QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:18): I thank the member for Berowra for his question. We understand that Australians are under cost-of-living pressure, and that includes the impact of decisions that are made by the independent Reserve Bank. That is why we are focused on delivering real, lasting cost-of-living relief.
We want to help Australians under pressure here and now while building our economy and our resilience for the future. That is why we've taken action. That is why we've introduced free TAFE, with 850,000 people enrolling.
That's why we have policies of cheaper medicines. That's why we did support for student debt as well. That's why we have supported increases, as I've just said, in the minimum wage.
That's why we have supported penalty rates and enshrining them in law, as well as the right to disconnect. And that's why we are giving young Australians a fair crack at getting into their own home. All of that is about acting on the cost of living.
All of that is about delivering real change. And all of that was a— The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order. Mr Taylor: It's on relevance.
The question was: when will the Prime Minister take responsibility for his 15 interest rate increases, with two more on the way? The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister dealt with that answer when he explained the issue of interest rate rises and the Reserve Bank. Mr Taylor interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order!
Don't bring me into the debate. I'm not a debate with you, the Leader of the Opposition. He is being directly relevant, and he's dealt with that part of the question.
And I've got the transcript here. I'll just make sure, if he's talking about the other issues in the questions regarding the stress and figures that he has talked about—and he is being directly relevant, so he'll now continue. Mr ALBANESE: And that's why we've put in place those measures to assist people.
Now, the Liberals and the Nationals and One Nation have a different view. They want to decimate Australia's superannuation. They want to make it easier to sack workers and cut wages.
They want to scrap paid parental leave. They want to gut Medicare. Mr Tehan interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order!
We've already had one point of order on relevance, so you've had that. So you'll have to resume your seat. It'll have to be a different point of order.
Mr Tehan interjecting— The SPEAKER: Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt—no problem. Mr Tehan: You asked the Prime Minister to make sure that what he was addressing was relevant to the question. There was nothing about the opposition that was relevant to that.
There was nothing. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Alright. Nice try, but we'll—order!
I didn't direct the Prime Minister to do anything. You can check the record. I chose my words very carefully, as I do with every interaction I have in this House.
The Leader of the House? Mr Burke: Speaker, that sounds an awful lot like a second point of order on relevance. The SPEAKER: Yes, well, there's no point of clarification.
We don't have as many jumps as you want. All speakers have dealt with this. The Prime Minister has dealt with the question.
He won't be able to talk too much about the opposition. He can do some compare-and-contrasting, as all speakers have allowed, but he has dealt with the substance of the question, as I made an indication to the House—and I said that he was being relevant to the question. So I didn't say he needed to be relevant.
He was being relevant. The Prime Minister has the call. Mr ALBANESE: And, of course, the fight against inflation is a priority for this government.
It's a fight that we inherited. It's been made harder by current international events—all around the world are dealing with this. That is just a fact.
But you know what? There is someone who doesn't want low interest rates in this House, and that's someone who's on the record saying: Nobody wins from low interest rates. It's someone who also said, a different time in Hansard: … I deliberately communicated my concern about the Reserve Bank continuing to cut interest rates.
And we had another quote: … we need to create the policy settings to progressively increase interest rates. You know what? The Leader of the Opposition made him shadow treasurer.
That's the member for Goldstein. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The members for Forrest, Bowman and Cook have had a really good go for their interjections, so they're on warnings.
If the members for Bowman, Forrest and Cook interject any more, there will be consequences for actions.