spending. To go back to my farm analogy, he couldn't resist the new double-cab 70 series with a lift kit, a snorkel and a bull bar when really the old one was plenty good enough.

Public spending is currently growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy. The government is getting fat while the private sector—our farmers, our tradies and our small businesses—are starving. It is simple. The more the government spends, the higher your mortgage goes. The Treasurer won't take responsibility for this mess. If he can't take responsibility for the problem, he certainly cannot be trusted to fix it. For that, we need a different government.

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's been a really interesting day. We've just heard that apparently the Reserve Bank governor was not telling the truth, because she was being polite, which frankly is a little bit patronising for a professional woman at the top of her career. During question time, we discovered that the member for Fairfax, who is now both the shadow Treasurer and the shadow Assistant Treasurer, doesn't know how interest rates are set. Perhaps he needs a better assistant. Anyway, while it may be inconvenient for an opposition desperate to politicise everything to deflect attention from their chaos and disorder, Reserve Bank Governor Bullock has in fact said that the drivers of inflation in Australia are strong domestic demand relative to supply, housing costs and market service prices, labour and non-labour pressures, temporary price movements and a tight labour market, which of course means we have low unemployment. You will note that government spending was not included in her comments, and I don't think she was just being polite. I think she knows her stuff. In fact, nor was it included in the Reserve Bank board's comments today, where the cause identified was in fact growth in private demand.

Let's not forget that the opposition, when they were in government, left Australia with inflation that was 6.1 per cent and rising. It's now much lower than that. They left us with higher spending, no savings and bigger deficits. And then most recently, as coalition opposition, they went to the election with a plan for bigger deficits, more debt and a plan to hike up taxes for every taxpayer to pay for nuclear reactors. We are focused on cost of living. They're focused on themselves. They oppose pretty much every cost-of-living measure to help Australians that we put forward over the last term of government, right down to voting against tax cuts for Australians. Meanwhile, we delivered two surpluses after a decade of deficits under them and paid down some of the Liberal debt we inherited from those opposite. The MYEFO showed the budget is now $233 billion better than what we inherited, and we found more than $114 billion in savings.

But, if the opposition truly thinks we should be cutting government spending, perhaps they could suggest exactly where they would like those cuts. Do they want us to cut health funding? We know they've tried to undermine Medicare since it was introduced, and, at a time when we have an ageing population with increased demands on the health system, we have responded by investing in Medicare urgent care clinics, Medicare mental health clinics, 1800MEDICARE, cheaper medicines, 60-day scripts and extra funding for the hospital system in our agreement with the states. So do they want to cut funding for health?

We know they neglected veterans, so maybe that's where those opposite think we should be cutting spending. When we came to government in 2022, there was a backlog of 42,000 veterans total and permanent incapacitation claims. These claims were sitting in the department for up to 18 months or more. They had not even been allocated to a worker for assessment, and I can only assume that's their idea of saving money—by not paying veterans' TPI claims. Shame on them for targeting people who've served our country, who, as we know, often only put their claims in when they're really desperate. But, when we came to government, we were appalled at their treatment of veterans, so we fixed the problem. We allocated an extra $477 million to process the claims, and those claims, paying veterans who've served our country what they are justly entitled to, have cost an additional $8.5 billion. So is that the government funding that those opposite think we should cut?

We know they don't believe in or maybe don't understand climate change and the need for energy transition, since 22 coal-fired power stations announced closure under them and they did nothing about it. Perhaps they want to cut funding for clean energy and instead spend squillions of government dollars on nuclear power plants. Perhaps they want us to get rid of the tax cut that will be coming in July this year and the one in the following July. We know they opposed our tax cuts in the last term of government, and they took a policy to reverse tax cuts and in fact increase taxes on Australians to the last election.

It really is easy to say 'cut government spending' with no detail. They don't seem to have learned from their detail-free policies at the last election, and they've reverted to a three-word slogan: cut government spending. But budgets are serious business, and spending cuts have impacts on real Australians. I challenge those opposite: give us some detail on what you actually think we should cut. Are you saying we should cut spending on infrastructure like roads? Should we cut on defence? Should it be education? Are we cutting the age pension or cost-of-living measures? You need to tell us what it is. (Time expired)

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It might be a new year, but Australians are still lumped with the same hardships inflicted upon them by this government as they were last year. As families in my electorate of Monash sent their kids back to school last week, on top of the school supplies and new uniforms, they continued to get slugged with the cost of economic mismanagement by this government. Inflation is a homegrown problem, as the former governor of the Reserve Bank Philip Lowe has said. It's a homegrown problem because, as he noted as well as many others, government spending continues to grow.

As the MPI says, the government's reckless spending is now at the highest levels in 40 years outside of a recession. This is a primary driver of inflation, and the Treasurer's continued revenue ram-raids are driving this—so much so it's known as 'Jimflation'. 'Jimflation' is an invisible tax on the financial security of every Australian. Australians work bloody hard for the tax that they contribute, and this government's got complete disregard for those efforts. Australians deserve to know that their hard earned taxes are going to be spent in the most effective and efficient way possible. This government disrespects the tax that they work hard to pay. Australians deserve better than a government that continues to channel Paul Keating's 'you've never had it better' every time our economy goes backwards, every time we see someone struggling to get ahead.

Today we've seen the 13th interest rate rise under this government, and it's important to note that the minutes provided by the RBA today have left the door open for further rises. Meanwhile the Treasurer, again, tells us the budget is in better nick. He refuses to see that government spending is making inflation worse. Now, here are just a couple of examples, which Judith Sloan put forward in the Australian earlier. According to MYEFO, real government spending will increase by 4.5 per cent this financial year. It grew 5½ per cent last financial year. Government payments, as a percentage of GDP, are close to 27 per cent—another record outside of COVID and several years in the early 1980s. The Treasurer cannot continue to hide behind these figures, because government spending is driving inflation.

Just today, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman released a report on the health and wellbeing of Australian small businesses. He says:

The December 2025 quarter marked the end of another demanding year for—

Australian—

small and family businesses that saw rising input costs, squeezed margins—

and—

new regulatory demands …

I note that the government continues to fail on its word to reduce red tape. Small businesses have never worked harder for less and faced more risk and red tape than under this government. And it's not just small businesses; it's households too who are at the coalface of this government's inflation crisis, which went up to 3.8 per cent in December last year. This is at the worst possible time for families, heading into a Christmas and into the new year. When the coalition was last in government, inflation averaged just 2.1 per cent—nearly half the four per cent Australians are seeing under Labor.

Everywhere I go across my electorate of Monash, people are telling me that they're struggling to pay their bills. Community groups are telling me they're struggling to keep their heads above water. Insurance has gone up. Energy has gone up. Rent has gone up. We have a prime minister that loves to wave his Medicare card around, telling us that's all you need to see a GP, when in reality health has gone up 18 per cent. Education is up 17 per cent. When I was at a listening post recently, I had a lady come out of the supermarket holding two bags of groceries, saying, 'Mary, I cannot get my groceries—these two bags of groceries—for under a hundred dollars.'

People are struggling. They deserve a government that cares, they deserve a treasurer that is going to be real with them about the economy and they deserve a prime minister that will face up to the challenges that we have instead of continuing to mislead them.

Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition for this fantastic opportunity to talk about the important measures the Albanese Labor government has taken to ease the cost of living for families right around the country. We have spent this entire term in government focused on the needs of the Australian community, delivering for all Australians.

The Liberals and the Nationals—the 'no-alition'—on the other hand have spent their entire time in opposition focused on themselves and their own political infighting. If those opposite want to talk about failure, they should be focusing on the failure of their own coalition. There have been so many break-ups, reshuffles, get-back-togethers and will-they-won't-theys that I'm not even sure who's on the front bench any more. Seriously, I cannot handle another seating plan. If the new season of Married at First Sighttanks, channel 9 has some new material to draw from right across this chamber.

Those opposite want to talk about Labor's cost-of-living relief. Sure—I'd be more than happy to oblige. The Albanese Labor government is delivering real cost-of-living relief for all Australians. As the member for Gorton, I've spoken to many members of my community about the cost of living—young people struggling to get into the housing market, people on pensions struggling to make ends meet when they pay their bills, a generation saddled with student debt. People are doing it tough; there's no doubt about that.

That's exactly why we've introduced the five per cent deposit scheme and expanded eligibility to all first home buyers, so more people can break into the housing market. In my own electorate of Gorton, Labor's expanded home guarantee scheme has meant more than 1,800 people have been able to buy their first home. That's real change for real families. And we're building more homes. In Labor's last term in government, we built 500,000 homes, and we're delivering more than 21,000 new social and affordable homes right across the country through round 3 of the Housing Australia Future Fund, its largest round yet.

There's no doubt today is a tough day for mortgage holders. It's why we've cut student debt by 20 per cent. It's why we've given every Australian household energy bill relief. It's why we've added more medicines to the PBS and capped costs for PBS listed medicines at $25. It's why we've increased the LISTO and raised the eligibility threshold to give low-income workers a superannuation boost. It's why we've delivered a tax cut for every Australian and will deliver a further tax cut this year and another one next year. Then there's the three-day childcare guarantee, paid prac and the biggest ever investment in Medicare so people can see a GP for free. And then there's free TAFE. It's actually free TAFE's third birthday. That's three years of free vocational education and training for Australians—something that unlocks doors and something that I know well. Thanks to free TAFE, my husband, Chris, can retrain to become a sparky. All this comes alongside our most recent announcement of $25 billion to state and territory governments for public hospitals as part of a landmark agreement.

I could go on, but the point is that this is not reckless spending. These are real cost-of-living measures that are making a difference to household budgets around the country, real cost-of-living measures that those opposite consistently voted against. Tell that to the families in Melbourne's western suburbs. Tell that to my community. We are listening to communities like mine, and we are responding. Meanwhile, by the way, we're appropriately managing inflation. When Labor came to government in 2022, the inflation rate had a six in front of it—a six. Now it's got a three in front of it. We've had two budget surpluses, and we've used those to pay down debt. Compared to what we inherited, wages are up and unemployment is low.

To be clear, those opposite call this reckless spending, yet they can't string together a reasonable policy agenda. They're inconsistent. They struggle to find a coherent position to scrutinise the government from. Last month brought us a clear example. They insisted we recall parliament early. Fine. Done. Then, when we recalled parliament early, they told us it was rushed. There is no consistent position in the 'no-alition', and it's no wonder because, looking over there at the Libs and way over there at the Nats, right now, I can't see a coalition at all—and I'm wearing my contact lenses today! Their inconsistency on key issues and their failure to form a functioning opposition is not helping Australians. This motion is not government scrutiny; it's a thinly veiled attempt to distract from their own political infighting and, quite frankly, it's just not working. I thank the House.

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

The discussion has concluded.