Labor just doesn’t get the cost of living crisis

I couldn't believe the headline two weekends ago: "It's going to get better". That's what the Prime Minister told this masthead and that's what he's telling Australians.

I was particularly struck by the lack of sensitivity at a time when many people are just barely hanging on financially.

From a human perspective, family relationships are under immense pressure and lots of people aren't doing OK. Ordinary Australians can't keep up with the cost of everything: food, petrol, electricity, gas and, of course, housing.

Working Australians have to make difficult decisions about which of these necessities they will cut back on. That's a fact. Our country desperately needs a strategy and a plan to break out of this economic crisis, not just a patronising pat on the shoulder.

If Anthony Albanese really thinks it will be OK, and he really does have a plan, it's now pretty much past the point of when his government needed to act to implement it.

Figures released last week from the National Debt Helpline indicated that last year saw 145,166 calls for assistance, the Helpline's highest figures since the peak of the pandemic. Australians are desperate for relief from this incredibly challenging polycrisis – inflation, housing shortages, and the ever increasing cost of living.

According to Helpline counsellor Mike Dunkley, the recent explosion in demand stems from the spiralling costs of housing. Over 60 per cent of calls are made by young people aged between 18 and 39, with the majority of those being young women struggling to pay rent. No wonder young Australians have lost faith and trust in the political process and those charged with governing.

Under this government, small and family businesses are being crushed by the weight of a flailing economy. ASIC has reported more than 7700 foreclosures from July 2023 to March 2024, with construction companies leading the way with more than 2000 of these business failures. Construction companies need to lead the way out of our housing crisis, yet under this government they're leading the way into bankruptcy.

This government's homegrown inflation sits at the root of our country's out-of-control housing costs, regardless of whether someone is paying rent to a landlord or making mortgage repayments to their bank.

"Telling us that everything will be OK doesn't cut it"

Maria Kovacic is a Liberal Senator for NSW