ADJOURNMENT
Senator BROCKMAN (Western Australia—Deputy President and Chair of Committees) (17:37): Nobody wants a pay cut. I can say that pretty safely. But that's exactly what Labor's inflation has delivered over the last four years.
It is more than just rising prices. It is the erosion of the economic security and living standards of every Australian. When prices rise faster than wages, households cannot afford what they could before.
Savings lose their value, especially when the interest earned cannot keep pace with rising inflation. The damage doesn't stop at household budgets, though. Businesses face higher costs for wages, energy, materials and their financing, making investment and expansion more difficult.
Uncertainty about the future increases the risk of making long-term decisions, reducing productivity and reducing economic growth. Inflation also forces the RBA's hand, pushing interest rates higher to bring price growth under control. That means higher borrowing costs, more expensive mortgage repayments and higher costs for businesses already under pressure.
The result is a vicious cycle: less investment, fewer jobs and higher unemployment. Australia's inflation has been made so much worse by Labor's addiction to spending your money. Look no further than Chris Bowen's home battery subsidy, a net zero scheme budgeted at $2.3 billion that has already blown out to more than three times that cost.
Truth is, if high rates were simply the cost of a tough global environment, every OECD country would be stuck paying them and paying the same price. Instead, 35 of the 38 member countries still found room to cut their interest rates. Australia, under Labor, is one of just three that didn't.
Labor's high inflation and high interest rates hit young Australians the hardest. It's harder to save. It's harder to buy a home.
It's harder to dream of owning your own small business. It's harder to raise a family. The great Australian dream is being crushed by years of Labor's economic mismanagement.
Senate adjourned at 17:40