Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Melbourne for his question. It would have been a very different budget if it had been cast and put together by those opposite, in terms of the Greens political party. There is no question about that, because what we understood, as a responsible government, was that we needed to take pressure off families whilst not putting pressure on inflation. That is the task that we set ourselves. To do it within the context of not leaving people behind, we found space in the budget to provide for a $40-a-fortnight increase in JobSeeker; to provide the largest ever increase in rental assistance that has been done since rental assistance was introduced—of course by a Labor government, like all those reforms; and to change the single parenting payment so that it will apply not when the youngest child turns eight but when the youngest child turns 14.

We did all of that whilst making sure that we also built a stronger economy, that we built a foundation for a better future. So the commitments that we took to the election were commitments such as the National Reconstruction Fund to help build manufacturing in this country, on climate, not just consolidating the measures that we had introduced and called for before the election and legislated and put in our October budget but last night's announcement of $2 billion for hydrogen to create a green hydrogen industry in this country—one that can see Australia producing green aluminium, green steel, creating jobs in places like Wollongong and Whyalla and Central Queensland, making sure that we can produce batteries here. We have everything that goes into a solar panel, everything that goes into a battery for an electric vehicle, but what we don't have is manufacturing on any scale here.

If we have cheaper, cleaner energy driving advanced manufacturing, lowering emissions at the same time as creating jobs, making sure that we skill up Australians for those jobs—which is why we created the 300,000 now fee-free TAFE places—that's our vision for the country, responsibly moving it forward whilst understanding that inflation has a much higher impact the poorer you are, which is why we have to be responsible.

We make no apologies for targeting inflation as a major economic priority that we had to deal with in the budget. That's before we go to the considerable support that we have for Medicare and health in the budget as well. (Time expired)

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