Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I take questions that were raised by Senator Bragg but also the questions regarding the economy. What Senator Bragg failed to mention in his comments about the economy and his comments regarding the Reserve Bank is a very important report that was on 2 March 2026, this year. Shane Wright, in the Sydney Morning Herald, exposed what the consequences were for Tim Wilson to turn around and prioritise inflation rather than inflation and employment. The Reserve Bank said in a report by Sarah Hunter, the chief economist from the bank—I'm using my words—that, on the basis of battling inflation the way that Shadow Minister Wilson was suggesting, there would be over 200,000 more people that would be out of work and mortgage holders would be hit with much higher repayments as it more aggressively hiked up interest rates. Here we've got the Reserve Bank calling out the shadow Treasurer for a proposition that would have had 200,000 more people lose their jobs and interest rates actually be higher. That's the recipe that those opposite have. That's the strategy they have to deal with the cost of living: throw people out on the scrap heap and have no effect except a negative effect by driving interest rates up.

When you start looking at the sorts of things that the opposition have with regard to cost of living and the sorts of issues that they raise on cost of living, you see not only that they want more people sacked, not only that they want more mums and dads without jobs, not only that they want to have ghettos across our economy, but the consequences of what they want on a whole series of other fronts. When it comes to the cost of living, you have to look at some of the comments. I'll use what the Leader of the Opposition, Angus Taylor, told David Speers and the ABC. He said—and we'll all remember this one:

The best indicator of future performance is past performance.

Well, as a backbencher, Angus Taylor, the opposition leader, advocated for raising the GST from 10 per cent to 15 per cent while championing a GP tax and cuts to public health funding. As energy minister, he ran the energy grid into the ground; 24 out of 28 coal-fired power stations announced they were closing, and he did little or nothing to replace them.