MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr VENNING (Grey) (15:58): Somewhere tonight, a family will sit down at the kitchen table with the bank statements and work out what they will go without this month. This is the reality under this government. Nothing the Reserve Bank did this afternoon changes that.
A rate hold is not relief. The Reserve Bank has shown once again it has no confidence in this government, holding interest rates at a 15-year high. Sixteen rate rises later, Australian families are paying the price.
Synonymous with Labor governments, those opposite have lost control of the economy. They have run out of money and they are coming after yours. This is felt harder in regional South Australia than almost anywhere else.
Every loaf of bread and every litre of diesel carries the cost of the road it travelled on. All Australians are paying for this government's incompetence, and they've had enough. Unlike the coalition, it is clear that those opposite have no plan to fix the economy.
Last year, the Prime Minister and Treasurer proudly declared that we had 'turned the corner' on the battle against inflation. Well, if that was a corner, it's the longest corner in living memory. Inflation is still at 3.8 per cent—way above the Reserve Bank's target, and still at a 15-year high.
The only thing that has turned is the story from the Labor Party. Australians have been hit with 16 rate rises under this government—the most recent, in May—and not one came off today. That is what happens when a government spends too much and loses control of the economy.
Since Labor was elected, Australians have had the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world. The budget is now forecast to be in deficit for a decade, and debt is about to pass one trillion dollars, because Labor cannot manage money; they can't run an economy. The only thing they know how to do is tax—and they're taxing everything.
Labor's toxic taxes are an assault on aspiration. A young Australian gets ahead by buying a house, putting away money, investing it or starting a business. Well, Labor is taxing every single one of them.
Then there is the widow tax. Labor failed a simple test when the parliament last sat. They had the chance to scrap it, and they voted to keep it.
This is a tax that hits Australians at the worst possible time. Those opposite created the mess. They were warned about it, and they voted against fixing it.
If the government agrees the widow tax is wrong, then there is no excuse for delay. Scrap this cruel tax, and scrap it now. On housing, Labor has delivered a trifecta of failures: fewer homes, higher rents and confidence in the market smashed.
Labor's own budget forecast that these tax changes will mean 35,000 fewer homes. This country is still building 30,000 fewer homes a year than when the coalition was last in office. This is basic supply-and-demand economics.
Those opposite haven't heard of it. Tax something and you get less of it—there is your first lesson. The coalition has a plan.
We will lower taxes by axing every one of Labor's toxic taxes and introducing a tax-back guarantee. We will deliver cheaper power by scrapping net zero and making this country an energy superpower, like it was in the past. Not only will we cap migration to housing supply, but we will build more homes.
We will put Australians first, establish a future generations fund, pay down the debt and deliver the nation-building infrastructure our regions have waited on for years. Australians aren't asking for much. They are asking for a government that can manage money so that living standards can be restored.
The choice at the next election will be clear: a coalition government with a plan to fix the economy, restore our living standards and protect our way of life, or a Labor government that has failed this country at every corner.