Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Congratulations, Madam Deputy Speaker, on your elevation to your new role. The Australian people are hurting. It certainly is hurting them—the cost of food and the cost of fuel being increased and interest rates going up. There's no doubt that people are suffering, and those that will suffer are the ones that are on the lowest incomes and the ones that are doing it tough.

The irony is that it's as if none of this existed until 21 May. It is as if this just started on the 21 May. But, if you have a look at it, people were suffering way before then. Of course, the global situation is making it harder, but there's the irony of an opposition that was in government for 10 years—presiding over the Australian economy for the past 10 years—now basically wiping their hands of it and having no responsibility. They're washing their hands, virtually overnight, of the enormous costs that are taking place in the community.

During the inaction that took place for 10 years, we saw the lowest productivity rates that this country has seen. We saw the lowest wage growth in the history of this nation. Yet there was no action. There was no urgency. There were no private members' motions at that time to deal with and act on those things that were affecting working people. Yet here they are today, on one of their first MPIs, and they want to talk about how we're going to fix this situation.

And fix it we will. It is our responsibility. We were elected by the Australian public to look after the economy and to do everything we can. Within the first week, we supported a wage increase for the lowest paid workers of 5.2 per cent—something that the then government, who are now in opposition, wiped their hands of. They didn't want to deal with it. They didn't care about low-paid workers, who hadn't had an increase in years and whose wages weren't keeping up with inflation.

The previous government had 22 different policies on energy—22 climate change policies. In other words, they would come up with a policy, not agree with it, throw it in the bin and start again. It is because they are denialists on that side. And what did that do? That gave the business community no confidence to invest in renewables so that we could have renewables invested in, lots of players in the market and lots of competition to bring down prices. It was on their watch.

We are dealing with these issues. We saw the increase in wages of 5.2 per cent. Our childcare policy will assist hundreds and hundreds of families. It will bring down childcare costs for those families, ensuring they can work, be productive, pay taxes and help the economy. That is an enormous contribution to the economy.

We've seen that the previous government didn't want to act on anything. They were in government just for the sake of being in government. These issues have been going on for a long time. In fact, before the current global situation, the previous government left us with a trillion dollar debt and nothing to show for the future. Where were their big-picture policies? Where were their big infrastructure projects? Where were the things that help the economy and future Australians? They are nowhere to be found. They were only interested in sitting on the government seats, not actually doing anything.

I'm proud to be part of this Labor government. I'm proud because we have a plan to tackle the situation, to tackle the economic crisis left behind by the previous government. We've ensured that the lowest-paid workers get a pay rise of 5.2 per cent. This will help our most vulnerable people. In addition, we will ensure that wages grow over time. We're going to invest in industries that will deliver more secure, well-paid jobs. We will also invest in skills, an area totally neglected by the previous government. You need to invest in skills for the 21st century so Australians are trained and educated for higher wage jobs. In addition, we're cutting childcare costs for 1.26 million families. This is vital because childcare costs are one of the highest ongoing costs for working families. In addition, we cut the cost of medicines on the PBS by up to $12.50 per script.

Those opposite had 22 policies on climate change. (Time expired)

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