Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Herald Sun last week reported that Victorian families are now paying on average 25 per cent more on groceries this year than in 2022. The average Victorian household is spending $185 a week on groceries, up from $148 last year. Does the Prime Minister stand by his claim before the election that Labor would deliver real, permanent, meaningful help with the cost of living? Why do Australian families always pay more under Labor?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have answered this on a number of occasions today. I've talked about the default market offer, and I've done that in the context of the fact that we have—

I know this may come as a shock, but it's related to inflationary pressure in the economy that goes through supply chains, it goes through the price of energy and therefore it goes through to having an impact on the cost of living. That's why we have made measures to impact the cost of living. That's why we've introduced—indeed, it's in place from 1 January—the cheaper pharmaceuticals.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fairfax is warned. If he speaks one more time he'll be asked to leave the chamber.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's why cheaper child care is there from 1 July. That's why 180,000 Australians are benefiting from fee-free TAFE. The other thing that we are doing, of course, which makes an enormous difference, is wages are going up.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Casey, the Prime Minister was asked about cost of living. He's talking about families and wages. This cannot be a point of order regarding relevance. I give the call to the Prime Minister and he will remain relevant to the question.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here's what the RBA governor had to say. 'Wages growth is stronger than it was a few years ago, which is a welcome development. It is also positive that the rate of wages growth remains consistent with the inflation target.' That's important, so it's not feeding into wage-price inflation. That isn't occurring. So the RBA governor has welcomed what we have done. He then went on to say, importantly: 'The monthly CPI indicator for January published last week provided support to the idea that headline inflation has peaked in Australia. Overall, we expect that inflation will trend lower this year and next.'

We understand that inflation has a disproportionate impact on those people who have less income. That's just a fact. That's why we're addressing these issues. What I don't understand is why those opposite oppose every one of the measures that are put forward to take pressure off cost of living.