Mr STEVENS (Sturt) (16:16): I'm looking forward to getting back home tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to one of my schools to talk to the year 12 debating team there. We've just had a really good lesson from the speakers opposite on how not to structure an argument. Some are purporting that the government is doing all these amazing things to solve the cost-of-living challenge. Others are claiming that the previous government, which finished 15 months ago, are to blame for it. Then a third cohort are suggesting that there is no cost-of-living challenge to speak of and that Australians are doing very well. When I go out and doorknock in my electorate, which I do every week, very regularly, the No. 1 issue raised is the cost of living. Everyone says that it is very difficult to bring the household budget together at the moment. Difficult decisions are being made by families across my electorate, and I'm sure that's the case across the country. They're talking about cancelling family holidays. They're worrying about how much the next electricity bill will have gone up since the last one. To suggest that things are not tough out there indicates to me that members opposite are simply not listening to people in their electorates, because it is really tough at the moment. Real wages are going backwards. That's something to be ashamed of, not to gloss over, not to dispute. It is a disgrace, and they should admit it. The Labor Party is in government and real wages are going backwards; they should hang their heads in shame. Rather than take responsibility for it and do something about it, they put it on a government that finished 15 months ago, being more interested in excuses than achievements. That says a lot about the priorities of a government, particularly ones that calls itself the Labor Party. They need a new name, because they're clearly not about the workers of this country when they are presiding over the deterioration of wages. Wages going backwards is appalling and something to be embarrassed about. In my home state, electricity prices are going up by 24 per cent this quarter. We've heard members opposite brag about the changes they've made to the energy system in this country, changes that are resulting in a 24 per cent increase on the average bill in my home state. To be proud of that— An honourable member interjecting— Mr STEVENS: I absolutely voted against energy prices going up by 24 per cent; thank you for the opportunity to reconfirm that. The fact that the government are bragging about electricity prices under their policies going up by 24 per cent is surprising, politically, but also disgraceful, when you think about the impact that is having on family budgets. Real wages are going down. Electricity prices in South Australia are going up by 24 per cent. Mortgages are going up. Rents are going up. People are making very difficult decisions around the kitchen table. They are cancelling family holidays. Maybe they are taking their kids out of a private school that they can't afford to send them to anymore. They are making difficult decisions about budgets for Christmas presents and how they're going to make ends meet through the holiday season, the high-cost season, because they don't have the real purchasing power today that they had 12 months ago, two years ago, three years ago or four years ago, because they're going backwards. Their wages are going backwards and their costs are dramatically going up. The most recent inflation figure is six per cent annualised. To suggest that that's something to welcome and to delight in, the fact that it has moderated from seven per cent—as if six per cent is some sort of improvement from seven per cent. That means the destruction of people's wealth has slowed from seven per cent to six per cent. They're still going backwards, just at a slightly lesser velocity than the quarter before. Bragging about that and suggesting that that's something to be proud of as a record of the government absolutely beggars belief. It is tough times out there right now, and those opposite had an opportunity to talk about what they're doing to address it. Instead, they're either pretending that it hasn't happened or talking about a government that ended 15 months ago. Why do people go into politics and want to get into government to then proceed to do absolutely nothing when they're there? We know what the culture is amongst those opposite. They're all about themselves and not about the struggling families of Australia.