MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia) (17:28): There's only one question that Australians have to ask themselves. Australians with children and grandchildren only have to ask themselves one question: are living standards for their children and grandchildren likely to increase or decrease over coming years? There's only one honest answer to that question, and the honest answer, demonstrated by all of the evidence and all of the data, is that living standards in Australia are falling, and they're falling at rates we've never seen before.
In Western Australia, that experience is particularly acute. The Reserve Bank of Australia has confirmed in data that it has made available to me, data that is publicly available, that mortgage stress now continues to dog Western Australians under Labor. Western Australians suffering mortgage stress have not seen any reprieve over the last few years.
In fact, the number of Western Australians suffering mortgage stress and being 90 days in arrears on their mortgage payments has remained the same since 2023. Prior to that, these were at high levels. Many Western Australian borrowers are still falling behind on their mortgage repayments, and they're falling behind on their mortgage repayments because they're having to meet cost-of-living increases in other areas.
Just today, Australian parliamentarians were presented with this report, Household budget barometer 2025. What does this report actually say? This report says: Groceries continue to bite the hardest, with 1 in 5 Aussies (21%) listing them as their most burdensome expense.
Price hikes are hitting every aisle … … … … Home loans are also causing a headache, with repayments listed as the biggest pain point for about 18% of Australians, despite some relief delivered in the form of rate cuts … … … … Just 7% of Aussies say the cost of living has improved in the past year— that means 93 per cent do not believe that cost-of-living pressures have improved— and only 22% are optimistic about the future of the economy.
That means 78 per cent are not optimistic about the future of the economy. The report goes on to say: We have heard from grandparents stepping in to help their adult children financially, to ease the burden of higher mortgage rates, childcare fees and grocery bills. We've also heard from adult children supporting their aging parents.
No-one is safe from falling living standards. No-one can escape the cost-of-living pressures that are now facing Australian families. The report goes on to talk about debt regret.
It says: Credit card debt among survey respondents increased by 9% year on year, while Buy Now, Pay Later use jumped 8%. This could be attributed to Australians being subject to larger bills and expenses that have depleted their savings. Anecdotally, we heard some families resorted to debt to cover unexpected costs, like home repairs and medical expenses.
Other people accumulated debts to maintain leisure and lifestyle purchases. Only 27% of respondents said they had no debts (outside of a home loan) compared to 33% last year. What did the report say about generation X?
The report says: Generation X were most likely to carry credit card debt (31%), while Millennials were the most likely to use Buy Now, Pay Later schemes (40%). There can be no denying it. No-one in our country—no grandparent, no parent—can say with any confidence that living standards for their children and grandchildren will improve over the future.
They can't say that. They cannot put their hand on their heart and say that, because the evidence makes it very, very clear that things are getting considerably worse for Australian families and Australian businesses. (Time expired) The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Sterle ): The time for the discussion has now expired.