Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Liberal senators today.

What a 'come to Jesus' moment it was yesterday for the Treasurer of this country. It marked the day when the Treasurer's pantomime, this charade that he's been masquerading for the last four years, has finally come undone. It's come home to roost.

After deciding to raise the official cash rate, the RBA made an observation yesterday in its statement on monetary policy. We keep hearing from those opposite about what the statement actually said. Exactly what it said was that the fault of the circumstances that Australians are facing now with rising interest rates sits squarely with the people on that side over there, the Labor government. The RBA's statement said:

There are uncertainties about the outlook for domestic economic activity and inflation and the extent to which monetary policy is restrictive. On the domestic side, if growth in demand is stronger than expected, and growth in the economy's supply capacity remains limited, it is likely to add further to capacity pressures.

For those following along at home and wondering what all that means, the reality is that, because productivity continues to sit at record low growth rates, every time that the economy starts to get moving and starts to get going—just like a motorcar or a race car at the grid lines that's ready to start and is trying to get into gear—it's immediately held back by constraints, such as limited supply-side capacity, workforce shortages and restricted material availability.

These capacity measures mean that when demand rises supply cannot expand, because the economy cannot produce more. The RBA, the Treasury, the OECD and IMF all emphasise that productivity is the primary driver of long-run living standards and non-inflationary growth. As a result, this country is crying out for real economic reform. If yesterday did not make that obvious, frankly, nothing will.

The era of tinkering around the edges of economic reform is over. We need a government that is serious about economic reform. We need a government that is seriously looking at itself and the pressure that it is placing upon the economy because it is now—and it has been for quite some time, in fact—impacting upon Australians' ability to be able to make ends meet. We know that interest rates have a direct impact on the availability of free cash and an impact on a household's budget because those mortgages have gone up. It was disappointing news. Those families that are struggling with making ends meet yesterday received the most devastating news—that their bills and the cost of maintaining their homes and lifestyles have just gone up.

It is directly because of what this government is doing. The Treasurer is not serious about dealing with the matters that we know will seriously put downward pressure on the economy and would enable interest rates to go down and enable things to be stabilised and normalised. We know this government is not serious about tackling those things, because they're addicted to spending. They're addicted to spending your money. Taxes are your money. You've earnt it, Australians. You earnt that money, it's been given to the Australian government, they are not applying the restraint that is necessary to keep things under control, and we are seeing significant challenges. Remember that economic roundtable last year that resulted in absolutely nothing? Has anything good come out of that at all apart from just a nice, glossy brochure, a communique that was written long before the event even happened? This government is not serious about tackling economic reform. All they're serious about is putting out a nice brochure, a nice communique, without being prepared to tackle the things that matter.

While all that is happening, Australians are feeling the pain. While all that is happening, Australians are struggling to make ends meet. All they're wanting is a government that is prepared to take the difficult decisions, a government that is prepared to put their interests first rather than just following an ideology that is driving these decisions and impacting upon Australians. (Time expired)