Dr WEBSTER (Canberra - House of Representatives) (16:30):

Australia is at a turning point and the ship of state is rudderless under the weak leadership of Prime Minister Albanese who is more focussed on accusing the Leader of the Opposition of the very division that, on their watch, the Albanese Labor Government has not only facilitated but allowed to fester.  

Worse still, the Prime Minister and Treasurer Chalmers’ economic mismanagement – again, on their watch, sees Australian living standards collapsing.

Families and pensioners are struggling to make ends meet, making sacrifices just to afford the weekly shop and cover their rent or mortgage.

The Albanese Labor government’s wasteful spending has driven up inflation and interest rates, resulting in mortgages, rents, power bills, groceries, insurance, health and education going up to a point most cannot afford.  For instance, under the Albanese Labor government, a family with a typical mortgage has spent an additional $50,000 of interest since the PM came to power.  

Since Mr Albanese became Prime Minister, Australian living standards have fallen further than anywhere in the developed world, 8.7 per cent on the latest data.  

The International Monetary Fund projects that this year Australia will have the second highest inflation of any developed country, after the Slovak Republic.

Respected economics firm Deloitte say Australians’ standard of living will not recover until at least 2030.  

Core inflation remains at 3.2 per cent - outside the Reserve Bank’s target band of 2 to 3 per cent.  Australians are experiencing the longest sustained period of inflation since the 1980s. We’ve been in a household recession for 21 months.  

The Coalition will deliver lower inflation through a stronger economy and responsible economic management. We will stop wasteful spending, reduce taxes, and cut red tape, easing cost-of-living pressures for families and businesses.

Energy prices are a major driver of pressures on the cost-of-living and cost-of-doing-business, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Energy Minister Chris Bowen promised Australians some 97 times that by 2025, household energy bills would be reduced by $275.

Now, in early 2025, that pledge has officially been broken. One off relief over four quarters doesn’t cut the mustard.

Labor is also robbing regions to buy votes in the cities. In my first term as the Member for Mallee I secured over $2 billion in funding for Mallee. Over the same three-year period, Labor has barely invested $1 for every $20 I secured.  

It gets worse <Deputy> speaker, my fellow regional Victorians suffer the double-whammy of two on-the-nose Labor Governments, under Prime Minister Albanese and Premier Allan, who together use regional Australia as a doormat.  Even when fires burned in my electorate, the Prime Minister and Premier did a quick flyover. The Leader of the Opposition visited fire affected communities like Halls Gap on the ground.  

Mallee is not a dumping ground for bad policy.  Labor is railroading regional communities with deeply unpopular energy projects, fast-tracking approvals while their shambolic locomotive gathers steam. Mallee’s regional communities are tied to the railroad track screaming for their city cousins - and the media metropolitan Australians rely on – to pay attention before it is too late.  Thankfully, Wycheproof-raised Peta Credlin on Sky News is raising the alarm on the national stage.

Labor’s deeply unpopular energy plans have been exposed, costing $600 billion according to Frontier Economics, compared with $263 billion under the Coalition – 44 per cent cheaper.

Sunraysia, Mallee and regional Australia deserve a fair go from Canberra and I expect a return to Government with The Nationals will get our country back on track.