Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Liberal Party like to talk about how the government should control spending—or, as I think Senator O'Sullivan talked about, economic reform. But let's be honest about what that really means. What do the Liberal Party really want? Well, their record tells us what they really want. They don't want us to provide cost-of-living relief for Australians. They don't want us to invest in building the houses that we need to fix the housing crisis that they left our country in. They don't want us to make it more affordable for Australians to get into their own home. They don't want us to invest in Medicare and make it more affordable for Australians to see their GP. I could go on, and on, and on, because their record speaks for itself.

We should be really clear about what the Liberal Party means when they talk about the economy. They've got a lot of nerve lecturing us on the economy when they left us with inflation at 6.1 per cent and rising. Their legacy was higher spending, no savings and bigger deficits. In fact, they went to the election with promises of: bigger deficits; more debt; extraordinarily, a plan to increase taxes for every taxpayer compared to Labor's plan; and a plan to leave taxpayers, ordinary Australians, with a bill for expensive nuclear reactors because the private sector wouldn't invest in them. We are focused on the cost of living, and they are focused on themselves.

Minister Gallagher has said it in this place, the Treasurer has said it and I said it in here yesterday, too. There's no doubt inflation remains higher than we would like, and we have been honest about that. We know that Australians are doing it tough. But inflation is much lower than it was at its peak under the Liberals and much lower than what we inherited.

The data shows that the inflation challenge is a mix of temporary factors, like the end of energy rebates and an increase in travel costs and spending over summer, in addition to persistent pressures in areas like housing. These are not easy challenges to tackle. We've seen, right around the world, that inflation doesn't always moderate in a straight line. But we are committed, as a government, to doing what we can to help Australians who are under pressure. That's why we won't give in to the Liberal Party and we won't roll back our plans for more bulk-billing or more tax cuts for every taxpayer, or cheaper medicines. We'll continue to back higher wages and we'll continue to slash student debt—all policies that those opposite oppose, and all policies that those opposite would propose that we stop spending money on.

A government senator: Shame!

It is a shame. It is absolutely a shame.

MYEFO showed us that the budget is more than $233 billion better than we inherited when we came to government, and we found more than $114 billion in savings. That is responsible economic management under our government. It is the only midyear update on record that has delivered a better bottom line every year of the forward estimates—less debt in every year of the forward estimates and net policy decisions that improved the bottom line. They are the facts that the Liberals choose to ignore, time and time again.

They like to talk about experts. The IMF has recently endorsed our fiscal strategy, saying it has been effective and describing the fiscal stance as 'broadly neutral'. And the OECD has recently said there has been 'a modest tightening of fiscal policy'. So, there you have it.

We understand that Australians are still under pressure and facing cost-of-living challenges. That is why our government is committed to continuing to roll out responsible cost-of-living relief. We are committed to that hard work of responsible economic management. And we will not give in to the Liberals on the other side who are too busy focused on fighting each other and not focused on finding real solutions for ordinary Australians.