Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Whitlam on her first speech today and also on her stunning victory in her part of the world. We're all looking forward to working with you as you represent the people of the coast and inland there; it's a wonderful part of Australia.

The people of Australia, on 3 May, voted for cost-of-living relief and responsible economic management, and that's exactly what they're getting from this Albanese Labor government. This week we're introducing new legislation to make medicines cheaper. I pay tribute to the Minister for Health and Ageing, the member for Dobell, the Prime Minister and others who are making this a reality. We're putting cheaper medicines into the parliament. We're making cheaper medicines law, and this will make a tangible difference for millions of Australians. In total, it will save people more than $200 million each year, so it's more hip pocket help for those who need it in communities right around the country.

It builds on our record. As the Prime Minister said in 2023, we delivered the biggest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS. Now we're slashing the price of medicines once again so that people will pay no more than $25 a script; 5.1 million Australians will benefit from the legislation that's introduced in this House this week. At the same time, pensioner concession cardholders will continue to benefit from the $7 70 freeze until the end of the decade.

We have made a lot of progress together, as Australians, in our economy over the past few years. We've got inflation down, we've got real wages growing again, we've kept unemployment low, we've got the debt down, and we've delivered a couple of surpluses and smaller deficits for the year just finished. But we know that, even with all this progress we've made together, Australians are still under pressure. We know the global environment is still uncertain. We know we've got structural issues in our economy to deal with as well.

But cost-of-living relief is at the core of everything we do. It is the same when it comes to the legislation to protect penalty rates, slash student debt, the medicines policy we're introducing this week as well, minimum wage, paid parental leave, super guarantee, cheaper batteries, prac payments. All of this is about recognising that, even though we've made that progress in the economy, there's more to do to help ease the cost of living, and that's what this legislation is all about. The same goes for the legislation we passed at the very end of the last term to cut income taxes two more times, next year and the year after, in addition to the tax cuts from last year. All of this help was at stake at the election just gone, but because the Albanese Labor government was re-elected, Australians will get cheaper medicines. That's what this week in the parliament is all about.

See this speech in context