I second the motion moved by the member for Indooroopilly. I rise to contribute to this debate on the cost-of-living pressures on the people of Queensland. Without doubt, the greatest concern in the community is the rising cost of living.
An ever growing number of households are reporting difficulties paying higher prices for essential items, particularly food, electricity, water and transport.
This week we saw a report that contained some very disturbing information regarding the cost of living. This report was compiled as a result of a recent survey. The report told us that one in three parents are going without meals to ensure their children have enough food. One-third of the people surveyed went without a meal in the past year to ensure their family was fed as the rising cost of living forced cutbacks to bare essentials. Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 people who were surveyed also said that they had to cut back on buying food or had to cut items from their shopping list altogether.
Basics such as meat, fruit and bread were among the most common items that were deleted from the shopping list. Sixty per cent of the people said that they were worried at least some of the time about not having enough money to feed their family.
Here in Queensland, it is pretty easy to see what has happened. The current state Labor government went to the polls six months early. As we now know, the Premier called the election because Labor knew what its budget following that election would disclose. It disclosed a blueprint for financial mismanagement. Labor also knew that it needed to get the cash rolling in, so it embarked on a plan to do what Labor governments do best—and Labor does it best because it is in its DNA. The plan was to increase every possible fee and charge imaginable.
Queensland once touted itself as the lowest tax state in Australia. But no longer can Queenslanders make that claim under this Labor government. Under this current Labor state government there has been the introduction of the 8c per litre fuel tax and increases in electricity prices, vehicle and vessel registration charges, water charges, land taxes, road tolls and public transport fares. They have all gone through the roof.
I refer to water bills. The government created the current system of water supply in South-East Queensland. Released figures show that bulk water prices on the Sunshine Coast will rise from $683 per megalitre in 2008-09 to $2,755 per megalitre in 2017-18. Just as they did this year, bulk water prices have increased by at least 25 per cent per year under this Labor government.
I move on to electricity. Since 2007, electricity prices have increased by 673 per cent in Queensland. Now we have Labor’s carbon tax and we will also have to contend with its effect on power prices.
During budget estimates in July, CS Energy CEO David Brown confirmed that the carbon tax will be the single biggest cost item for electricity generators. The average household electricity bill will bear the brunt of this job-destroying carbon tax. The carbon tax will account for around 50 per cent of electricity generators’ operating costs, and you can guarantee that that increase will find its way to the end user.
As I have said previously, I have seen the list of the alleged top 50 big polluters. There are 13 electricity companies in the alleged top 16 polluters. Indeed, 17 electricity companies are in the alleged top 50 polluters. There are also a few gas companies.
Come the next election day, I would like all voters to gather up their electricity bills, their car registration renewals, their licence renewals, their petrol bills and their water bills, take them along to the polling booth, have them right beside them at the ballot box and look upon each of them as a monument to financial heartache and look upon voting day as a referendum and their chance to have their say on the cost of living and the carbon tax.
This morning at five o’clock I walked through the park next door, because I like to have a bit of a walk around. I passed 10 joggers. It was good to see people out there getting fit and healthy. But the 30 people who were sleeping in that park are the ones we should be worried about.
This Labor government is driving people out of their houses. They have nowhere to live under this government. That is what Labor is about. They do not want you to own a home and they do not want you to own a car. They do not want you to live. They want you to just survive so that they can drain money out of your pocket. Labor has its hand in people’s pockets, trying to steal their wallets. There is one way to get rid of it: cut it off.
Vote them out the next election. Vote for an LNP government led by Campbell Newman. That is the way we will get rid of this Labor heartache in this state of Queensland. It was not like this when I grew up, and I know what has changed. Queensland has been run by Labor for 20-odd years and it has torn the guts out of this state. It has ripped it apart and it has ripped off the people of Queensland. I think the people of Queensland have just about had enough. So just vote them out and make life better for us all.