“The Albanese Labor Government has created a cost-of-living crisis, a gas crisis a crime crisis, an energy cries us and a housing crisis. Living standards have suffered the biggest collapse in the developed world. Australian households have been in recession for more than… Household recession for more than 700 days,the longest on record. Prime Minister, why are Australians paying the price for Labor’s economic incompetence?”

I do love a precise question. Ok let’s go through this.

Created a cost-of-living crisis? Err no. Prices rose as a result of the end of the pandemic, supply chain blockages and companies taking advantage of this to put up prices. Inflation here in Australia has gone up and down at pretty much the same pace as in the USA and Canada – places which the govt’s policies don’t have a lot of impact.

Gas crisis? What already? The “gas crisis” is a confected outrage that come around every 6 months or so mostly driven by gas companies trying to demand the opening of more gas fields. Ther eis not gas crisis in Australia, no gas shortage. We export around than 80% of our gas. More gas is used to convert gas to LNP than us issued by the entire Australian manufacturing industry.

Energy crisis? Errr not sure what Angus is talking about here…. But while energy prices have risen, it is worth noting that the government’s energy subsidy has dropped energy prices by about 21% since June 2023 and if it was not for the subsidy energy people would be paying about 47% more for electricity than they are now.  

Housing crisis? Angus might like to ponder that in the last 3 years of the Morrison govt, Sydney median house prices rose 50%. Housing affordability has been in crisis since the introduction of the 50% Capital Gains tax discount. It is not the fault of the Labor govt, although it is fair to say the govt’s policies are (as Matt Grudnoff put it when her appeared before the Senate committee on the matter) at best, not making anything worse.

Living standards have certainly fallen – one understated issue about the fall is that the previous decade before 2022 (ie the period of the LNP govt) living standards grow at an historically slow pace. It meant that the fall during the period of inflation was enough to wipe away that 10 years of growth. Angus might likwe to ponder that the only way to improve living standards is to have incomes grow faster than prices, and yet the LNP has consistently voted against legislation with has given workers more power to bargain for those higher incomes.