Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bennelong for his question, and I will just take a moment to acknowledge the interest that he has and the fine work that he is doing in representing the wellbeing and welfare of young people and children in Bennelong.

It's fair to say that all of us on this side know that young people are doing it tough. The budget that the Treasurer delivered on Tuesday night, a proudly Labor budget, builds a strong foundation for a better future. It invests in young people from early childhood right through to their adult working lives. The budget delivers powerful, impactful and targeted relief to some of the most vulnerable young Australians. Those young people on income support payments, whether it be Austudy or youth allowance or JobSeeker, will get an increase to those payments. Those young people who are renting will benefit from the largest increase in Commonwealth rent assistance in 30 years. For those struggling to pay their power bills, we're providing responsible and meaningful energy bill relief in partnership with state and territory governments.

Our budget also means that young Australians with stable or ongoing health conditions, including mental health conditions, will now only need to visit a GP and a pharmacist half as many times for a repeat script for over 300 medicines on the PBS, halving the cost of essential medicines for those young Australians. We're tripling the bulk-billing incentive. This will benefit 11 million Australians right across Australia, and that will include young Australians, by helping them to gain access to the medical care that they need.

We've already delivered cheaper medicines for Australians, and we're also supporting young Australians in different ways. We've supported young Australians to earn a better wage through our IR reforms that were passed last year. We're increasing access to education and training, fee-free TAFE and university places. We're looking after their mental health and wellbeing.

For a young person who turns 20 this year, for almost half of their life—almost a decade—under the previous government they were forgotten, at best ignored, and as a result many young people lost faith in the institution of government. The Albanese Labor government want to change that. We will continue to invest in young Australians, we will continue to listen to young Australians, because we know that when young people thrive, so does Australia.

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