Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to a question without notice asked by Senator Gallagher today relating to living standards and the economy.

After six very long years of the Liberals running the country's economy, what we've seen in their third term is a repeat of their lacklustre performance in this area over the previous six years. The government have no plan to turn around the economy. Wage growth has hit a record low of 0.6 per cent. We know that the net debt has more than doubled, and we've actually crashed through to the half-trillion-dollar mark with our gross debt. We know that the living standards of Australians have fallen dramatically, with the first per capita income recession in over a decade. Economic growth is slowing, with the IMF expecting growth to fall further to 2.1 per cent this year. The outlook is full of gloom.

Working Australians and their families are suffering under this lacklustre government. But, as usual, what do we see from those opposite? We see their arrogance, the arrogance not to even listen and heed the warning that is being expressed throughout the community on the economy and how that's hurting everyday Australians. The big mantra we saw from the government during the last term was all about giving away their $80 billion handout to multinational companies and $17 billion to big business and to big banks. Australia is in a crisis when it comes to housing affordability and homelessness, and this government, who have a responsibility to ensure all Australians have the opportunities they so richly deserve, is ignoring middle Australia. We on this side of the chamber are asking: why can you not articulate an economic plan? Is it because you're just too arrogant and lazy or is the truth that you don't have any idea and you have no plan? You didn't actually take a plan for the economy to the last election. You managed to win—and, yes, you can gloat about that; congratulations, it's always better to be on that side of the chamber—but with that comes enormous responsibility.

Our economy is floundering. People are hurting. More and more people are ending up homeless. The biggest cohort of people finding themselves homeless are older women, and we see nothing from those opposite. Business are calling out, because they have no confidence. You can't just rely on tax cuts, because there is still concern about whether or not people are actually going to spend the tax cuts that we pass through this place. I can tell you, when I walk around where I live in Launceston and throughout other places in Tasmania, there is a real downturn in retail, and it's not just about the internet; it's about the fact that people don't have confidence. People just aren't spending, because they don't know what's ahead of them. You have NAB senior economist Gareth Spence telling John Stanley it could take time to really discover whether Australians will spend their tax cuts and, I quote, 'But I guess we're getting increasingly worried that we've seen very little evidence of a significant boost from the tax cuts.'

That's what this government have been relying on. It has all been about tax cuts. You need to do a lot more than just that. Over the last six years you've really been all about attacking those who can least afford it. You're all about a tax on unions and working Australians. You cut penalty rates. None of these things that you have been so prominently advocating for have helped the economy. In fact, where are all the jobs that you said would be created once penalty rates were cut? There aren't any. There are none in the hospitality sector at all. There has been no evidence of what you tried to tell the Australian people—that, if we cut penalty rates, everything will be all right; the reality is that it hasn't been. You are forcing families to take on not only a second job but also in many cases a third. You are the government; you have responsibility. (Time expired)