Cost of Living

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (15:29): I rise today to speak on the cost-of-living crisis in South Australia. The question really needs to be: are you better off today than you were two years ago? Historically, living in Adelaide has had many advantages, and one of those advantages is that it was traditionally a lower-cost city in which to live. Unfortunately, we are losing our unique position as the cost-of-living pressures are increasing in this state.

While we need to acknowledge that this is a team effort between the federal and state Labor teams, evidence shows that South Australians are suffering at the hands of the Malinauskas Labor government. It was reported earlier this year by the ABC that South Australia was battling the highest inflation rate in the country, and it is now evident that families are around $20,000 worse off since Labor resumed office.

The ABC has reported that Adelaide has recorded the highest increase in food prices, with some food items doubling. The ABC quoted cumulative price increases of 16.4 per cent in Adelaide, compared with 16 per cent in Melbourne and 15 per cent in Sydney. When there is a 35 per cent increase in people looking for cheaper food sources, and food relief organisations such as Foodbank reporting a 57 per cent increase in demand, things are indeed grim. When people are having trouble buying basic foods, the government of the day has failed them. This hits people on low incomes hardest.

The state government has tacitly admitting this by including $266 million in the recent state budget for 'relief for the cost-of-living for South Australians'. How ironic that the government wants to portray themselves as the saviour for South Australians battling financial pressures when they have created these problems in the first place. This is like a firebug who starts a wildfire and plays the hero by helping the firefighters. This is the government playing good cop, bad cop with itself.

The cost-of-living pressures are a result of poor Labor policies, yet the government's solution is to throw taxpayer money at those affected. This ignores the truism that every added dollar that the government spends must first come either from an increased tax or from borrowing, which must be repaid from increased tax. Ultimately, the end result is more tax and less money in the pockets of South Australians.

According to the most recent comparison of state power prices, published in April this year, South Australia has the most expensive electricity in the nation. Whilst other states are paying between 23.67ȼ and 33.84ȼ per kilowatt hour, South Australians pay an average of 45.54ȼ per kilowatt hour. Anyone hoping for Labor showing common sense and leadership in developing policy that will actually reduce the long-term cost of energy will be disappointed. They are instead throwing around taxpayers' money to offset the pain. This is a classic case of treating the symptoms of the problem and not the cause.

The increase in the costs of doing business feeds to consumers, whether it is in the manufacturing, servicing, or farming sectors. The higher costs of employment and government red tape act as disincentives to employment, and are a burden to business. A more responsible approach to reducing the cost of living is to reduce the burden on businesses. This includes having cheap, reliable baseload power, removing red tape and unnecessary expenses to business, and reforming regressive taxes that punish the businesses that feed the state's economy.

Supporting policies that encourage rather than punish businesses will free them to grow, enable them to employ people and encourage the supply of affordable goods and services to the people of South Australia. This will help us rebuild the conditions that make our state such a wonderfully unique and affordable place to live.

The answer to my initial question as to whether households and individuals are better off under a Labor government is a resounding no, and South Australians are rightfully fed up. They deserve a government that works for them, not against them. They deserve a government that serves their interests, not undermines them. They require a leadership that advances their welfare, not one that works against it, and they need a government that enhances their prospects, not one that obstructs them. They deserve a Liberal government, and that is what we will be working hard to achieve in 2026.