Address to Parliament-MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE - Cost of Living
I'll take the member for Perth up on a couple of points. Cuts to JobKeeper? We were the ones who instigated JobKeeper, which saved 700,000 jobs during a global pandemic. The member for Perth asked what we got for, to use his term, a trillion dollars worth of debt, and he said that is placing the pressure on the current government as far as cost of living is concerned. It's not a trillion dollars. But what that debt did for the Australian public was it retained their jobs and, moreover, it kept their lives safe. During the pandemic, when we were faced—
Mr Repacholi interjecting—
Mr McCORMACK: I didn't interrupt, so please don't interrupt me, member for Hunter. When we were faced with potentially 50,000 lives being lost due to the global pandemic, we made urgent steps. Yes, we were just about to get back in black, and what we did was we made sure that we Australians' lives safe. We did was we made sure we kept Australians' jobs safe. Yes, we racked up the debt, but it was necessary, it was needed, and it was the right and responsible thing to do. That's what we did.
On another point he made, no one was forced yesterday to back the censure motion. When you are a Liberal or a National, if you cross the floor and vote on policy, a piece of legislation or a motion that the rest of your colleagues aren't voting on, you don't get expelled. You don't get thrown out of the party. I know—I've done it. I voted against the Murray-Darling Basin draft plan and the buybacks that Labor wanted to introduce. I wasn't kicked out of the party. I wasn't expelled from the party.
Mr Gorman interjecting—
Mr McCORMACK: A word of warning for the member for Perth, if he doesn't already realise this: if he decides to go against the party line, he will be expelled from the party. I wouldn't wish that upon him, because I know he has a deep and enriched history with the party, having been an advisor for several Labor luminaries, including former Prime Minister Rudd. I know his background, I don't know whether he's ever run a small business. I don't know whether he's ever taken the risk of running—
Mr Giles: I don't know what this has got to do with the MPI.
Mr McCORMACK: I'll tell you what it has to do with it—it has to do with the cost of living. That's what it is about. And many small businesses are worried about whether they can make ends meet, including one who texted me. I won't read it all out because we've already had one little unparliamentary remark, and I wouldn't do that. It says: 'Our power prices at—' I won't mention the company' are increasing 330 per cent and gas prices rising 400 per cent from 1 January. We'll be paying an extra $5 million per year.' That is a Wagga Wagga firm. How does a regional business cope with such a cost rise? How does a Wagga business continue to employ the people it has? That company has dozens upon dozens of employees, it's a good company. It's into manufacturing and recycling. It's a good Wagga Wagga company and it's faced with an increase of $5 million on its power bills—just like families and businesses right across the nation are faced with higher power bills, even though the Prime Minster promised on 97 occasions that power prices would come down and electricity prices would drop, and there would be a $275 saving. No. I'm sorry.
Mr Giles: By 2025.
Mr McCORMACK: And then we hear—come in, spinner—'by 2025'. But I doubt that, and I will keep you to that. By 2025 it'll be 2028. Then it'll be 2031. You won't achieve it, Labor—you just won't. The reason you won't is your policies aren't inclined to do that. They're not properly thought out. They're not properly planned.
I know that we heard the member for Ballarat, the infrastructure minister—I've got the greatest respect for her—talking in question time about the fact that they were finally ending the political fights with states and territories. I didn't have political fights with states and territories. I got on with the job with states and territories—indeed, most of them were Labor—to make sure that we put in place a national logistics freight code so we could get goods transported around during the pandemic. That happened within hours—not days or weeks or months—because I did have the relationship with those state Labor ministers. I'm proud of the fact that I got on and built things with state Labor ministers. I wait to see if those opposite do the same in their term of office.