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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-05 Daily Xml
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Cost of Living

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:15): I do not think that it will come as a surprise to anyone who has been knocking on the doors of constituents and residents in South Australia that the cost of living has become if not the most significant issue it is certainly right up there with health in the minds of our supporters, those who vote against us, our residents—those who we represent. Cost of living gets raised time and time again and it is across the board.

Whether people are renting or landlords, whether people are running small businesses or larger businesses, or whether they are employees, pensioners or students, the cost of living has become the most significant stress point in people's lives to the point where, in my 14 years in this place, it has never been this significant. It is often something people talk about, but there has never been a moment when the anxiety felt by people in their daily lives has been this pointed. Across my electorate of Morialta, it is keenly felt as well.

Recently, I conducted an online survey of residents and had hundreds and hundreds of responses. The first question was whether people feel better off or worse off than they did prior to the election of the Malinauskas Labor government in March 2022. The hundreds of respondents—89 per cent of them—reported being worse off. Of the remaining 11 per cent, 8 per cent said they were about the same and fewer than 2 per cent reported being better off. Fewer than 2 per cent reported feeling better off now than they were prior to the election of the Malinauskas Labor government.

Members opposite may ask the question: 'Are they Liberal Party supporters? Are they the member for Morialta's supporters? Are they the only ones answering this questionnaire and saying that they feel worse off?' I dare them to do so frankly if that is the point that they would make, because the truth is that this is felt across the board and I think any member would feel it in their own electorate as well. It is not just one thing because, of course, different pressures hit people in different ways.

We know that the average mortgagee in South Australia and in Australia is tens of thousands of dollars worse off per year than they were two years ago. That has impacted on people's capacity to live in their houses and meet their mortgage repayments, let alone the choices and decisions that they are able to make in their lives. In my survey, we were talking about some 29 per cent of interest payments being their greatest cost-of-living stress. Others are hit by other things: 86 per cent of my local residents report increases in the cost of food being a major expense that is giving them great anxiety; 78 per cent reported electricity; 73 per cent reported insurance; council rates were giving anxiety for 61 per cent of residents; and water bills for 54 per cent of residents.

Today in the house we have asked the government a series of questions about the decisions that they are making in relation to SA Water and the regulated asset base. This is in stark contrast to the point made by the Premier a few days ago, when he seemed to throw up his hands in incapacity and impotence at the ability of politicians to do anything about the cost of living. Yet, this is a government that is happy to put out regular press releases from ministers across the government, from the Premier on down, saying that they are seeking to address the cost of living, but the Premier says that they are not.

I come back to SA Water and the decisions this government made, reflective of the decisions of the Weatherill government and the Rann government, to jack up people's water prices as a result of government decision-making as a result of how the regulated asset base used to be treated.

The former Liberal government, by stark contrast, when the member for Black, when the Leader of the Opposition, was the minister for the environment, brought water prices down. We had an inquiry into the regulated asset base and we brought water prices down—just as we brought electricity prices down, just as we abolished payroll tax on small businesses, just as we halved people's ESL bills.

Governments can make decisions, and governments are responsible not only for the decisions and imposts they put on people directly but also for the business environment and the economic environment they create for residents. For the Premier of South Australia to throw up his hands as if it is not possible for him to deliver anything for South Australians, that people have to understand there is nuance, that politicians, as he said, 'are telling BS' if they say they can fix things, is, I think, a sign of the government's hypocrisy, the government's arrogance, and the fact that this is a government that is not focused on the priorities the people of South Australia want.

This is a government that is happy to spend millions and tens of millions of dollars on all sorts of flights of fancy that we know about all too well, yet when it comes to cost of living, the thing that is impacting people in their households, in their families, more than anything else in South Australia is that this is a government that has declared it is all too hard. South Australians deserve a lot better than that.

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