Cost of Living
Coming soon
This policy aims to ease the pressure on household budgets, by tackling the causes of rising prices rather than leaving families to carry the load.
It focuses on cutting food waste to bring down grocery costs and get fresh food to those who need it, advocating for a review of how inflation is managed, and planning major infrastructure projects more responsibly so they don't drive prices up.
The key priorities:
Food waste and fresh food
Less waste, lower costs
More fresh food on the table
Many families are relying on food relief programs to put food on the table, as rising fuel, energy and grocery prices put more pressure on household budgets. Supermarkets are making record profits, while 1.7 million tonnes of food is wasted before it even makes its way to the shop. We need better systems to cut waste, bring down costs and ensure everyone has healthy, fresh food.
I’ll work with the Federal Government on measures to reduce food waste, including mandating the donation of surplus food to food relief providers, reviewing best before date classification, and exploring bans on supermarkets rejecting edible produce.
Managing inflation
A fairer way to fight inflation
Less heavy lifting for households
Households are being asked to do more of the heavy lifting, with significant increases in interest rates driving up mortgage repayments and putting upward pressure on rents. Yet our cost of living challenge is being driven by global conflict, large investment in public infrastructure and AI, and big business using market power to stifle competition.
It’s time to consider whether targeting household consumption and unemployment is still an effective way to manage inflation. I’ll advocate for the Federal Government to review our system of inflation management.
Responsible infrastructure planning
Building at a sensible pace
Easing pressure on costs
Victoria’s big build has driven up labour and material costs, and proposed data centres will only create more upward pressure. When many large projects compete for the same workers and materials at the same time, prices for both rise, and that doesn’t stay inside the project. It flows through to the cost of building and renovating homes, to businesses, and into everyday prices.
We need better phasing of major infrastructure projects, both public and private, so that building for the future doesn’t push up costs for everyone today. I’ll push for responsible infrastructure project planning that takes this into account.