Mr TAYLOR (Hume) (15:59): We all heard it before the election. Australians all heard it before the election. Life was going to be cheaper under Labor. We heard before the election that mortgages were going to be cheaper. And what did we get? We got six consecutive increases in the cash rate, to 2.85 per cent, and we know it's going higher. Before the election, they promised lower cost of living, and what did we get? We got inflation going above seven per cent, and the Reserve Bank says it's on its way to eight per cent. Before the election, we heard that electricity prices were going to be lower, a $275 reduction. And what did we get? Ninety-seven times before the election we heard they were going to be cheaper, but, since then, the Prime Minister has been asked 28 times—including twice more today—if he will commit to the $275 reduction, and each time he has refused to recommit. This is a Labor government that made election promises it is happy to abandon and give away, despite the fact that the greatest pressure all Australians are facing right now, whether it's businesses or households, is cost pressures. The big opportunity Labor had to deal with this was in the budget. But we have a Treasurer whose focus as a Treasurer is on doom, gloom, forecasting and commentary. This is a Treasurer that wouldn't know a plan if he fell over it. What we got in the budget, instead, in October, was a complete flop. There is no other way to describe it. He promised us that he was going to paint a picture. We were all expecting something elaborate—a Picasso or maybe something more local, like Tom Roberts. Instead, we got a singer. We got Taylor Swift. We got a blank space. We got absolutely nothing out of this budget. We got something that sank to the bottom of the ocean within a couple of days. The Treasurer has chosen, on a now famous occasion, to mishear questions about the budget. No-one bothers to ask him questions about the budget anymore, because he mishears them anyway. The truth is that I would be mishearing questions about that budget if I had handed it down, because it was absolutely hopeless! Instead of a comprehensive plan to consolidate the strong economic position and the strong budget that the Treasurer inherited, we got growing deficits and no medium-term fiscal strategies. They have given up on budget balance. They've given it away. It's gone! For the first time since the Charter of Budget Honesty was put in place, there is no commitment to budget balance. They have absolutely given up the ghost. Instead of delivering economic growth, which is what we wanted to see, we have $142 billion of extra taxes in the budget. Compared to the March budget, if you take the forwards over the four years, there are $142 billion of extra taxes—and right at the heart of that is that sneaky thief in the night, bracket creep, that those opposite want to keep. They want taxes going up, automatically, every year. Instead of a productivity agenda we got more red tape and industrial relations chaos. Instead of managing spending, we got an extra $115 billion of spending in this budget. The Treasurer himself has admitted: with more spending comes higher interest rates. He said it. The member for Parramatta, over there, knows this. Any economist knows it: more spending; higher interest rates. We've even heard an economist to Julia Gillard, Stephen Koukoulas, make this very clear. Mr Fletcher: Kouk! Mr TAYLOR: The Kouk. This is a budget that has left the Reserve Bank carrying the can. In fact, Steven Hamilton put it very well when he said it was an irresponsible budget. Right at the heart of this budget is an acceptance that rising inflation, in the view of the Treasurer, is okay—a 56 per cent increase in electricity prices; a 44 per cent increase in gas prices—and, on top of that, they've given up the ghost on productivity. He's scaled down productivity from 1.5 to 1.2 per cent a year. That means less money in people's pockets, less wealth. They talk every day. In fact, before the election we heard time and time again about real wages, that they would go up. In their own forecast, there is no increase in real wages in this term of the parliament—none. Gone! They have given up on it. They have given up the ghost. They've put up the white flag. As a result, Australians will be paying more at Christmas. Australians will be worse off because those opposite have given up on their commitments. We know that a family with a $750,000 mortgage is now paying more than $1,200 extra every month. In the electorates of those opposite, $1,200 every month. Australians are going to be going to the checkout at the fuel bowser this Christmas knowing that this government does not have their back when it comes to the cost of living. They've broken the most basic promises they made before the election. We know there's complete chaos when it comes to energy policy with those opposite. Three days ago, we heard there were going to be subsidies. We don't know which one of them leaked from cabinet. One of them did, clearly. We don't know which one. Everyone's trying to guess. Then the next day it was price caps on gas, and then the next day it was price caps on coal. I don't know what's coming tomorrow. Who knows? But we do know that even Labor states are saying, 'Not good enough!' A couple of weeks ago the Western Australian government said, 'No way, don't even think about those policies.' Then a couple of days ago the Queensland government said, 'No way, don't even think about those policies.' Then today we read that South Australia is saying exactly the same. This is a government that has no idea. It is all smear and no idea. I have a special place in my heart for the Assistant Treasurer. He's not here today. What a disappointment. He's part of the team, and it takes the team to make a mess of things. He is the leader of chaos in the Treasury portfolio. One would think that getting through bills--which we support and which we supported when we were in government--would be pretty straightforward. They are straightforward pieces of legislation that we still support, but not the Assistant Treasurer. He has decided to unilaterally implement $1.1 billion of fines on executives in the financial services industry. He made a deal with the Greens that wasn't needed, and then he walked back on it in less than 24 hours. There's been a bit of commentary about this. Michael Roddan wrote in the Fin Review just a few days ago about the recent performance of the shadow Treasurer, and I quote: In the six months since he took charge of the ministry, the Member for Whitlam has chewed up the furniture, rubbed his bum on the carpet and cocked his leg over his parliamentary colleagues, the financial sector and the voters of Australia. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Excuse me! Order! I ask you to withdraw that, even if it is a quotation. Mr TAYLOR: It is a quote, Deputy Speaker. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I don't care if it's a quotation. It's a clear offence of the standing orders and I ask you to withdraw. Mr TAYLOR: I withdraw. Colourful language, I do accept, very much so. He goes on to say that the Assistant Treasurer's: … priorities in office have been nothing short of bewildering, such as bending over backwards for small superannuation funds like the $3.6 billion First Super, chaired by CFMEU heavy Michael O'Connor … That's slightly less colourful language, Deputy Speaker, so I think that is more acceptable. But that is what has been said about the performance of the Assistant Treasurer. It does take a team to make a mess of things, and that is exactly what those opposite are doing. The other person who is getting it all wrong time and time again is the Prime Minister. Not only has he completely failed to commit or recommit to be $275 electricity price reduction; he does not understand the electricity industry at all. In fact, he claims that one gigawatt of electricity was committed or built under us. The answer is: in the last three years of government, it was 18.9 gigawatts. He's only out by a factor of 19. And, in each one of those years, more renewables were built than in the entire time those opposite were in government. Those opposite are all smear and no idea.