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Cost of Living Has Not Eased Under Labor

Everything has gone up. Food, fuel, electricity. Why?

Australian supermarket and petrol profiteering is not being addressed by this government nor the consumer watchdog, the ACCC, which is asleep at the wheel.

Manufacturing costs however have risen and are implicated in the cost of living crisis.

Shutting down cheap, reliable, baseload coal power and replacing it with unreliable and expensively subsidised wind and solar has forced up electricity prices along the entire supply chain. From farmers’ cool rooms to warehouses and supermarket chillers, the costs are rising.

One Nation knows, because we listen around the country, that every problem facing the people are due to excessive government decisions. The solution is to set the people free from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and crippling Net Zero policies and Australia will thrive.

Transcript

During the 2022 election campaign, the now Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, promised my Queensland constituents that life would be easier under Labor, a metaphorical land of milk and honey. I think the Prime Minister oversold his policies by a football field or two.

Milk and honey have turned out to be baked beans on toast, except baked beans are up 50 per cent, so it’s more bread and margarine. Except margarine is up 40 per cent, and supermarket bread is up from $1.90 a loaf to $2.70 a loaf.

That loaf of bread is made from 98 per cent Australian ingredients purchased from Australian farmers on a long-term supply agreement.

The government cannot blame the war in Ukraine for price rises on a product made here. I do, however, know where to place that blame.

The Australia Institute has correctly pointed out that our supermarket oligopoly is exploiting their market share to rip off consumers for record profits. The government has not acted on supermarket or petrol profiteering, despite having the power to do so, and the ACCC is asleep at the wheel. Manufacturers’ costs have increased, especially thanks to the UN 2050 net zero madness that started under the previous Liberal government and is now pursued enthusiastically by the champagne socialists on the left in the Labor party.

Closing down cheap base-load coal power and replacing it with unreliable and expensive wind and solar has forced up electricity prices along the entire supply chain. Farmers’ cool rooms and packing sheds are costing more to light and to refrigerate. Warehouses are more expensive. Supermarket fridges are more expensive.

One Nation know, because we listen around the country, that every problem in this country is due to excessive government, especially central government. We know the solutions are with the people.

Set the people free from this UN rubbish and we’ll get everything right.

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Australia Council happy to waste 7% more of your money to virtue signal

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Everyone’s power bills are going up, which made me wonder why the Australia Council was happy to make their power bill 7% more expensive for no reason at all.

Despite the same power coming through the plug (probably from a coal fired power station) the council elects to make their bills 7% more expensive so they can buy “green power”. What a scam and a waste of money.

Transcript

Senator Roberts: I want to follow up on something we discussed last time. You may recall that last estimates we had a conversation about your power bills.

Mr Collette: Yes.

Senator Roberts: A lot of people are talking about power bills these days.

Mr Collette: They are.

Senator Roberts: This is estimates, and one of the purposes of estimates is to assess how you are spending taxpayers’ money. That is what I want to revisit. Firstly, thank you for your detailed response, when you took my question on notice. That was SQ 23-003317. I hope all of the Public Service takes notes from you about how questions on notice should be answered. We appreciate it.

Mr Collette: Thank you.

Senator Roberts: In that answer, you said that you elect to add the green power product to your power bills. That is totally optional. You opt in, and you take extra money from the taxpayer to pay that expense. That is making your power bill 6.8 per cent—say seven per cent—more expensive than otherwise. Whether you opt in to pay the extra for green power or not, the same power comes through the same plug, probably from a coal-fired power station. But you are choosing to waste taxpayers’ money on this optional expense that makes no difference to what is turning the lights on. How much did you pay for green power over the last year?

Mr Collette: I will have to take that on notice, unless my colleague has the answer.

Mr Blackwell: I don’t have it.

Mr Collette: We will try to come back to you with an equally exemplary response.

Senator Roberts: Good, thank you. I don’t expect this of you, but do you have any guess as to what your power bill is?

Mr Collette: I would not like to guess, no.

Senator Roberts: Can you also tell me how much you expect to pay this coming year?

Mr Collette: I can’t tell you that, but I will certainly get that information for you.

Senator Roberts: You were established under legislation; correct?

Mr Collette: We are.

Senator Roberts: So I assume you have been established with the objective of funding the arts.

Mr Collette: Yes, we have, investment and advocacy.

Senator Roberts: Investing in arts and advocacy on behalf of the arts. Thank you, that is clarifying. What part of your objectives enables you to waste an extra seven per cent a year on a core component, power, when it is literally the same power coming through the plug whether you pay the extra expense or not?

Mr Collette: What part of our objectives? I think the Australia Council—Creative Australia to be—does have sustainability goals, and we try to exemplify those, which are important to the sector that we serve as well. Given that we invest in the sector, and we advocate for the sector, I think this is generally respected by the arts and creative industry.

Senator Roberts: I think you are wasting taxpayer money and that should be cancelled. Would not that money be better spent on the art that you are supposed to be funding?

Mr Collette: There is always a cost to investing in servicing the art that we are funding, and I think you will find that this is significantly respected by the sector.

Senator Roberts: The point is that you are spending an extra seven per cent on a key component—

Mr Collette: I understand that.

Senator Roberts: Same plug, same power.

Mr Collette: I understand that. But there are different kinds of value as well.

Senator Roberts: I am not arguing with you on that point.

Mr Collette: So this would be a small contribution to social and environmental value that is respected by the sector, and I am sure if you ask their general view on whether we should save whatever the sum is—seven per cent of our power bill, and I confess I don’t know our power bill as I sit here—you would find very broad support for what we do.

Senator Roberts: I think there is a lot of ignorance—and I am not singling you out; I think it goes right through the community—about this green power, because the same power comes from the same place through the plug, regardless of whether you pay that seven per cent or not. So I would like to know what benefit you get from that seven per cent.

Mr Collette: I will take that on notice and come back to you, once I understand the argument that I think you are making—that there is actually no difference in this power. I need to satisfy myself on that argument and then we can come back to you with a response.

Senator Roberts: I am pleased to hear that. Thank you.

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