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Feeling the pinch of rising costs

Anne Webster, Member for Mallee

MISREPRESENTATION and mismanagement are becoming hallmarks of the Albanese Labor government and Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ handling of Australia’s economy, and it is Swan Hill families who are feeling the pinch.

Tuesday’s 12th interest-rate rise under Labor’s watch has been triggered by Australia’s inflation – which is higher than almost every major advanced economy.

Dr Chalmers claims his government is delivering cost-of-living relief, but he is slipperier than the slope mortgage holders and families are sliding down.

The slide is at the petrol pump, where it costing more and more to fill the family car.

Paying the family power bill is reminding people of Labor’s pre-election spruiking that they would reduce energy bills by $275 – yet over the past 15 months they have gone up 18.2 per cent.

The cost of food is up 8.2 per cent over 15 months, forcing families to make other sacrifices just to get their kids’ lunchboxes packed for school.

More and more Australian families are seeking assistance from charities to make sure they don’t go hungry.

All while this is happening small businesses are closing, putting local people out of work.

Labor only wants to make it harder for these business by prioritising the demands of union bosses.

Australia’s productivity has fallen 6.6 per cent over the past 15 months.

The cost-of-living crisis is being spurred on by Labor’s poor policy choices.

This coming week I will be speaking in Parliament to highlight failures in the new Treasury Laws Amendment Bill, which will reduce the benefits of the instant asset write-off for 26,500 small and medium-sized businesses who make up 97.3 per cent of all businesses.

This results in further decline in productivity and is simply bad economic policy, squeezing families and businesses who are already struggling under the weight of Labor’s cost-of-living crisis.

All the while Dr Chalmers is acting footloose and fancy-free regarding the truth about his government’s cost-of-living measures.

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