Varun Ghosh (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, it takes a lot of gall to come in here and make the day about homelessness and cost of living by those opposite, and that hollowness was reflected in the answers given by the minister today. That gall is based on hypocrisy. We have a real homelessness problem in this country. It's been growing and it's something that the government is focused on addressing. Five thousand social and affordable homes have been built since 2022. In nine years in government, the opposition built 373. So, when you talk about who's left Australians behind on homelessness, who's left Australians out in the cold, it's those opposite.

We have invested 20 times more than the coalition in social and affordable housing, and that's in spite of the impediments put in this place by the Liberals and the Greens last year, when they blocked our housing policies again and again until we finally got them through. Twenty-five thousand social and affordable homes are now in construction and planning, so don't tell us we've left Australians behind. We are working very hard to get Australians off the streets, and any help would be much appreciated.

Then we had a lecture on interest rates and inflation, and it's interesting to see, whenever the RBA delivers a report, the two styles the coalition adopt in this particular chamber. When the RBA does something like holding the interest rate steady, they come in here like storm crows and lecture us about the problems of inflation. When the RBA reduces interest rates, as it has done a number of times since we've taken office, there is a deafening silence from those opposite.

In March 2022, interest rates were at 5.1 per cent and rising. They peaked in December 2022 at 7.8 per cent, and since then the trajectory has been downwards. It's at 3.2 per cent today. That trajectory has not necessarily been perfectly linear, but its overall trend is down, and what that does is it takes one piece of pressure off household budgets—because we know the cost of living in this country is informed by three things. It's informed by the prices people pay for goods and services, it's informed by the wages that they earn and it's informed by the support government provides.

We've not only reduced inflationary pressure in this country but also increased the wages that Australians are earning. We've increased the minimum wage in this country multiple times, so people on the minimum wage are tens of thousands of dollars a year better off. These are the people on the downside of advantage. We've finally had not large but some real wage growth, which means wages outpace inflation. It means the actual money in people's pockets is going up, and that's vital to take pressure off household budgets.

Finally, the government has shown a consistent willingness to invest in support for people through government measures, and they're measures that those opposite always criticise. They describe it as profligate spending when it's to help people who are doing it tough in Australia, and then they come in here and lecture us about people being left behind. We're talking about energy bill relief, which they opposed before they supported. We're talking about lifting bulk-billing availability across the country. We're talking about Medicare urgent care clinics so you can get in to see a doctor without having any out-of-pocket expenses. We're also talking about the longer term measures to improve the financial position of Australians in retirement. We're talking about increasing the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent. We've expanded paid parental leave to 24 weeks, and now super is being paid on all government paid parental leave. These are things that have been opposed by the coalition. We cut student debt by 20 per cent, and we've kept the price of medicines at $25 or less per script.

When you take a big step back on all of this, and you look at the picture of those three things, this is a government that has made advancements in each of those areas. It's not to say there isn't more work to do; of course there is, and the government's got an ambitious agenda in that regard. But it would be easier to get that work done if those measures were not opposed in this chamber. It would be easier to get that work done if those opposite didn't come in here and take points against the government, while opposing the very measures they purport to support. This is a government that has reduced inflation, increased real wages and provided cost-of-living relief. That is something that supports all Australians.