Slade Brockman WA, Liberal Party
2:00 pm
My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher.
An honourable sen ator interjecting—
I'm out of practice! Stop interjecting! The Prime Minister said in April:
I'll say this very clearly, they—
Australians—
will be better off under a Labor government …
Minister, with inflation rising by 1.8 per cent, to 6.1 per cent for the year, to June quarter, and Labor's policy to reduce power bills by $275 already dumped, is it not true that Australians can buy less when they shop for groceries and pay off less of their mortgages?
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
I welcome the opportunity to talk about Labor's economic plan to deal with the—
James McGrath Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition
You don't have one!
Sue Lines President
Minister, resume your seat. I'm going to wait for quiet and then the minister can continue. Minister Gallagher.
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
I welcome the opportunity to talk about Labor's economic plan to deal with the economic challenges that we inherited after nine years of failed policies and wrong priorities. And that is the truth, President. These are the circumstances we inherited: before the election, inflation was rising, interest rates were increasing, supply chain disruption was occurring because there had been no investment in skills. The energy market—
Honourable senators interjecting—
Sue Lines President
Minister Gallagher, resume your seat.
Senator Cash. Senators, interjections across the chamber are disorderly, on both sides.
Senator Henderson, I'm calling the chamber to order! It's not a debating point. It's a request.
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
We inherited an energy market in crisis: increasing power prices, that were actively hidden by the member for Hume—on the eve of an election being called, he actually changed the code so that that information couldn't be made public. That is what we inherited. And Labor's economic plan is going to deal with all of these challenges. So, in answer to your questions about, 'Will households be better off?' they will be better off, with our investment in childcare—
An oppositio n senator interjecting—
They hate hearing about these things!
Anne Ruston SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care
On a point of order: the minister just repeated an accusation that was made, on misleading the Senate.
Sue Lines President
Senator Ruston, please resume your seat. That is a debating point. I'm going to call Minister Gallagher.
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
Households will be better off with the policies that Labor are implementing. Cheaper childcare—
Opposition senators interjecting—
I can go through them again, and I'll do it all through question time. Every single question, I'll give you the same answer: cost-of-living relief for families; cheaper childcare, to reduce costs for more than 1.2 million families; cheaper medicines; taking the speed limit off the economy, with better training for our workforce, free TAFE places, investing in cleaner and cheaper energy—
Opposition senators interjecting—
Sue Lines President
Minister Gallagher, resume your seat. I need to be able to hear the minister's response, and I'm finding it difficult when there are so many loud interjections. I would ask senators to be quiet, particularly those on my left.
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
creating a future made in Australia, with the National Reconstruction Fund; growing the care economy; upgrading the NBN. And I know I'll have further opportunity to expand on this.
Sue Lines President
Thank you, Minister. Senator Brockman, a first supplementary?
Slade Brockman WA, Liberal Party
2:04 pm
The Prime Minister has said, 'My government has a policy of doing what we can to assist cost-of-living pressures.' My question is this: what will the government do now, prior to the October budget, for Australians who are having to do more with less?
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
We will do what we said we'd do. What we've already done is provide support for people affected by floods. We extended hospital funding and pandemic leave. We successfully argued for a minimum-wage case. We've announced Jobs and Skills. We've begun the review into the Reserve Bank. We've begun the audit of rorts and waste, going through the budget, line by line, to see what you were all up to. We've begun all that.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Hon. Senators:
Honourable senators interjecting—
Sue Lines President
Senators on both sides of the chamber, I am not able to hear the minister's answer. I would ask you to be silent.
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
We've introduced climate change legislation that will kickstart more investment in renewables and grow jobs and opportunities. In relation to the budget, we are going through your budget that we inherited, line by line, because, after nine years of rotten policies, failed policies and wrong priorities—
Honourable senators interjecting—
Sue Lines President
You need to be quiet and allow the minister the opportunity to answer the question. Just because you don't like the answer, there is no need for any senators on either side to be disorderly.
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
We are working to repair the budget and put downward pressure on $1 trillion of Liberal debt.
Slade Brockman WA, Liberal Party
2:06 pm
Minister, the price of groceries is increasing. Power prices are increasing. Mortgage repayments are increasing. Does this government have any policies at all that will address these issues right now, or will the minister admit that Australians are not better off; another broken Labor promise?
Katy Gallagher ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service
Australian households will be better off with a government that's actually focused on introducing policies that deal with these issues over the longer term, rather than what we had under you, which was nine years of political, short-term fixes to get you through a news cycle, not to actually deal with the significant challenges in the economy.