he power of big corporations, given to them by governments, is driving the cost of living crisis.

The cost of living crisis is pushing millions of people into poverty. It’s causing untold harm and suffering in our society. It’s making people homeless and it’s causing people to be trapped in debt.

And in a country as rich as Australia, none of it is necessary. 

In Norway, a country whose government makes their big fossil fuel corporations pay their fair share of tax, they use the money to ensure everyone has access to free education. 

In Australia, Labor gives our fossil fuel corporations billions of dollars of public money, and forces people into debt to attend a University and get an education. 

Big corporations are fuelling the cost of living crisis. Coles and Woolies are driving up the cost of food. Banks are reaping massive profits through making people pay more and more on their home loans. Energy companies are making huge profits on higher and higher energy bills. 

Labor’s plan to tackle the cost of living crisis is just not up to the task. They promised that no one would be left behind, but the reality is that their solutions are making things worse. 

On the cost of living crisis, Labor’s leaving it to the Reserve Bank. The Reserve Bank, as we all know, is just jacking up interest rates. 

What putting up interest rates does is make the people who are suffering the most from the cost of living crisis pay even more. 

It’s a dangerous cycle. Rising rents are driving the cost of living crisis. The RBA sees rising rents as a problem, and its solution is to push up interest rates, which pushes up mortgages, and gives landlords a reason to push up rents even further.  

The RBA is warning that over the next twelve months, rents could increase by another 10%. Also, their solution will see another 130,000 - 200,000 people unemployed. 

Labor has replaced the Governor of the Reserve Bank, but they’re still not dealing with the cause of the crisis, excessive corporate profits. 

Labor is giving too much special treatment to big corporations. They take huge corporate donations, and refuse to deal with corporate tax avoidance or profiteering which is driving the cost of living.  

Their housing policy will see big banks, investors and developers make huge profits from housing. 

Labor won’t make coal and gas corporations pay for the damage they cause to the environment, and won’t stop energy corporations charging so much that people can’t afford to turn on the heaters. 

Labor has the power to change this. They’re just refusing to take action. Labor has left people behind and let people down.

ut we’re fighting back. 

The Greens are going to be powering up our cost of living campaign. 

We want big corporations to pay their fair share of tax and for that money to go to making people’s lives better, like getting dental into Medicare. We want government to start controlling the price of essentials again, like by limiting rent increases. We want the ACCC to break up the big corporations who have too much market concentration and are charging whatever they like. And instead of leaving basic human needs - like housing - up to the big corporations, government needs to do what it used to, and look after people, including by building more public housing.

We can’t continue to leave millions of people to live in poverty while big corporations charge whatever they like. We shouldn’t give subsidies to the corporations who are driving the climate crisis. 

We need a new way of thinking about the economy, about who it protects and who has to pay. The Greens will fight for an economy that works for all of us.

Images: Pexels and Wikimedia Commons.

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