Mr TAYLOR (Hume) (15:11): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'm pleased to speak on this issue, and I'm pleased that there's support to get on and talk about this MPI, because cost of living is one of the issues that Australians are feeling very deeply right now. When it comes to what Australians are talking about on the street, out in my electorate and elsewhere, it's cost of living, cost of living, cost of living. Rising inflation and interest rates are extremely painful in the suburbs, in the regions and in the cities. What's changed about this in the last few months is that we're not just seeing this at the fuel bowser. We're seeing it at the grocery checkout, we're seeing it when people buy furniture, we're seeing it when people buy services—we are seeing it across the board, Mr Speaker—but most of all, in the next few months, we're going to see it in the mortgage bills. For a typical house of $750,000 in my electorate—in places like Elderslie, Spring Farm, Campbelltown and Camden—we are seeing that the average Australian is very soon going to be paying an extra $900 a month on their mortgage payments. That's well over $10,000 a year that the average Australian on a mortgage is going to be paying. We know that one-third of Australians have a mortgage, and they are the people working hard and raising families in so many of our electorates, Mr Speaker. As I look around, I see— An opposition member: Angus, it's Madam Deputy Speaker. Mr TAYLOR: Thank you; I appreciate that Deputy Speaker Claydon is now in the chair. What we are seeing in those suburbs is this increase in mortgage payments. Mr Speaker, it's not over yet. Honourable members interjecting— Mr TAYLOR: Deputy Speaker, it is not over yet. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): We'll get there! Mr TAYLOR: We are seeing an increase in interest rates that continues to flow through. The Reserve Bank has just raised interest rates by 50 basis points. The expectation in the marketplace is that they're going to raise interest rates another 50 basis points next week—it remains to be seen what the outcome will be, but that's the expectation—and that it will continue on beyond that. Indeed, we're seeing in the marketplace an expectation that cash rates will reach over 4.3 per cent by mid next year. The truth of the matter is that will result in mortgages of 6½ or seven per cent for a typical Australian mortgage, as we see the flexible rates flowing through, with people moving from fixed rates to flexible rates. That is a pain that Australians are going to feel, of a scale that we haven't seen yet, and we need to be ready to deal with it. What we've seen from those opposite, most of all, is no plan at all. What we see is grim Jim, 'Grim Chalmers', as the commentator not the Treasurer, the forecaster not the leader, who's failed time and time again to take the opportunity, as interest rates have continued to go up, to lay out a plan whereby Australians will feel relief from these pressures. The question is: what should be in that plan? Ultimately, it'll have to be the government's plan, but there are three things I would like to point out that they could do, right here and now, to make a real difference. The first is to release some of the supply chain bottlenecks we are seeing in the economy. We put forward a proposal to double the work bonus, to help pensioners and veterans, to increase the amount of work they do, to give more incentive for them, through the changes in the tax and welfare system that we have proposed. What this effectively does is reduce their effective marginal tax rate so that they can get on and do more work without being taxed. Right now, if you are a pensioner or veteran you're paying at least 50 cents in the dollar for every extra dollar you earn and, quite likely, significantly more. So it makes perfect sense to give them the incentive to get out there and work. Most of all, we want to see more Australians working. That will not only relieve their cost-of-living pressures but it will also relieve cost-of-living pressures for all other Australians. The second thing is to make sure we don't kick off a price-wage spiral. We all want to see higher real wages in this place. What we don't need is a race between prices and wages. The last time we saw this was in the 1970s, and we know who lost. Workers lost. That's what happened. When you start a race like this, real wages will lose. The third thing that those opposite can focus on is making sure they're not throwing fuel on the fire of these inflationary and interest rate pressures. The truth of the matter is they took to the last election $45 billion of additional off-budget spending, sneaky spending, which will just throw more fuel on this fire. So $18 billion of on-budget spending—but we know this is only the beginning. 'Grim Jim' told us earlier this week that— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): I give the call to the minister, on a point of order? Dr Leigh: The shadow Treasurer should refer to members by their official titles. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Indeed you should, member for Hume. Please refer to members by their official titles. Mr TAYLOR: Yes, Deputy Speaker. We heard earlier this week that the Treasurer has found $50 billion. I've never seen a Treasurer look so miserable about finding $50 billion! Has anyone else seen a Treasurer look so miserable about finding $50 billion—or is it $50 billion we delivered him? It came from our time in government. The truth of the matter is that the Treasurer didn't want to see the $50 billion. Now that he's got it, we know he wants to spend it. He's already telling us that. He wants to spend it, and that's exactly what he will do. We know that's what Labor does. When they see a little bit of money, the first thing they want to do is spend it. He's also making sure he spends it on the things he wants. He's trying to tell others around him, 'No, it's not your gift; it's a gift for the people I want.' It's a $50 billion windfall that has come from the hard work that we did to make sure that as we came out of the pandemic we saw a bounce back, a reversion, to the balanced budget that we had in 2019. In fact, in a remarkable situation, we saw that from November through to May through to the election we ran a cumulative surplus over those months—and what we know is that those opposite just want to spend the money. Meanwhile, when it comes to cost of living, we know that those opposite are experts in breaking promises. The commitment was made back in November last year, and they have refused steadfastly to say they're going to deliver it, and we know they're not. This is a broken promise. They've had the opportunity at the dispatch box, time and time again, to commit to that promise, but when it comes to cost of living it's all broken promises. When it comes to productivity, they've decided to give up on it. They've dropped their productivity forecast because they say, 'You know what? That's not something we're going to deliver.' And when it comes to real wages— An opposition member interjecting— Mr TAYLOR: I hear the member behind me talking about real wages. Well, the reality of real wages is that the Treasurer has decided that in this term of the parliament, on his forecasts—not ours—there will be no material gains in real wages. So they've given up on their promise on electricity prices, they've given up on their promise on productivity, and they've given up on their promise of real wages. And we know what they're giving up on next, and that is tax cuts. The one thing Labor really hates most of all is to give Australians a tax break—to reduce taxes on small businesses in Australia and on the hardworking Australians who want to get on and have a crack out there, who want to have a go in their small businesses and in their careers. We want to see them succeed. We want lower taxes. We want better managed costs of living. We want a plan from those opposite.