Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Absolutely not. At the same time, we have farmers who are sleeping next to their equipment because they're concerned people are so desperate for diesel that they'll come onto their property and take it. How did we get into this situation? It's quite extraordinary.

As Senator Sharma correctly observed, the fact of the matter is that probably one of the best indicators of the standard of living of average Australians is household disposable income—that's how much income people have in their pockets to spend on the things they need—and in real terms, after considering the impact of inflation, there has been a seven per cent decline in household disposable income, from mid-2022 to mid-2025, and it just keeps going down under the Labor government. There is no-one the Labor government can blame except themselves. And, at the same time as real household disposable income has been declining by that material amount—this is quite extraordinary—we've seen an increase in income tax paid by the Australian people, from $242 billion in 2022, which is an extraordinary figure in itself, to $325 billion. That's an increase of $83 billion in three years. I think, Senator Sharma, 36 per cent—