Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Energy insecurity leads to economic insecurity. Affordable, reliable energy underpins our national economy and supports productivity. Manufacturing, industry, agriculture and small businesses sit next to emerging technologies like AI in their demand and in their need for reliable, affordable energy.

That's why Australians are alarmed and concerned that electricity prices have risen by 30 per cent under Labor's watch. Remember that it was Prime Minister Albanese who promised savings of $275 on household electricity costs. Families today are now having to live with soaring energy costs of up to $1,300. Don't believe me? You can believe Anglicare Australia. Anglicare Australia's June 2025 Cost of living index said:

For the majority of the households we modelled, energy bills are simply unaffordable.

'Energy bills are simply now unaffordable,' is what Anglicare Australia are telling people as a result of the conversations they've had with Australian households.

And nowhere is the cost-of-living experience being felt with more difficulty than in my home state of Western Australia. There are three compelling data points: business insolvencies, slowing employment growth and inflation. In the 2024-25 financial year, 929 Western Australian businesses went insolvent. That's a 26 per cent increase on just a year before and a 149 per cent increase in business insolvencies compared to 2021-22. Think about that—929 business insolvencies in the last financial year compared to just 372 in 2021-22.

Perth has experienced the largest increase in annual inflation of any Australian city. The annual inflation rate for Perth families sits at 2.7 per cent, the highest of any Australian city. Western Australians have been forced to find money to support a 116 per cent increase in their electricity costs, a 2½ per cent increase in their hospital and medical costs and a 3.8 per cent increase in their motor vehicle maintenance costs, and, of course, rents are up by almost two per cent.

The one thing that has protected Australians from cost-of-living pressures is their feeling that they are saved by job security. For many years, people have thought, 'I can deal with the cost-of-living pressure because I have job security.' Well, guess what has changed in Western Australia? Western Australians are now facing increasing levels of job insecurity. In the six months to 2025, there were just 10,000 jobs created in Western Australia. Compare that to the 43,000 jobs that were created in the same period one year before that. What does that mean? It means job growth is slowing and job insecurity is increasing.

Life has become difficult for many, many Western Australian families under Labor. They know the country is going backwards. They can feel the country going backwards, and the data reveals it. Almost a thousand WA small businesses lost, jobs evaporating, families under cost-of-living pressures and energy costs rising: this is Labor's legacy on Western Australian businesses and Western Australian families. Perth tops every city when it comes to inflation. Insolvencies have increased by 26 per cent from a year ago and by almost 150 per cent in just four years, and job growth is in decline.