Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about an issue that impacts every single Australian, whether you're paying a mortgage, whether you're renting, whether you're running your own business or whether you're a family relying on food banks to put food on the table, and that is government spending. You might ask how government spending affects your everyday life. Let me tell you. I'll put it very simply. When the government spends too much, it adds to aggregate demand, and that's what the Reserve Bank responds to—aggregate demand. It puts pressure on inflation, and when inflation is high the Reserve Bank responds by raising interest rates. When rates go up, mortgages go up, rents go up and business loans get more expensive. That's what's happening right now. In fact, there have been 13 individual interest rate rises under this Labor government, and of course the most recent was just yesterday.

The average mortgage holder is now paying $23,000 more every single year on their mortgage than they were when Labor came to government. Twenty-three thousand dollars is not the sort of money that you find down the back of the couch. At the same time, under this Albanese government, government spending has gone up. It's now at the fastest pace, outside of a recession, in 40 years. That is not a coincidence. Government spending has jumped from 23.4 per cent of GDP to 26.9 per cent of GDP this financial year. That is not responsible economic management. It's like the government has its foot on the accelerator while the Reserve Bank puts its foot on the break, and it's Australians that will always pay the price for Labor's mismanagement of the economy.