Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, the Labor government's economic mismanagement again reached into the homes of the Morning Peninsula and landed with bigger bills on the kitchen table. Over the past four years, they've handed bigger bills to my constituents for electricity, for gas, for rent, for school supplies, for eggs, for bread, for ice cream, for insurance, for travel, and, yesterday, we saw the 13th interest rate rise on this government's watch.

In June 2022, interest rates went up. In July 2022, interest rates went up. In August 2022, interest rates went up. In September 2022, interest rates went up. In October 2022, interest rates went up. In November, December and February 2023, interest rates went up. In March 2023, interest rates went up. In May 2023, interest rates went up. In June 2023, interest rates went up. In November 2023, interest rates went up. Finally, there was a moment of stability, with a year of no change. Then, with enormous relief, there were small cuts in February, May and August of 2025. Again, yesterday, interest rates went up with pump primed public spending and a bloated budget, keeping inflation well above the RBA's preferred target of two-to-three per cent. My constituents keep doing it tough.

The average mortgage holder in this country is now paying $23,000 more a year in interest compared with when this government first came into office. That's a whole second job needed in a household to cover those interest payments. The impact of yesterday's interest rise on a $1 million home loan will be about 150 bucks a month. That's like another tank of fuel, a school excursion or a big grocery shop that somehow families have got to find.

The economists' verdict is clear. AMP chief economist, Shane Oliver, has said:

The best thing that Australian governments can do to help bring down inflation would be to cut government spending back to more normal levels, which would free up space for private sector growth without higher inflation.

Yet, in this financial year alone, Labor has added $50 billion in new spending; many more interest rate hikes are likely to come. High interest rates do not just mean tighter times around the kitchen table. They mean higher rents, which have gone from an average of around $500 to around $600 a week in my electorate, since this government came to power.

Labor's financial mismanagement at the federal level is matched by equal incompetence at the state level. State levies like the metropolitan planning levy, cladding rectification levies and the Victorian government's recent 'holiday tax' in terms of a short-stay levy are all disproportionate, sitting on the shoulders of my constituents. In the last financial year, there were only 650 residential building approvals; 25 years ago, there were over 2,000—that's a 71 per cent decrease in 25 years—and what it means is higher rents from here. Inflation will continue to go up, and it becomes a vicious circle. (Time has expired)

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 10 : 53 to 11 : 17