PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr MONCRIEFF (Hughes) (19:19): So many Australians are doing it tough right now. Global instability—including the war in Iran—is pushing up fuel costs, inflation and interest rates across the world. Australia is not immune to these pressures, nor are we unique in the inflation challenge we are now confronting.
The government know this, and we're taking action. The Albanese Labor government is strengthening the budget, getting inflation down and continuing to deliver real cost-of-living relief for everyday Australians. In the face of great global forces, our focus is where Labor governments' focus always is: on getting costs down for families, providing targeted relief and helping Australians' pay packets keep up with the cost of living.
We know the strain that household budgets are under. Just as families are making tough choices at kitchen tables and in living rooms, the government is making tough choices around the cabinet table and in the caucus room—tough, principled choices to rein in the growth of the NDIS; to reform the unfair, age based private health insurance rebate; and to cut spending on external contractors and non-wage benefits.
We are putting downward pressure on inflation through fiscal discipline and targeted support to those who need it the most. When we came to office, the coalition had left Australians with inflation that was north of six per cent and rising. Grocery prices were rising at almost twice the current rate, and the cost of essential health care had increased by almost 35 per cent, forcing many to cut back on care and put off seeing their GPs.
The 2025-26 final budget outcome proved that our bottom line is far better than what we inherited. It is better than what was forecast at the last election, and it has only improved since. Average real spending growth is less than half of what our predecessors averaged.
It is lower than their pre-pandemic average, and it is well below the 30-year average. Forecast debt is almost a quarter of a trillion dollars better than what we were left with, thanks to four years of spending restraint under this government. The coalition took a promise of bigger deficits and more debt to the last election, and it seems that they are yet to learn anything, with over $110 billion in unfunded thought bubbles thus far this term.
We are providing fiscal restraint without smashing the labour market and throwing thousands of working Australians into unemployment. Those opposite take a different approach, and they are shameless about it. Instead of getting inflation down through spending discipline, sensible reform and paying down debt, those opposite would trade hundreds of thousands of jobs and make savage cuts to services in chasing the most reckless path to low inflation.
The difference between our approach and theirs is clear: a balanced fiscal strategy based on spending discipline and targeted cost-of-living relief versus a 'slash and burn' approach of mass unemployment and cuts to services that everyday Australians rely upon. Unemployment breaks up families. It has scarring effects on skills and lifetime earnings, and it hits school leavers and low-skilled workers the hardest.
High levels of unemployment and a slack labour market make it harder for those in work to get a pay rise that keeps up with the cost of living. It's exactly the kind of extreme approach you would expect from those opposite. Forcing down wages and cutting essential services is in their DNA.
Just last week, the Leader of the Opposition announced the coalition's latest great idea: taking a blowtorch to aged care by slashing temporary migration in the sector. The coalition's sweeping cuts would hit aged-care workers and older Australians across my community the hardest, in places like BaptistCare in Bangor, John Paul Village in Heathcote and HammondCare in Hammondville.
How many fewer aged-care workers would there be under those opposite? The Leader of the Opposition doesn't have the exact number, nor will the coalition tell Australians how many fewer doctors, nurses and construction workers there would be. Nowhere in their policy is there a place for temporary workers who provide essential care to older Australians across my community every day.
Like a dog chasing its own tail, all that the three right-wing parties seem to care about is going lower than the others in a twisted game of limbo: Who can cut services the hardest? Who can slash more jobs? Come right up and see how low you can go!
While those opposite continue to outdo themselves in lowering the bar, our balanced fiscal strategy is getting inflation down and delivering targeted relief without crushing the labour market or cutting the health and aged-care services on which Australians rely. We are indexing payments and thresholds for 2.6 million Australians, helping young Australians into their first homes, saving families thousands on cheaper medicines and cutting taxes again and again for every Australian taxpayer.
Relief today and reform for tomorrow— (Time expired) Federation Chamber adjourned at 19 : 24