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

Today's national accounts have confirmed what Australian households already know, and that's that they are poorer today than when Labor came to power. Living standards have gone backwards under Labor. In fact, Australian households have experienced one of the sharpest and fastest falls in living standards anywhere in the developed world. Australians are working harder, but they're going backwards. Any wage rises are immediately eaten up by rising prices, mortgage holders are paying thousands of dollars more every single month, and families are stretched to their limits. They're making do and cutting back.

Acting Deputy President, I want to, through you, speak to those who are watching or listening at home. You were promised that you would be better off under Labor, and we know today that that is a lie. We know that every family, every small-business owner and every young person who has had their optimism whittled away by this government will tell you that their reality is very different from Treasurer Jim Chalmers's spin. Why is it that the Albanese government's response to this reality is to spend more? They are making the problem worse.

Today's data confirmed in black and white the warning of every credible economist: that public sector demand is growing twice as fast as in the private sector. While households and businesses are tightening their belts, the government is doing the exact opposite. It's not a one-off. This is a pattern. This is now the second consecutive quarter in which public sector demand growth has outpaced private sector demand growth. This tells you everything you need to know about the Albanese government.

Australians were promised that they would be better off under Labor. Well, no wonder you are angry, because, when the government surges its demand ahead, private demand is whittled away. It pushes up inflation, keeps interest rates higher for longer and crowds out the very businesses we rely on to create jobs and lift living standards. You are paying more, your wages are buying less, and, unless the government puts your interests ahead of its own, you will continue to see your standard of living fall while the government grows itself.