Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Australians were promised that, if they worked hard and played by the rules, they could get ahead. That promise is broken—broken by a government that refuses to live within its means. Australians don't resent hard choices; they resent being punished for doing the right thing. That is why this urgency motion is before the Senate today. Why is inflation persistent? Why are interest rates going up? It's because we have an arrogant government that refuses to rein in its own spending. This is not theoretical. Australians are seeing the ramifications every single week at the check-out, when the power bills arrive, when the rent is due and when the mortgage payment comes out of their account.

Inflation is now sitting at 3.8 per cent, well above the Reserve Bank's target range. Core inflation remains elevated and higher than that of most other developed economies not because Australians are spending too much but because Labor is. This did not happen by accident. Since Labor came to office, the Reserve Bank has been forced to lift interest rates 13 times as of today. That is the price Australians pay when government spending runs out of control. A family with an average mortgage is now paying around $1,800 more every month than they were before Labor took power. For many households, that is the difference between saving and falling behind. That is the cost of inflation that is allowed to persist.

A government that will not restrain itself has no right to ask Australians to tighten their belts. Australians are paying more for everything. Food prices are up 16 per cent. Rents are up 22 per cent. Insurance is up 39 per cent. Electricity prices are up nearly 40 per cent without rebates. This is not relief. I don't know who says it is, but this is not relief; this is regression. Under Labor, Australians have experienced the worst collapse in living standards in the developed world. That's not something to be proud of. Real wages are lower than when Labor took office. By international comparison, this is the worst decline in the developed world. Small businesses are being hit from all sides. Input costs are rising. Energy prices are higher. Demand is weakening. Some 40,000 businesses have gone insolvent on Labor's watch. Many are family-run businesses that can no longer keep the lights on. When they fail, families lose incomes and workers lose jobs.

The common thread running through all of this is—surprise, surprise—spending. Labor's government spending is now at its highest level outside of a recession in 40 years, growing from 24 per cent to around 27 per cent of GDP. Debt is on track to hit $1.2 trillion. Interest on that debt now costs taxpayers $50,000 every minute. Every dollar spent servicing debt is a dollar taken from Australian families.

Housing has become a major driver of inflation, and government failure is making it worse. Supply is near its lowest level in a decade. The result is higher prices, higher rents and fewer opportunities for young Australians to own a home. Australians are not asking for short cuts; they are asking for a government that understands aspiration and respects effort. They want small businesses treated as the backbone of the economy, not as an ATM. A core responsibility of any government is to protect the living standards of its people, and this government has failed that test. This Labor government's cost-of-living crisis is exactly that—it is a crisis.

A government that spends without restraint today steals opportunity from the next generation. When Labor spending runs out of control, Australians are paying, families are paying, small businesses are paying and, unless this government changes course, future generations will pay the price. That is why this urgency motion must be debated and why Australians are watching how this government votes today. (Time expired)