STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr REBELLO (McPherson) (13:39): Labor keeps spending, and Australians keep paying. This government spending is keeping pressure on inflation and interest rates and leaving households to pick up the bill. You can't put out an inflation fire with a government spending spree.

While Canberra spends more, Australians can afford less, with higher prices at the checkout, more pay spent on rent and less left over at the end of the week. A pay rise that only matches inflation is not a real gain for Australians. With unchanged tax settings, bracket creep then takes a bigger share of earnings, delivering it to a government that is addicted to spending.

More dollars on the payslip, fewer groceries at the checkout, lower real wages and falling living standards mean Australians are working harder but are getting poorer. Now even Labor MPs are reportedly waking up. One's accused the Treasurer of 'rationalising Australia's economic decline'.

When your own backbench stops buying the spin, it is time to stop selling it. But Australians do not need a caucus briefing to tell them that they're worse off. They see it every day.

They've got a supermarket receipt or a power bill sitting on their kitchen bench, and they're seeing more of their money disappear on their mortgage. The Treasurer can talk up his economic management. He can't talk down your grocery bill.

The government should be helping families get ahead, not making it harder to keep up, because this is Labor's cost-of-living record—a government living beyond its means and Australians forced to live with less.