Many Australians would be forgiven for thinking that this country is struggling through a cost-of-living crisis.

You might be surprised to find out that Australia is actually, presently experiencing a great economic, energy, and infrastructure renaissance. You’ve never had it so good!

This Albanese Labor government maintains that the nation is moving in an upward trajectory towards prosperity under their leadership and policy direction, and it seems, if polling is to be believed, that the public are backing them in. This is despite the raw data, and what is being anecdotally heard or discussed on street corners, telling a very different story…

The Coalition, for all its sins, has drawn much media and social criticism in the last few months for general internal instability and a dearth of policy at a time when the party is doing significant and necessary soul-searching in the mire of the great election loss they experienced. Sadly, as a result of this, much of the government’s abject failures and destructive policies have been ignored and forgotten, without scrutiny, criticism, or public ire.

This Labor government has presided over the largest collapse in our living standards in the OECD and this collapse has been pronounced, elongated, and the result of direct policy and fiscal recklessness by a high-spending, high-taxing government. This can be observed in our daily undertakings, whether it’s paying bills, buying groceries, getting fuel, or dining out.

The general cost of everything has increased in a manner that has outstripped our take-home earnings and has reduced our buying power.

In the housing market, lending has tightened significantly with dreams of home ownership further and further out of reach, especially if you’re a single-income young professional. In just the last 5-10 years, we have seen the increase of house prices skyrocket, and whilst the government does rightly claim that it has managed to see wages increase on the whole, when paired with these inflationary pressures and market factors, that money just doesn’t take you as far.

Yet, in its hubris, this government continues to spruik its record, claiming credit for three rate cuts, whose decision was the Reserve Bank’s, and which was preceded by 12 rate rises. Labor also brags about its various social policies bringing relief to Australian households, however, these sugar hits are contributing to a record national trillion-dollar debt that sees the nation paying $50,000 a minute in interest repayments alone. Energy Minister Chris ‘Blackout’ Bowen is now offering ‘free’ electricity for three hours in the middle of the day. But we should all know that nothing the government ever gives you is free. If you don’t pay for it now, you will at some point in the revenue stream. You can imagine that energy companies forced into this arrangement will either be seeking subsidies at the cost to the taxpayer, or will simply increase their rates during peak periods to the detriment of the consumer.

The government is banking on public ignorance and reliant apathy taking hold in this country to shield them from their actions. That is this sense of being unwilling to dig in and work, and having no consideration or care for the nation’s broader prosperity or destiny; just that which benefits the individual in the now. This is entrenched by the abject loss of aspiration. Australians don’t have hope in a national, shared destiny moving toward prosperity. We are not barracking under one flag with shared values and a clear identity.

And the facts are plain; inflation has smashed through the RBA’s target band, proving Labor’s cost-of-living crisis is far from over and that mortgage holders should not expect real relief under this government. Households are paying 15 per cent more for food, 15 per cent more for health, 19 per cent more for housing, 37 per cent more for insurance, and nearly 40 per cent more for electricity.

In fact, government spending is running at four times the rate of the economy itself.

This is unsustainable. Recent increases in this stagnant inflation, as a direct result of this government’s high-spending regime, is putting undue pressure on the Reserve Bank to keep rates on hold once more for the foreseeable future with concerns of a potential future rate rise. This is of course also off the back of the Labor government’s politicisation of the RBA; using it as a scapegoat for poor fiscal news, scaring it into submission and ensuring a more stubborn, protracted inflationary cycle.

But don’t worry, everything’s going great. That’s why the government has doubled down on its climate targets, and renewable energy uptake, while providing subsidy after subsidy to clean energy providers, forcing Australians to join this great era of prosperity kicking and screaming. How can you not thank this government with utmost gratitude for turning a bright new corner on infrastructure and housing? 340 homes have been completed under the Housing Australia Future Fund. Or on productivity which has declined to 0.8 per cent according to the ABS? Or education with one in three students not meeting English and maths standards? How about manufacturing? How much is still made in Australia for Australians? Don’t you know we’re well on our way to being a global superpower?

As we refuse nuclear, as we sell our resources offshore, as we choose to back only one technology form for our energy production, as we punish aspiration and crush small businesses under heavy burdens and red and green tape, as we fund lifestyles that are not underscored by contributions back to the community, as we hike taxes up that eat away at the profits of industries and choke out Australian households from getting ahead, as we see 50 per cent of renting households going hungry due to inflationary pressures, Labor continues to gaslight Australians about how our nation is at a turning point that has been turning for four years, and somehow, despite those four years, the blame is somehow the Coalition government’s.

The Coalition really should not have to convince Australians to vote for them when there is every reason not to vote for Labor, nor should Australians be demanding half-baked policies to satisfy their impatience, when an alternative government is taking the time to meaningfully engage with policy in a measured and pragmatic way to offer reasonable and effective policies at the next federal election.

I have heard many commentators whining about the need for policies to be rolled out now, but I have not heard a sound reason as to why that is the imperative.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is being criticised for doing the work to establish the internal infrastructure and systems to have an effective Coalition, that includes allowing for the voices of the backbench to directly contribute to policy formation, in lieu of the previous electoral wipeout that took out some party veterans such as former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and former Shadow Minister Michael Sukkar.

Whilst the Opposition must be more razor-like in their prosecutions of this government’s failures, it is also true that the media, who are tantalised by internal division, are not allowing Labor’s abject hypocrisy to come to light, rather opting to promote tit-for-tat in-fighting over real issues affecting real Australians. There is more blame to be shared, and more pain in store if people don’t start focusing on the cause of their suffering.

We are talking about a drastic downturn in our way of life, in a very short period of time, at the hands of a government that has managed to secure another term, with more power and an opportunity to go further, because the right side of politics and its voting base, would rather argue amongst itself and whine about particulars, instead of doing everything in its power to ensure that this present government is removed post haste.

All the while, this gloating government flies its proud red flag – replete with hammer and sickle – calling Australians everywhere to enjoy this great age of prosperity we are living through under this mob of gaslighting ‘comradicals’.