The Cost of Living Committee found that the cost of living continues to be the number one issue facing Australians, and decisions made by the Albanese Labor Government are making the problem worse, not better.
The second Interim Report for the Cost of Living Committee has made 14 recommendations to the Labor Government on how to tackle the cost of living crisis facing Australians.
First and foremost, Labor must reduce its spending to take the pressure off aggregate demand so that the Reserve Bank is not left to do all the heavy lifting. Unless Labor reduces its appetite to spend, inflation will stay higher for longer, and interest rates will stay higher for longer.
On energy, Labor must make increasing supply a top priority to help bring down prices in the medium and long term. In the short term, Labor should remove the gas price caps and reduce red and green tape to facilitate more investment in Australia’s natural gas sector.
The Committee also recommends Labor lift Australia’s ban on nuclear energy, to allow consideration of it as a cost efficient and low-emissions energy source, to supplement renewables over the long term.
On housing, Labor should be working with state and local governments to remove barriers to delivering greater housing supply and remove housing taxes such as land taxes, windfall gains taxes, and other developer charges to reduce the cost of new houses.
Australians who want to purchase their own home should be able to access their own superannuation to do so. The Committee recommends that Labor support and legislate the Coalition’s First Home Super Buyer scheme.
To help business, the Committee recommends Labor conduct a stocktake of Commonwealth regulation relating to small-to-medium enterprises and remove both the increases to the heavy vehicle user charge and biosecurity levy in the 2023-24 Budget. The Report also recommends Labor’s disastrous industrial relations laws be repealed.
Chair of the Cost of Living Committee, Senator Jane Hume, urged the Albanese Government to adopt the recommendations of the Committee in full, to assist Australians who are suffering under Labor’s cost of living crisis.
“For two years, Labor has failed to tackle the cost of living and the Senate Committee has found that Australians are paying the price.
“Under this Government, Australians’ standard of living has gone backwards. Whether it is in supermarkets, keeping their lights on, or paying for a roof over their head, Australians are poorer under Labor.
“This upcoming Budget is an opportunity for Labor to finally show the Australian public that they are tackling Australia’s homegrown and sticky inflation at the source rather than just looking at the symptoms. Failure to act now to put downward pressure on inflation will see the cost of living only get worse for all Australians.
Senator Dean Smith said the report confirmed how badly millions of Australians are struggling under Labor.
“Households are being crippled by housing stress, food stress and other inflation-related hardship – many for the first time,” he said.
“The Albanese Government, whose economic, energy and housing policy misfires have fueled this crisis, must finally take responsibility and act on the report’s recommendations.”
Senator Matt Canavan said, “Australians are struggling under this Labor Government, they're seeing their bills going up and having to scrape the bottom of their wallets to find enough money to put food on the table but their struggles are constantly being ignored.”
“Labor's ideological crusade for renewables is having flow on effects to Australians and they need to go back to focusing on making sure Australians aren't fighting to get by,” he concluded.
The Committee is continuing to accept submissions from all sectors of the economy and encourages ordinary Australians to complete the short survey available at yourcostofliving.au.
The Second Interim Report is available here.