James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2022-2023, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2022-2023 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2022-2023. The opposition will support the passage of these bills to ensure the continued functioning of government and so Australians can continue to benefit from the essential services that the Commonwealth provides. However, the opposition is deeply concerned with the government's first budget. In short, it was a missed opportunity. It left Australians short-changed. In a cost-of-living crisis, the government couldn't find a single policy—not one—that would deliver immediate support to Australians doing it tough. In fact, by Christmas, the average Australian family will be at least $2,000 worse off under this Labor government.

Before the election, Anthony Albanese was clear with the Australian people. He said:

I'll say this very clearly. They—

Australians—

will be better off under a Labor government than they will be under a Morrison government …

This budget, with the names of the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance on the front in blue and white, proves that that was a lie. Before the election, the Prime Minister said of the Labor Party's plan:

It will see electricity prices fall from the current level by $275 for households—

by 2025. That promise was made 97 times. But this budget proves that that lie was a strong lie by Mr Albanese. Instead we can see in this budget that electricity and gas prices will skyrocket over the coming two years—retail electricity prices by over 50 per cent and retail gas prices by 40 per cent.

Perhaps most relevant this week, as the government is forcing its job-destroying, anti-small-business industrial relations reforms through the parliament, this budget confirms that, under the government's policy settings—including its IR legislation—and Labor's forecast, real wages will fall over the coming years. Put simply, this government demonstrates that you cannot trust anything that Labor says. They are a party of broken promises, and we should not be surprised. A leopard cannot change its spots and Labor will always cost you more.

As the Treasurer said, this is a standard bread-and-butter Labor budget, but Labor's bread and butter are higher taxes and higher spending and it is evident here. Under Labor, the tax paid by Australians will increase by $142 billion over the forward estimates. There will be a new $555 million tax on retiree investors. The tax-to-GDP cap of 23.9 per cent, which the former coalition government put in place to ensure Australians were not hit by the invisible thief—bracket creep—goes out the window. And Labor has exceeded its pre-election spendathon. Instead of spending an additional $18 billion on new policies, not one which will provide immediate cost-of-living relief to Australians, Labor actually has hit $23 billion—again, higher taxes, higher spending and that is all that Labor knows. This is a $23 billion spendathon that will push up inflation, forcing the Reserve Bank governor to use the only tool available to him—that is, to increase interest rates.

This government's reckless spending is forcing the RBA to ratchet up interest rates, and mortgagees are feeling it. Rate rises every month since this government has come to power, with each one making it harder for Australians to pay their mortgage, buy groceries, pay their bills, all thanks to this Labor government. The opposition acknowledges that the October budget includes some measures that we will support and, indeed, have already supported through this parliament: assistance to victims of devastating floods; reducing the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment to lower the cost of medicines. There are others outlined in the opposition leader's budget address-in-reply delivered in the other place. However, when taken as a whole, this budget fails a test; indeed, it even fails Labor's own test set by them. This budget breaks many of the promises the government made before the election. It lets Australia down. Australians were promised cost-of-living relief but, just in time for Christmas, they see this government has no plan to help them.

The opposition will support the appropriation bills but we remain committed to holding the government to account over the promises it made to the Australian people. Australians expect it; Australians deserve it.