The alternative prime minister boldly declared the 2025 federal election was a “sliding doors moment” for the nation.
Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech on Thursday evening was filled with facts and figures to paint Labor as hopeless at managing Australia’s best interests.
But how well do Dutton’s claims stack up?
The worst collapse in living standards’
Perhaps the standout claim from the opposition leader on Thursday was that Australia had “experienced the longest household recession and the worst collapse in living standards in our country’s history”.
On Friday morning he repeated: “Australia’s had the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world.”
The economist Saul Eslake says the best single measure of living standards is real household disposable income per capita.
That figure, derived from the national accounts, fell by about 10% between its “somewhat inflated” peak in September 2021 and June 2024.
It is the largest fall in the history of the data stretching back to 1959, and worse than in comparable countries such as Canada, New Zealand, and the US.
“But a significant proportion of that happened in the quarters under the former government,” Eslake says.
Housing and Groceries
Dutton made further claims about the cost of housing and domestic bills.
“Here’s the facts of the Albanese government’s economic record,” he told parliament in his budget reply speech. “Rents are up by 18%, and housing is up by 14%. Groceries up by a staggering 30%.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, rents did rise by 18% between the March quarter in 2022 and the December quarter in 2024.
House prices have risen 6.5% nationally since May 2022, according to CoreLogic, and units 5.1%.
Power bills
Dutton said Australia has some of the highest power prices in the world. Specifically, that electricity was “up by 32%” this term despite Labor promising an average reduction of $275 per household, and that gas bills had increased by up to 43%. He blamed “Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen’s reckless renewables-only policy train wreck”.
Electricity and gas bills did rise significantly shortly after Labor was elected, but the experts say the hike was mostly not due to the rollout of solar and windfarms. It was largely due to a rise in fossil fuel prices after Russia invaded Ukraine, and to a quarter of the country’s coal plants being offline during winter.
ABS stats show electricity bills have actually fallen 10% between the March 2022 quarter and the December 2024 quarter, largely due to a series of government subsidies. The ABS indicates power bills in the December quarter would have been almost 50% higher but for billions of dollars in federal and state government rebates.
Gas prices are up by 31% in the 33 months, according to the ABS.
Experts have said it is very likely the rises would have happened whoever was in government.
It’s worth also noting Labor’s policy is not “renewables only” – it is renewable energy backed by “firming” from batteries, pumped hydro and fast-start gas plants.
Health
Dutton claims bulk-billing availability has fallen by 11 percentage points, resulting in 41m fewer bulk-billing claims.
“On this government’s watch, bulk billing nationally has fallen by 11%. There’s 41m fewer bulk-billing episodes with GP services under this government, and more than 270 GP practices have closed under this government’s watch,” he said.
“Australians should never have to choose between seeing a doctor or paying their bills.”
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