Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the growing and undeniable truth that Australia is weaker today than it was three years ago, and every single Australian can feel it. We have a weak economy propped up by spin and sustained by denial. Growth is an illusion, productivity is collapsing, confidence is gone and the Australian people are hurting. They're hurting at the supermarket. They're hurting at the fuel bowser. They're hurting at the kitchen table. Labor's reckless spending is pouring fuel on the inflation fire. It's driving up prices, driving up interest rates and driving down living standards.

Australians have suffered 14 interest rate hikes under this government. That's 14 hits to every mortgage holder, every small business, and that's 14 reminders that this government has lost control. And, while Australians tighten their belts, this government expands the bureaucracy, regulators multiply, red and green tape suffocates enterprise, and businesses are grinding to a halt under the weight of compliance and uncertainty. Labor has driven up costs, driven down productivity and driven confidence into the ground.

This is what a weak economy looks like. This is what failed leadership looks like. They have driven up inflation, weakened our energy system, exposed our fuel fragility and forced Australian families to carry the burden of their failures. Make no mistake: Australians are waking up to this mob and what they've done to them.