Intro

 

Thank you Mr Speaker.

 

I rise to speak on this Ministerial Statement on the economy.

 

More than two years ago the Treasurer gave a similar statement to the House.  As did I.

 

Just months after the election, Australians had hope that Labor would deliver on their many promises. For cheaper energy, cheaper mortgages and a ‘better’ life.

 

But as I warned then Mr Speaker

 

“The risk for Australia is that Labor makes a bad situation worse”

 

And that is exactly what has happened.

 

In their nearly three years in office, the Albanese Labor Government has made bad decisions and had the wrong priorities.

 

Like spending 18 months and $500 million on the Prime Minister’s failed voice referendum at a time when families were battling with the rising cost of living.

 

Like three expansionary budgets that have kept inflation higher for longer.

 

In the last few years there have been clear lessons in elections for policy makers right across the developed world.

• Politicians will be judged by outcomes, not gestures;
• Delivery, not meetings;
• Action, not promises;
• Outcomes not another 3 or 4 word alliterative slogan.

 

It is clear that this Government has not learned from these lessons.

 

While the Treasurer says that this is the “landing we have been planning for and preparing for” - there is nothing soft about this landing. 

 

The reality is prices are still rising, and Australians have now experienced almost three years of above band inflation. 

 

The price level is what Australians are feeling and that is why inflation needed to be attacked aggressively, and early. 

 

Australians are paying the price at the checkout. 

 

Cost pressures are eating away at Australian small businesses margins. 

 

There is nothing soft about the pain Australians are feeling.

 

If this is it going to plan, Australians should be deeply concerned.

 

 

Most incompetent Government since Whitlam

 

The fact is that after nearly three years of this Government Australians are poorer.

 

We see that plainly in all the data.

• The Employee cost of living index shows that for employee households the cost of living is up 18.9 per cent.
• We have seen families’ standard of living slashed, with the largest fall in real disposable income in the advanced world. Disposable incomes have collapsed 8.7 per cent under this Labor Government – the largest fall since records began.
• Interest rates have increased 12 times. Mortgage interest payments have tripled and a family with a mortgage is $35,000 worse off. Interest rates are coming down in comparable economies, but not here. The US, UK, Canada, Eurozone and New Zealand have all seen cuts. In fact the Reserve Bank Governor Bullock has confirmed that there are no rate cuts in sight.
• Household savings have collapsed 10 percentage points
• Inflation is still too high with Australia’s core inflation higher than many advanced nations. Homegrown inflation is now running at almost seven times imported inflation. 
• Energy prices have increased with the underlying price of electricity having risen by more than 30 per cent since the election.
• GDP per capita has gone backwards for six quarters. That's the economic growth measure that counts—GDP per capita—because that's what people feel.  It means we are in a household recession.
• Labour productivity has fallen 6.3 per cent in just over two years.
• Personal income taxes are 25 per cent higher.
• Business insolvencies are at record high.

 

On nearly every metric Australians are not better off than they were almost three years ago.

 

Increasingly, we are seeing an economy where aspiration feels like a luxury good.

 

This is Labor through and through.

 

History has shown us this time and again.

 

 

Migration and Housing

 

We see this so clearly in the way Labor has mismanaged our migration program.

 

Australia is a proud migrant nation and we will remain so.

 

But we also need to face the reality. 

 

Labor plans to bring in 1.67 million migrants over five years whilst falling short of its own targets by at least 400,000 homes.

 

To put this into perspective, one person is arriving to live in Australia every 44 seconds.

 

But as the RBA Governor has said we haven’t been building enough housing for our population.

 

Under this Government, building approvals have fallen to their lowest level in over a decade, and commencements dropped 8.8 per cent to just 158,690 new starts in 2023-24.

 

You simply cannot bring in 1.67 million people over five years without any planning for it, without the homes and supporting infrastructure required.

 

This Government’s ‘Big Australia’ policy, which is forcing Australians out of homes, wasn’t something the Australian public voted on or gave a mandate to at or before the last election.

 

Now for so many, the great Australian dream of home ownership has never felt further out of reach.

 

Labor has the wrong toolkit for the times

 

Labor has had three budgets and almost three years to get this right.

 

At every hurdle they have stumbled. Making the wrong calls for the time.

 

Like adding $315 billion of spending, adding to inflation.

 

That is $30,000 per household of extra spending.

 

On policy decisions Labor is spending $4 for every $1 raised.  

 

Government spending is now at its highest level on record, outside of the pandemic, according to the Final Budget Outcome from last year, and the structural deficit is only heading in one direction.

 

The OECD and IMF have been consistent in their calls for stronger fiscal safeguards.

 

The RBA has said extra government spending is making their job harder.

 

Economist after economist has pointed out that you cannot spend your way out of an inflation crisis.

 

Shane Oliver has said “the RBA's job would be a lot easier if they didn't have the surge in government spending that has been occurring over the last few years”.

 

Independent Economist Richard Holden has said “the current Government has handed down multiple highly expansionary budgets”

 

It’s why the Coalition has opposed more than $90 billion of spending.

 

We have been upfront about the kind of spending we think is undisciplined or unhelpful while families are dealing with this cost of living crisis.

 

This includes things like:

1. $500 million for the Prime Minister’s failed Voice referendum;
2. $620,000 just for a speechwriter to make the Minister for the NDIS more empathetic;
3. $40 million for a spin unit in the Treasurer’s department;
4. Grants to the CFMEU;
5. $1 billion for a US company to build a quantum computer that Australia’s own chief scientist has said probably won’t deliver us anything quicker than the private sector; and
6. 36,000 new Canberra public servants for worse services and wait times.

 

We've been making the tough calls all along through this term of parliament. The calls that need to be made to get inflation down and restore our standard of living.

 

 

MYEFO

 

The Treasurer has an opportunity in the MYEFO – mid-year budget.

 

The Treasurer has a choice, a chance to finally get it right.

 

The Treasurer might make out it's just an update – nothing to see here – but actions matter, decisions matter.

 

Australians will continue to pay the price for inaction and bad decisions.

 

We need a budget update that:

1. Restores our standard of living and tames inflation by taking pressure off the prices of essentials and delivering affordable energy for families and business.
2. Restores prosperity and creates opportunity for all Australians so small businesses are rewarded for their effort, and young Australians have the chance to own a home.
3. Restores Budget discipline and honesty, including re-introducing the Coalition’s fiscal guardrails, a tax-to-GDP cap and delivering a structural surplus not a windfall surplus.

 

A failure of all these tests, will continue to drive our country down the wrong path.

 

 

Getting Australia Back on track

 

Right now we have an opportunity.

 

It's about choosing a different future—a future where fairness, opportunity, enterprise and prosperity are within reach for all Australians.

 

A future where we get Australia back on track.

 

In order to do that, we need an agenda focused on getting the basics right.

That’s why a Dutton led Coalition will get Australia back on track by delivering a back to basic economic agenda

 

That is how we will restore our standard of living and ensure future prosperity.

 

We will get our economy back to basics - fighting high prices and interest rates first, winding back regulatory roadblocks, boosting productivity and delivering lower, simpler and fairer taxes. We will also stand up for consumers, small businesses and farmers by delivering stronger penalties for anti-competitive behaviour in the supermarket and hardware sectors.

 

We will support Australians to build businesses, not bureaucracies.

 

We will ensure that Australians have more affordable and reliable energy by rejecting the Government’s reckless renewables only approach.

 

We will restore the dream of home ownership and unlock up to 500,000 homes by investing in shovel ready infrastructure that will enable homes to be delivered faster.

 

We will reduce migration and place a two year ban on foreign investors buying existing homes.

 

We will tackle union corruption that is continuing to drive up building costs.

 

And, we will take action to make our communities safer, including online.

 

A Dutton-led Coalition will get Australia back on track.

 

ENDS.