MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (15:10): When the mums and dads of our nation drive to work every day and they're listening to the radio, they're hearing challenging economic news. They hear of collapsing consumer confidence. They hear of collapses in small businesses and record small-business insolvencies.
But what they also hear is the continual stories of the government not being able to control its spending addiction. What they're hearing is the story of an inflation-junkie government that cannot be moved beyond its addiction to spending, higher costs and inflation, which is pushing up interest rates. And they've been continually told the con by the used-car salesman in the federal treasurer—by the admission of his own colleagues—that it's all to do with international factors and it's got nothing to do with him.
Yet, year on year, the inflation pressure has continued and interest rates have risen. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the Reserve Bank finally said: 'That's it. We can't hold back the wall of inflation anymore.' The minutes of the Reserve Bank that were released today clearly outline that the government cannot continue to be absolved of responsibility, because what we know—what all major economists know—is the government is responsible for the inflation problem across our country.
More importantly, every time inflation goes up, interest rates go up. The government likes to absolve itself of responsibility, but the underlying and sustained pressure on inflation started going up in July last year. This is one of these great myths for the members opposite.
They like to say, 'This is because of international factors.' I'll give you a tip. There were no bombs dropping on Tehran in July 2025—in fact, it took until February 2026 before that happened—yet underlying inflation started picking up, and it persisted. That's why, this year, we have had continual interest rate rises throughout the year and there has been more pressure on Australian households, on their mortgages, and more pressure at the supermarket, where people are going to buy the same, paying more and getting less.
This is the problem we've now seen consistently under the Albanese government. Because the government cannot control their spending and inflation addiction, Australian households are feeling poorer. They're going backwards.
You see it every time the Labor Party turn around and say they're providing tax cuts. Within six months, they're eclipsed by increases in inflation and they've disappeared. So Australians are falling behind, they're paying more and, of course, their real wages are going backwards.
That's one of the key reasons why the coalition has promised a tax-back guarantee—to adjust the thresholds and the tax brackets to make sure that the Albanese government's inflation addiction cannot become a pathway for them to increase the volume of tax they collect. You just need to look at the package. What has happened?
The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates 16 times since Labor was elected—16 times unlucky, for our treasurer. The first time, you might have said it was unfortunate. The second time, you might have said it was an accident.
But I can't get to the number of adjectives we'd need to get to 16 times, such is the embarrassment under this treasurer. We know that there's a continued problem around the underlying inflation rate being at 3.6, and, as I made the point, it's been stuck there for quite some time. The government sit around and say, 'It's got nothing to do with us; it's all got to do with factors overseas,' even though it started creeping up in July of last year.
We know that Australia's cash rate is higher than that of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the euro area—basically, the advanced world. Of course, we also know that we've seen the biggest collapse in living standards in the advanced world under the Albanese government. What's even more distressing for Australians, as they drive to work and hear about the conditions that they're living the realities of, is that, under this government—because it is stuck in a situation of denial, because it will not admit it is at the heart of the problem and because it continues to look at every single vein to tap more inflation in—there is a risk that there will be further increases in interest rates this year and next year, and Australian households will fall further behind.
You don't even have to believe me. The Reserve Bank has said that it will do whatever is necessary, including increasing the cash rate further, to target inflation. They have already forewarned the Australian people that, if the Albanese government doesn't change its fiscal course, Australian households will suffer.
And today we had an international report card from the IMF that said, again, that the government's addiction to spending is pushing up inflation and cooking up interest rates. It's even worse. We've now set this record—and it is not something to be proud of—of not just increasing inflation under the Albanese government but also rising unemployment.
What an incredible achievement by this government! Normally, you get one or the other. But to get both of them, to get stagflation at the heart of the economy, is a complete disaster for Australian households.
And the numbers are— Mr TIM WILSON: Thank you, Treasurer. Thank you, used car salesman. That was a real con job you sold to the Australian people.
And what are Australians now doing? Australians are paying more just to keep a roof over their head. With the cash rate now being passed on, a family with the average new mortgage of $731,000 is paying about $31,000 a year more in interest than they were when we were last in office.
How proud the government must be to continue to increase the pain and the suffering of Australian households! Monthly repayments and the average new mortgage have risen to about $4½ thousand, and the average variable mortgage rate has doubled from 3.1 per cent at the 2022 election to 6.2 per cent. And, as we know, as Australians are driving their cars and they're listening to the radio, the International Monetary Fund is saying, 'It's not over yet.' The Reserve Bank is saying, 'It's not over yet.' Australians are terrified of what this government's active inflation agenda is going to do, and they're terrified that, until we see a change in government and economic policy, they will continue to fall further behind.
And it's not just in their mortgages on a monthly basis. When Australians go to the supermarket, they experience the price of inflation. As they go to the till and swipe the products and see the full bill, they know, when they look in their red basket or their trolley, that they're getting less and less for the dollars they have.
The bill goes up, but the amount of food they can take home to their family goes down. And the numbers are very clear. Since the 2022 election, food prices have risen by 18 per cent: bread, 22 per cent; cheese, 22 per cent; coffee and tea, 24 per cent; and eggs, a basic staple of a kitchen, 37 per cent.
And that continues to cascade throughout the entire economy. As Australian households are getting poorer, their wages are going backwards and their mortgages are rising. When you say these things, most of the members on the other side of the chamber are utterly dismissive.
One of our favourites, of course, is the Minister for Small Business. When she can figure out what her job is and how she can get her way to the despatch box, when she's told about the problems facing small business she has one answer: 'Maybe they were dodgy.' She doesn't understand that, actually, record small business insolvencies aren't because businesses are dodgy.
It's because the government's dodgy and can't control its spending addiction. And the Treasurer is a used car salesman, according to the members opposite. But what we know is that this con will end.
Australians are living the consequences of the Albanese government and their inflation addiction. Australian households know the impact of the government's policies. They're living the 24 per cent increases in rent.
They're living the 43 per cent increases in the cost of insurance, the 37 per cent increases in electricity prices and the 44 per cent increases in the cost of gas. They're living the $31,000 a year more in interest payments just to keep a roof over their head. This government has betrayed and sold out the Australian community, because it cannot control its inflation, its spending addiction, and Australians are poorer for it.
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