MATTERS OF URGENCY
Senator COLLINS (New South Wales—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (17:11): I move: That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: The need to expose the Albanese Government's increasingly desperate attempts to convince Australians they are better off, when real wages are falling, housing is becoming less affordable and, as Labor elder Bill Kelty has warned, Australians cannot pay their bills with the Treasurer's economic spin.
This is an urgent matter because we heard here, in question time yesterday, that the government continues to deceive the Australian people about the economy, and so I rise to expose the Albanese Labor government's increasingly desperate attempts to convince Australians they are better off, because they are not. I say to Australia that, if you feel poorer, that's because you are poorer.
The Treasurer offers clever economic spin, but, as Labor luminary Bill Kelty warns, everyday Australians cannot pay their bills with the Treasurer's broken promises while real wages are falling and housing is becoming completely unaffordable. Everything costs more under Labor. Look at Labor's trifecta of housing failure: fewer homes, higher rents and smashed market confidence.
Property tax changes under Labor's budget will stunt construction and lower our national GDP by $1 billion. Let's look closer at the human impact. We now see reports that first home buyers under the five per cent deposit scheme now in negative equity has jumped fivefold in one single month.
Young Australians were sold a dud policy and are now financially worse off because of Labor's economic gaslighting. That is why this motion is urgent. Australians need to understand what they are getting themselves into in Labor's bad policy, and, every day that passes, the Labor government pushes a narrative that is simply not true.
The Australian people need to hear this debate because the longer it continues, the more misinformation that is peddled. Here we are in the Senate to correct the record today. Let's return to housing.
Under Labor, just 173,000 homes are built a year, falling roughly 335,000 short of its own 1.2 million home target. At the same time, builders are going broke. Nearly 13,000 construction businesses have suffered insolvency since Labor took office.
That is 60 builders collapsing every single week. The coalition brought more homes every year than Labor, and we didn't need a defective $40 billion housing fund to do so. Rents have soared 24.8 per cent under Labor, vastly outstripping wage growth of 16.1 per cent, with the median rent sitting at $670 a week.
By Labor's own admission, its budget tax hikes mean higher rents and 35,000 fewer homes over the next decade. You simply cannot tax your way out of a housing shortage. Housing has never been less affordable.
Mortgage affordability reached an all-time low in 2025-26. Now, let's talk wage theft. Australians are going backwards, plain and simple.
Labor's reckless spending is driving up inflation and everyday workers are paying the price. The latest ABS data exposes the reality: wages rose just 0.8 per cent in the June quarter, reaching 3.2 per cent annually. Headline inflation hit 3.8 per cent over the same period.
That means a 0.6 per cent real pay cut for Australian workers. Your hard work is buying less than it did last year. Instead of reining in out-of-control budget spending, the Albanese government refuses to tame the inflation beast.
Labor's policy choices actively smash household budgets, leaving families poorer at the checkout, at the bowser and on their mortgages. Adding insult to injury, public sector wages grew at 3.4 per cent. Bureaucrats are pulling ahead while taxpayers foot the bill.
At the same time, every pay rise Australians have had has been completely wiped out by Labor's homegrown inflation crisis. Real wages are back at the levels of 2011. The verdict is clear: Labor's economic failures are shrinking your pay cheque.
Australians can't afford this government. Here's the urgency. Here's our message: there is a better way.
The coalition's plan to fix the economy and protect our way of life will cap migration to housing completions, invest $5 billion in infrastructure to unlock 400,000 homes, slash construction red tape by up to $70,000 per build and axe Labor's housing taxes. Better yet, our tax back guarantee will end wage theft by indexing income tax thresholds to inflation, delivering $250 in relief in year 1, scaling to $1,000 in year 4.
Ending bracket creep is bold economic policy. We will deliver lower taxes, cheaper power, less migration and more homes to get Australia back on track.