ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT - PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS - Taxation

With all this pizzazz and excitement, you would think that people out in voter land would be dancing in the streets and rejoicing. I wonder, member for Wright, are they dancing in railway street in Beaudesert? They're certainly not dancing in Baylis Street in Wagga.

Labor talks about tax cuts and power price reductions. The member for Lyons has just mentioned, 'This is our No. 1 priority.' He said it very earnestly and seriously. That was what was on his talking points. And they all come in here and say, 'We want them to earn more and keep more of what they earn,' I mean, it is just a paraphrase of, quite frankly, the dirt unit's talking points.

But, seriously, they talk about cost of living being the No. 1 issue—for now. Let me tell you, it wasn't the No. 1 issue last year. Do you know what was? It was the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. It was the referendum. I haven't seen the Labor Party so excited since, as the member for Wright just reminded me, they thought they were going to win the referendum. Remember that? They thought they were going to win the referendum! How did that go for you?

We want our Indigenous peoples to receive the best services, to receive the most help and to get the most support that they need, particularly in regional and remote Australia—remote in particular, where the services are lacking, and that is a fault of all of us. But Labor were so committed they spent $450 million to $500 million on the Voice, and it failed. While they were talking about the Voice, while ministers were going over to London and elsewhere decrying what we were doing here and how terrible we were, and while the anti-Australian Greens were out saying how racist we were, the cost of living was escalating for families right across this nation.

When the Voice failed, all of sudden Labor thought, 'Gee, we better do something.' Somebody actually belled the cat. Somebody said, 'We've got a cost-of-living crisis in this nation, and Labor is in charge.' Labor members then thought, 'Oh my goodness.' Some of them ventured out of their electorate offices and heard what was being said in railway street, Beaudesert. They heard what was being said even in Canberra, in the member for Bean's electorate. Right across the nation there was this growing concern about the cost of living, and now it's like there's a big grizzly bear that has monstered the government, because it's rampant and out of control. Labor is now backpedalling to see what they can do about it. They offer 300 bucks for power savings. Well, they promised $275 97 times prior to the election. The Prime Minister said: 'My word is my bond. We're going to be more transparent. We're going to do the right thing by the Australian people.' Then they got focused on other things.

We hear from those opposite about affordable child care. I'd just like available child care. You talk to, particularly, mums across regional Australia, and they would just like a centre to drop their children off at so they can participate in the workforce.

And then we hear about power price cuts. Well, it's winter and it's cold; winter in Australia is cold. Let me tell you, there are a lot of people wearing another layer of clothing and putting another doona on their bed overnight because they can't afford to turn the heater on. That is a fact. More people are using the likes of the Salvos and St Vinnies than ever before, and that is such a shame. We do have a cost-of-living crisis.

I was down near the Murrumbidgee River in my home town of Wagga Wagga yesterday and saw the number of tents that had popped up alongside the river. Those people can't afford a house, they can't find a house, they can't afford to rent and they can't find anywhere to rent. This is a growing crisis. Labor has only just cottoned on to the fact that it is out of control, that people are hurting and that people, particularly those in regional Australia—not that those opposite would care—are doing it very, very tough. Those people in regional Australia—like the member for Wright's electorate and mine, Riverina—are the ones who carried this nation during COVID. They were the ones who carried this nation, provided the food, provided the fibre, provided the mining exports and kept the lights on. That's what regional Australia does. It's time that those opposite realised and addressed the cost-of-living crisis.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms McKenzie ): The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.