Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese and Labor treasurer Jim Chalmers say that governments are allowed to change their minds. My message to the Labor government is simple: voters are free to change their minds as well. Tonight's budget of broken promises and higher taxes is an unfair budget. Why is it unfair? It's unfair because Australians and small businesses are working harder than they ever have before and feeling poorer for it. Let me share four important budget facts. Fact 1 is that Australians have experienced the sharpest decline in living standards in the developed world. Fact 2 is that inflation is now higher in Australia than in any other major advanced economy. Fact 4 is that the government is spending at a rate higher than in the previous 40 years, even during recessions. What we know about government spending is that, when government spending is high, inflation is high and interest rates are pushed up. When inflation stays high, interest rates stay high, and that is why mortgage holders across the country are feeling the pain.

So who pays for Labor's failed economic management? You pay. Families are paying the price, paying around $29,000 more a year on a typical mortgage. Debt is now racing to $1 trillion, with Australians paying around $50,000 a minute just to service that debt. Labor— (Time expired)