Pallett SarahSARAH PALLETT (Labour—Ilam): Thank you Mr Speaker. That was so exciting I nearly forgot to stand up. It almost makes me want to live in Tukituki but of course Ilam is the best electorate.In preparing for this speech I googled inflation Australia" and I learnt that the Australian inflation has reached 7.3 percent. The second hit when I googled "inflation Australia" was the question "Why Is Australia's Inflation Rate So High?" And I'll bite Forbes; I'll bite. Australia apparently according to Forbes "is experiencing record levels of inflation as a result of"—in bold type—"knock on effects from the COVID-19 pandemic the war in Ukraine and strong consumer demand." Curious I carried on searching. The UK is according to the BBC experiencing a rate of inflation of 10.096 percent. The cited main cause quoted by the BBC: cost of energy related to the war in Ukraine amongst other causes. Pasta is up in the UK by 60 percent and tea appallingly for any English person is up by 46 percent. And yet average wages in the UK—there is a point to this—are not keeping up. The cost of living is up 10.1 percent but wages have only risen by 5.7 percent. Times are tough in the UK. Times are tough in Australia. Times are tough here. Times are tough across the world.But what was the UK's response to those inflation rises? It was tax cuts for the wealthy—sound familiar? Shall I tell you what happened when a Tory Government cut taxes for the rich? Chaos. Chaos is what happened. Thirty billion pounds—that's $60 billion—were added to the already colossal fiscal hole that was caused by unexpectedly bad economic conditions of £30 billion already there; £60 billion. Now these are eye-watering sums of money and I can't get my head around billions. It's just too much. So I did some sums and I worked it out. That's $3669 on the hour every hour since Jesus was a lad—on the hour every hour. One policy decision nearly collapsed the British economy. It caused the abrupt resignation of the Prime Minister and an even more abrupt reversal of that policy which now has to be paid for by increasing taxes by stealth on an already overwhelmed population by a Tory Government.But Labour won't be doing that. Labour will not be responding to a global economic volatility and cost of living crisis by giving money to our richest people. Labour will continue to put people first. We are investing in our people. Unemployment is at a near-historic low of 3.3 percent. Annual earnings are up by 7.9 percent which is unlike the UK keeping above the rate of inflation lower than Australia's at 7.2 percent—Australia at 7.3. We know that people are doing it tough. Times are very hard and comparing our economy to others isn't always what people are doing when they are struggling. Of course they aren't.Labour knows this and that's why we are putting money in the pockets of those who need it the most; why we have increased the minimum wage again and again and again opposed by our National colleagues; why we introduced the winter energy payment which they promise they will remove should they go into Government with ACT next year; why we have supported countless businesses with COVID wage subsidy; why we are supporting those who supported us through the COVID crisis our cleaners our bus drivers with fair pay agreements; and why we have increased Working for Families tax credits; on childcare eligibility we've reversed a freeze that National put in place in 2010; why we are removing barriers to women who want to work; why we have reinstated the training incentive allowance—and I could go on and on and on but my time is limited.Yes people are doing it tough. Labour has their backs putting people first. It is not time to give tax cuts for the rich; it's time to continue to invest in our people."