Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister, last year the Treasurer told us he had beaten inflation. Yet, even before the fuel crisis, inflation had beaten the Treasurer. Now the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has been caught unprepared for Australia's energy shortages, further punishing Australian households at the bowser and at the supermarket. Will the Prime Minister confirm that Australia's living standards have fallen under Labor?

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

The Leader of the Opposition appears to want to just completely dismiss the fact that there is a war going on—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! The Prime Minister is 10 seconds into his answer. He's said about five words. I just ask the house to return to order so we can hear the Prime Minister.

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

The conflict in the Middle East impacts the region. It also impacts the global economy. Australia is not immune to that, and Australians are concerned. Our government is dealing with it in an orderly, constructive way, and those opposite continue to want to pretend that none of that is happening. But actually what we have done, of course, is put Australia in a much stronger position to respond to these difficult issues. The best—

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You had it at 6.1 per cent, you fool!

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

Order! We're not going to have the Treasurer and the Leader of the Opposition bantering. The Prime Minister is giving information to the House about a pretty important issue. We're just going to ask the House to settle, to reset, so the Prime Minister can be heard with respect.

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

At a time like this, what we're doing is working with industry. Indeed, the president of the National Farmers' Federation said:

Now is the time for calm, considered and sensible actions …

Don't panic buy. He's been very clear about that. It stands in stark contrast to the behaviour of those opposite. I would have thought that the last few months might have taught the Liberal Party and the coalition that trying to turn everything into a political opportunity doesn't end well. It didn't end well for the former leader of the Liberal Party. It didn't end well for the former leader of the National Party. The surest—

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! When the house comes to order, we'll hear from the manager.

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

It goes to direct relevance. There was—

Honourable members interjecting—

No, this is serious. He was asked about a very serious issue; he wasn't asked about policies on our side. He was asked about what the government is—

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

Order. Resume your seat. I think it would be fair to say this question is quite loaded with the commentary that the Leader of the Opposition mentioned at the beginning of the question. It wasn't a straightforward 'please provide an answer' sort of question. So if there is quite a lot of politics in the question, there is going to be quite a lot of politics in the answer.

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

I would have thought that they would have learnt something, but apparently not. No matter how big an issue is, they show how small they are and how small their vision is. Right now it is a fact that we have as much fuel coming through our ports now as we did before the war began. It's as simple as that. And for the opposition to whip up panic about this does not serve Australians; it only lets people off who want to rip people off at this time. They come in here and they practice, 'How can we divide and how can we create a political advantage out of what is a difficult situation that the Australian government is dealing with?' This is from a bloke who thought the fuel reserves for Australia should be kept in Texas.