MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr HILL (Bruce—Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs and Assistant Minister for International Education) (15:32): It's normal that the opposition leader comes in on Thursdays at the end of a sitting and takes the MPI to send the troops home with a buzz, but, obviously, he's playing to the gallery. That was objectively terrible.
In case he wants to rewatch it on the camera, the backbench looked dejected, despondent and definitely downcast at that performance. It is important to read the topic. The topic, word for word, says: 'The need for the government to clear with Australians as to why they are worse off.' I presume the opposition leader read the topic before he signed it—attention to detail.
It's missing a word. Is that an accident or is it a cunning plan? We can presume he has attention to detail; he was a minister for energy.
He had great attention to detail before the 2022 election, when he literally changed the law to cover up the electricity price rises that were coming down the pipe to Australians; that took attention to detail. He presumably had great attention to detail when he was a McKinsey consultant selling those multimillion-dollar PowerPoints to the big corporate clients.
Presumably, he was very focused on detail when he set up a company in the Cayman Islands that booked a $52 million profit from selling overpriced water to the Commonwealth taxpayers. Presumably there was a lot of attention to detail with the Eastern Australian Agricultural Company. So we can presume that he left the word 'be' out on purpose—to be or not to be?
Well, it's pretty obvious from that performance in the last few weeks that they are choosing not to be—and they're right on track to not be there after the next election as they sell their soul to One Nation. I'm very happy to have a debate on the economy, on the cost of living and on standards, rather than the smears and the cuddles with One Nation which have constituted their question time for the last two weeks—more than that.
Golf clubs. Melons. Is the member for Canning a traitor or is he not?
I say he's a patriot—I don't agree with him on policy, but I can say that without hesitation or qualification, unlike some of his colleagues in the One Nation party. But this is a serious topic. This is a difficult time.
Over the last few years, the world has thrown a lot at Australia. There was the global pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East and Iran, which rolls on with the rolling oil shocks through the global economy, and, of course, the threat of climate change, which is the single biggest cause pushing up insurance premiums around the country for small businesses, for consumers, for farmers, for all parts of the economy.
I know the member opposite would be hearing from his constituents in the farming community about the fear of a drought to come with El Nino. This is a difficult time. It feels like, just as Australians start getting back on their feet, there's another global shock coming at us, and that is what has happened in recent years.
The government is shielding Australia from the worst of the crisis, but we are not immune to global inflation pressures. Things don't stop at the Australian border like in the magical fantasy world that we hear about in question time, for those opposite. The truth is they don't.
And it's about time that MPs, politicians and so-called leaders, including the opposition—the opposition has an important job. They're not doing it, but it's to hold the government to account for its exercise of power and to actually put forward costed policies and behave like an alternative government so people have a choice at elections. They weren't a very good government, and they're no good at opposition.
But I genuinely hope they improve. The single biggest thing putting pressure on Australians and household budgets is inflation. Prices are rising too fast.
People feel it when they go to the shops—it feels like things are dearer than they were last month, and, in too many cases, that's the case. When we came to government, the mess we inherited was big. Inflation was rising at over six per cent and galloping away.
It peaked at over eight per cent. It's now down to 3½ per cent. It has moderated every month for the last four months.
But it's still too high. No-one's denying that. But this is a global problem.
The single biggest factor hitting household standards and the single biggest risk next month, next quarter and into next year is the war in the Middle East. The end of the war can't come soon enough, and the parties to the conflict need to bring it to an end. The longer it lingers, the more concerned global markets become.
We heard in question time and you can see in the media growing speculation about interest rate rises in the next few days in the United States and every major economy. The oil price is an especially pernicious thing. Opposition members interjecting— Mr HILL: It is.
We heard yesterday the opposition pretend that there isn't a war going on in the Middle East. They pretend that nearly 20 per cent of the world's oil supply is not choked in the Strait of Hormuz because of the conflict between Iran, the US and Israel and growing throughout the region. The truth is that, last week, the Saudi Arabian east-west oil pipeline was bombed.
The world doesn't know the extent of the damage. But you saw the oil price spike. The thing with oil is that it doesn't just put upward pressure on fuel and petrol, which is what it will do in the coming weeks globally, because it's happening in every country; it flows through to the rest of the economy, whether it's PVC piping, housing, diesel or transport and logistics.
The grocery companies have to pay more to transport the food, which pushes up prices. It is a diabolically difficult thing, and the world hasn't experienced an oil shock like this since the 1970s. The government's responsible economic management means, frankly, that Australia is well placed and well prepared to confront the global turbulence now and in the months to come.
We have substantial advantages naturally because we've actually done the hard work to put us in a better position despite these serious challenges. When you turn on the TV and look around the world, there's nowhere else you'd rather be than here in Australia. The truth is that, in the four years we've been in government, we've made a lot of progress together.
But there is more work to do. Of course, Australians are under pressure. But we should acknowledge the progress that Australians have made.
We have the lowest average unemployment rate for any government in half a century. Average unemployment in the previous decade was 5.6 per cent. It has been four per cent under this government, the lowest in 50 years.
Over 1.3 million jobs have been created, most of them full time—stronger jobs growth than that of every major advanced economy in the world. When we look around the world, we should never take for granted the fact that, overwhelmingly, Australians can go and get a job. Annual growth has been faster than that of every major advanced economy except the US.
Annual wages have now grown above three per cent for 16 consecutive quarters. They had 35 consecutive quarters in government, and in not one quarter did wages grow at that rate, because, as the former finance minister said, they had a deliberate policy—it was 'a deliberate design feature' of their economic management—to keep wages low. The cost of living is two things: it's the price of things and the money you're earning.
It's money in and money out. Their economic management was to push workers' wages down. Well, we have a different view, and it's working.
Business investment is booming. Business investment is now 12.7 per cent of GDP, the highest in nearly a decade. That's important because it's a lead indicator of where things will go in the coming years.
Average monthly company registrations are the highest for any government on record, and the budget is $44.9 billion stronger right now than the mid-year update and $264 billion better than we inherited. There's been a bit of talk about debt. Debt was down almost $200 billion last year compared to what we inherited.
That means that the country has avoided more than $70 billion in interest payments in the coming decade, and gross debt is less than half the average of the G7. These are facts, these are strong fundamentals, and they're strong achievements, but they're not enough when Australians don't feel like they can get ahead, which is why the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 government priorities are to do everything we humanly can in a responsible way to help Australians, families and households who are struggling with cost-of-living pressures.
That includes tax cuts for every taxpayer, cutting tax in five different ways—the new working Australians tax offset, an entire new part of the tax system to target tax cuts to those PAYG earners who go to work and earn a living. It doesn't go to people who are living off their wealth and investments; it goes to workers—a new way of cutting tax. The opposition, of course, in their genius moment, went to the last election actually promising to raise your income taxes and raise the deficit.
Genius! It includes cheaper medicines. It's $25 for a PBS script.
In my electorate alone, people have saved more than $1 million a year in their pocket since 1 January. That's $130 million saved nationwide. That's real help, putting downward pressure on inflation and helping families.
Medicare urgent care clinics are permanent. GP bulk-billing rates in this country have jumped five per cent in the last quarter to 84.1 per cent. The investments in GP bulk-billing and fixing Medicare are working.
That means more than eight in 10 visits to the doctor now in Australia are free, with no out-of-pocket costs. Record public hospital funding is now flowing. There's six months of paid parental leave.
One Nation want to cut it. The opposition call them 'double dippers'. It's what they said to parents.
There's boosting affordable housing. We're actually having a crack finally, after decades of decline at helping first home buyers into the housing market. The only people in this parliament who seem to think that the housing market's not cooked sit over there.
We're having a crack: five per cent deposits, 270,000 Australians helped. There's relief for students. The credit card surcharges are being banned from 1 October.
The $20,000 instant asset write-off for small business is permanent. There is more to do. There are challenges ahead, but the foundations are strong.