The Grinch Didn’t Steal Christmas…

Labor Did

Opinion Piece

Dear Santa,

We know you’re busy this time of year, but down here in Australia, we’re hoping you can spare a moment. Christmas under Labor is looking less like It’s A Wonderful Life and more like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

We’ve written our wish list, Santa, the same list Labor promised to deliver when they came down the chimney in 2022. Just like countless kids who wake up on Christmas morning to find socks instead of a shiny new bike, Australians are discovering that Labor’s promises don’t quite match the packaging.

So here it is, Australia’s Christmas Wish List, complete with the reality we found under the tree:

1. “All You’ll Need to See a Doctor Is Your Medicare Card!”

What We Wished For: Free, simple, accessible healthcare, a Christmas miracle for families already counting every dollar.

What We Unwrapped Instead:
• GP visits now average over $50 out of pocket;
• Specialist fees have soared, leaving Australians $117 out of pocket per visit;
• Health inflation has climbed 15 per cent.

Medicare was sold as the answer to cheaper care, yet in Dawson bulk-billing is increasingly rare, there are no Medicare clinics, and families still need their credit cards as well as their Medicare cards.

2. “Labor Will Deliver Cheaper, Cleaner, Reliable Energy!”

What We Wished For: Stable, affordable electricity to power homes, businesses, farms, factories, and schools. The kind of energy system where turning on the Christmas lights does not require taking out a personal loan.3. 4. 5. What Reality Delivered:

Power bills are up nearly 40 per cent; energy-intensive industries are on the brink, and households are forced to choose between running the air-con or affording Christmas lunch.

It is not just about household bills. When energy is unaffordable, everything becomes more expensive:
• Food costs more to grow, refrigerate, and transport;
• Construction costs have exploded;
• Manufacturing has become uncompetitive;
• Small businesses are buckling under the pressure;
• Supply chains pass every extra dollar on to consumers.

Labor’s reckless, ideologically-driven race to renewables, without firming, without planning, and without a realistic path, has created an energy market as unpredictable as a summer storm. Cheap, reliable energy is the beating heart of everything, from making steel to baking gingerbread.

“Labor Will Make Life Easier for Australians!”

What We Wished For: A cost-of-living Christmas miracle, with lower inflation, stable interest rates, and room in the weekly budget for a box of chocolates that is not on clearance.

What Reality Delivered: Inflation remains high, and the Reserve Bank of Australia has held the cash rate for the third time in a row, citing Labor’s reckless spending and mounting inflation pressures.

Mortgages are rising, households are squeezed, and hope for relief before Christmas is evaporating.
• Mortgages are $1,800 higher per month since Labor took office;
• Food is 15 per cent more expensive;
• Housing is 19 per cent more expensive;
• Insurance is 37 per cent more expensive.

Labor’s spending is running at four times the economy’s growth, leaving taxpayers to foot $50,000 in interest every minute on Labor’s trillion-dollar debt. Under Labor, Australia has suffered the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world. Some families now have $33 left after essentials, according to Anglicare. That is not festive cheer; that is a cost-of-survival crisis.

“We’ll Help First Home Buyers With a 5% Deposit Scheme!”

What We Wished For: A realistic chance for young Australians to unwrap the keys to their own home.

What We Actually Got: Higher prices, higher mortgages, and a generation staring down 40-year home loans. Only 16 per cent of homes nationwide are affordable for first-home buyers. In some suburbs in Dawson, just 4 per cent of homes are affordable for essential workers: nurses, educators, childcare workers, the people who keep our communities running.

Labor did not make home ownership easier; they simply gave buyers a bigger mortgage and a Christmas stocking full of false hope.

“HECS Relief Will Ease the Burden on Young Australians!”

A 20 per cent HECS wipe sounds generous until you realise it is funded by more debt, fuelling more inflation, which pushes rents and grocery prices up, hurting the samestudents it claims to help. It is like giving a child a present, then sending them the invoice.

Australia does not want extravagance, just fairness, stability, and the chance to get ahead.

Under Labor, it seems the only one enjoying a very merry Christmas is the tax office.

So, Santa, if you have room on the sleigh this year, Australia has a simple Christmas wish: a
government that lives within its means, so Australian families and businesses can, too.

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Australians are getting a lump of coal in their stocking this Christmas, with no cost-of-living relief in sight. While families are tightening their belts, Labor keeps delivering higher power bills, rising grocery prices, and bigger mortgages, leaving households paying more and getting less. Photo supplied

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