Mr BRIAN MITCHELL (Lyons) (16:00): I'm pleased the member for Gippsland is here—just before he departs the chamber—because he mentioned that the government is like the dog that chases the car. Well, I've got another dog story for him. That's of the dog that returns to its own vomit, and that's the National Party and the Liberal Party writ large. There's nothing they like more than returning to the vomit of a good scare campaign. We all remember, on this side of the House, the '$100 lamb roast' and, of course, the 'end of the weekend'. Just a few weeks ago, those on the front bench opposite were talking about Marxist tax cuts, which they then quietly voted for. The fact is that the whole premise of this— Mr Birrell: I raise a point of order on an unparliamentary remark. I think to call anyone's political party 'vomit' is beyond the pale and I think it should be withdrawn. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): You can sit down. I allowed some very questionable comments referring to dogs a little while ago. I'm not happy about it, from either side, but it is not unparliamentary. I listened very carefully to what he said, as I listened very carefully to what the member for Page and the member for Gippsland said. Believe me, if they had crossed that line, I would have pulled them all up. I do, however, ask people to be respectful in their debates in this House on all sides. Mr BRIAN MITCHELL: Thank you. The whole premise of this matter of public importance is ridiculous. It is ridiculous for those opposite to suggest that this government has in any way failed to respect Australian families who are dealing with the cost-of-living crisis. The Albanese government is rolling out billions of dollars of cost-of-living measures which are going to precisely help regional families—measures like cheaper medicines, increasing Medicare bulk billing, cheaper child care, expanding paid parental leave, boosting income support payments, fee-free TAFE and getting wages moving again, not to mention that from 1 July we are delivering a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer and a bigger tax cut for more workers. Frankly, the member for Gippsland, in moving this matter of public importance—the vast majority of taxpayers in the member for Gippsland's electorate will be getting a bigger tax cut because of Labor's changes to stage 3, the stage 3 plan that the government he was part of put forward to this parliament. What I would suggest shows a failure to respect Australian families is, in fact, the opposition leader's scare campaign about the new vehicle efficiency standard. It's a policy that those opposite embraced and promoted when in government, just a few short years ago. This is a policy that will bring down fuel costs and give Australians more choice of cars that are cleaner and cheaper to run. As the member for a regional electorate, I've got news for those opposite and for members opposite who represent regional electorates. We have people in our electorates who drive a lot of kilometres every year. We're talking about tens of thousands of kilometres—that's a lot of fuel. Getting cheaper fuel is good news for those consumers. But it's the same tactic we see again and again from those opposite: spread the fear, spread the smear and deliver nothing. It's a similar story in Tasmania. The Liberal government in Tasmania has spent 10 years making promises to Tasmanian families but not keeping them, failing to respect them by consistently overpromising and then failing to deliver. Whether it's housing or whether it's health—no matter what it is—the Liberal government in my state is simply failing to respect regional families, which, of course, is the matter of public importance before us today. I talk about the long-promised Elizabeth Street bus mall—it never happened, but now the Liberals are promising a Launceston bus mall. The four-lane Midland Highway, which runs through my electorate—it never happened. As to the telecommunications upgrades, long promised, along the Great Eastern Drive: the signs promoting the extra communication, apparently on its way, have rusted out and have been replaced, but there are still no communications from the state government that promised that program. Much-needed drought relief funding for Tasmanian farmers was announced four days before this Saturday's election, not when it was needed. The fact is that the people of Tasmania have a choice this Saturday: they can either have four more years of a failed Liberal government, or they can elect Rebecca White and the Labor team in Tasmania, who have the right priorities, including housing, health and cost-of-living measures. They are precisely what this Labor government in Canberra is also all about—bringing the cost of living down for Australian families.