MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr VENNING (Grey) (15:55): Forty-six years ago, while debating President Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan made points that hold true today. He said: We don't have inflation because the people are living too well. We have inflation because the government is living too well.
The same is true in Australia today. It's not Australians who are living too well; it is this government. Two weeks ago the Reserve Bank raised the cash rate to 4.6 per cent, leaving Australians paying more for their mortgage than at any time in the past 15 years.
And let us not forget what the Treasurer told Australians before Labor was elected. In May 2022 he went on national television and had this to say about mortgages: 'We've got a plan that we're releasing today about cheaper mortgage repayments.' But let us not forget what the cash rate was on the day the Treasurer promised to make mortgages cheaper. It was 0.1 per cent.
Today it's 4.6 per cent. Since Labor was elected the Reserve Bank has raised interest rates 16 times. I'm going to repeat that: the Reserve Bank has raised interest rates 16 times under this Labor government.
So Treasurer, what is your plan for cheaper mortgages now? The average variable mortgage rate has doubled, from 3.1 per cent to 6.2 per cent. And with real wages down since the change of government, families are paying more out of a pay packet that buys less.
Inflation is at four per cent and rising. In Grey, small business is the town, and small business understands what this government does not. The local mechanic cannot spend more money than what comes through the workshop door.
The hairdresser cannot hire more staff just because she'd like to. The truckie knows that every kilometre has to pay its way. If they ran their business the way Labor runs the budget, they'd be out of business.
Yet the Treasurer wants to blame the conflict in the Middle East for his economic woes. He wants to blame the coalition government—some six years ago—for his economic woes. Sure, Labor cannot control the price of oil in the Middle East.
But what this government can control is how much demand is added to the domestic economy. That is precisely where fiscal discipline matters. This is not a government that has put the public finances on a diet.
Government spending reached 26.9 per cent of GDP last financial year, the highest in four decades outside the pandemic. Commonwealth payments are up to $170 billion in four years. And interest on debt now costs a record $27 billion.
That's just the interest on our debt. At the same time, Labor's tax take has risen to 24.1 per cent of GDP, just short of the record. Australians are paying more tax, keeping less of what they earn and paying more for everything.
Even Labor's own backbench can see it, and I welcome them here today. In the Daily Telegraph, a Labor MP had this to say about inflation: There's no point in Jim Chalmers jumping up and down saying it's got nothing to do with government spending. That's clearly not true.
I'm not an economist and even I can see that. Well, neither is the Treasurer. He has a doctorate, but not in economics.
It is in political spin. Maybe if Labor put an economist in charge of the Treasury, we would start to see some sensible economic decisions. But perhaps that is too much of an ask for Labor.
Families and small businesses have tightened their belts for four years. It is time this government tightened its own, because, when Labor spends, you pay.