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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Under Labor, Australia is the only advanced economy where living standards have gone backwards. Real wages are now 2.1 per cent lower than four years ago, and the Reserve Bank forecasts they will continue to fall this year. After four years of Australians going backwards under Labor, when will the Prime Minister finally accept the buck stops with him?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question on 'economy day' for those opposite, apparently. We congratulate him on getting a question on the economy today. I thank him for not singing the question! I thank him sincerely. He spoke about the economy, how Australia is going and how, according to those opposite, who continue to talk Australia down—they must have missed the recession that took place in countries. Just look across the ditch at New Zealand, for example, as well as the UK and other countries. They must have missed the fact that 1.2 million jobs have been created.

The member who asked the question asks about standard of living and the impact on quality of life. Well, they've also missed the fact that paid parental leave will hit the full six months in a little while. The shadow Treasurer described it as a 'very bad scheme'. They must have missed the fact that the shadow Treasurer has advocated a flat tax. He said:

We must stop fiddling at the margins. … we have to move towards a simpler 20 per cent flat personal, company and consumption tax …

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

The manager on another point of order.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It goes to direct relevance. Once again, the Prime Minister is quoting rather than answering. This was about falling real wages, and we'd ask you to come back to—

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

The difference is this was a very broad question that contained quite a lot of moving parts and a political question at the end. If you're going to ask a political question—and I appreciate that sometimes they're not; they're short answers. This one is in that category. The Prime Minister is going to go a bit broader, as all prime ministers have done in question time.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm surprised that they suggest that this was a narrow question about wages, because those opposite wanted real wages to fall. That was actually their plan. They have also opposed all of the measures that we've taken to assist people. They opposed the fact that, since the election in July, we cut student debt by 20 per cent for more than three million Australians. That helped them to the tune of $5,500 dollars each. In August we protected penalty rates for weekend and overtime pay. That has something to do with wages. Those opposite opposed it.

In September we increased all the social services payments for five million Australians. In October we expanded our five per cent deposit plan for every first home buyer, which has now benefited 225,000 Australians. In November we tripled the bulk-billing incentive for every Australian, boosting bulk billing. In December we opened six more urgent care clinics. In January we had 1800MEDICARE go live, and we reduced the cost of medicines from $30 down to $25. It was $42.50, was what we were left with. That helps people as well.

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! There were too many interjections during that answer and the one before, and the member for Cook has been continually interjecting. He'll leave the chamber under 94(a).

The member for Cook then left the chamber.

We simply can't have people non-stop interjecting all throughout the week. There are consequences for actions. The yelling, the interjections—it's too much.

A government member interjecting—

Order, members on my right! Now that the House has come to order, we shall hear from the honourable member for Adelaide.