Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

The first year of the Albanese government has been defined by our relentless pursuit of building a stronger Australia for the future. Our focus on addressing cost-of-living pressures has never been clearer. We're more committed than ever to improving the lot of Australians, including in my electorate of Hawke. We have done this in the face of relentless and often belligerent hostility from those opposite. They stand in the way of progress for the sake of it and not because they genuinely believe in the things they whinge about. That hasn't got in our way. There are simply too many achievements to list in this speech alone, but I'll give it a crack. Whether it's cheaper child care or cost-of-living relief, whether it's pay rises for workers or more homes for Australians, we're getting on with what we said we would do, and we're doing it despite those opposite standing in the way at every turn.

My electorate of Hawke is full of young families juggling work, starting a family, paying their mortgages, looking after their kids. There were 58 babies born and 72 new families choosing to call the city of Melton home every week in 2022. We are the fastest growing corridor in the country, from Sunbury down past Hillside to Melton, from Bacchus Marsh out to where I live in Ballan. That's why we've brought in cheaper child care, starting earlier this month, delivering real cost-of-living relief for the average Australian family of about $1,700 a year. It's these sorts of policies that make such a difference for the almost 7,000 families who will directly benefit in my community in Hawke.

Paid parental leave reforms are high on our list too. It's good for our economy, and it advances gender equality. That's why we increased it to the full six months, while making changes to increase flexibility and accessibility. In Hawke, that means almost 2,000 families will benefit every year. These changes are good for our kids and they're good for our parents.

Who could forget the appalling, hypocritical behaviour of those Liberals opposite in relation to the safeguard mechanism earlier this year? It seems like every few months the Libs muster enough courage to stick their heads above the parapet just long enough for them to lob some bombs and disappear again. They did it with the safeguard mechanism, and they're doing it again with the Housing Australia Future Fund. The safeguard mechanism, which is one of our best defences against the rapidly growing threat of climate change, should not be controversial. It was brought in under the previous government. It helps lower our emissions and advances us further down the path of achieving net zero. We've already moved on from the climate wars by bringing forward a net zero authority to support workers in emissions intensive sectors to access new employment, skills and support. The shift to net zero emissions by 2050 must happen fairly for all Australians. We can't leave anybody behind.

A particularly vexed issue this year has been the provision of more social and affordable housing for those that need it. You'd have hoped that we'd moved beyond the point where some in this country denied homes for people in need, but unfortunately not. While all the bickering from the sidelines has carried on, we've been busy actually delivering more homes for Australians, like the $2 billion investment for more social and affordable rental housing in the May budget or the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme helping thousands more Australians into homeownership. Owning a home shouldn't be a luxury. It's increasingly out of reach for more and more young Australians, and it's simply not fair. We're tipping the scales back in their favour, making it easier and better for people to buy their first home.

One of the biggest areas most in need of reform when we came to government was clearly our aged-care system. Too often, people were left to languish in their later years after having given so much to our communities. It's never fair, and it's not right. The horror stories from the royal commission speak for themselves. So we did something about it. Starting this month, we've mandated that there be registered nurses in aged care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not only that, but, in recognition of the amazing work done by that workforce, we made the call to fund a wage rise of 15 per cent for aged-care workers, an unprecedented bump representing our respect and appreciation for the tough work that they do every day.

We're delivering for all Australians. We're getting wages moving again. We're creating Aussie jobs. We're tipping the scales back in favour of people that need it the most, and we're doing it while we deliver a budget surplus. We can't expect much more from those opposite than the open indifference they have for the Australian people, but this government will keep delivering despite them.

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