AUSTRALIANS are hurting in this cost-of-living crisis, due to higher prices ignited by the Albanese Labor government’s home-grown inflation mismanagement.
Australia’s core inflation has risen to 4.1 per cent, according to the April monthly index.
Australia has one of the most persistent inflation rates of any advanced economy, yet Treasurer Jim Chalmers piled on more pain with a big spending, big-government budget that the experts labelled “inflationary”.
As Labor marks their second anniversary in office, their homegrown inflation crisis has seen food prices rise 11 per cent, housing 14 per cent, rents 13 per cent, gas 25 per cent, health 11 per cent, education 11 per cent and insurance 15 per cent.
Electricity costs are up 20 per cent, but Labor’s $300 energy bill relief for just one year is not the $275 permanent bill reduction they promised two years ago.
All retail trade data points to Australians struggling to keep their heads above water.
Nearly 17,000 businesses have become insolvent since July 2022.
Labor promised “cheaper mortgages” yet the typical Australian family with a mortgage is now more than $35,000 worse off.
Thankfully, there is a solution. I welcome an early election because Australians, particularly regional Australians and Mallee residents, need a change of government as soon as possible.
Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton has committed to increase the amount pensioners and veterans can work without affecting their pension payments, doubling the existing “work bonus” from $300 per fortnight to $600.
The Coalition will ease housing pressures nationwide by reducing permanent migration by 25 per cent, given that Labor brought in 923,000 migrants in the last two years but only ensured 265,000 homes were built.
A Coalition government will also allow Australians to access up to $50,000 of their superannuation to buy their first home, or for women to buy a home after separation.
Unlike Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was distracted by pet projects and settling scores in Canberra, the Coalition is laser-focused on immediate cost-of-living relief for all Australians.
