Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Wages are rising, unlike under those opposite, who kept wages deliberately low for almost 10 years, hurting working families and hurting the households that they proclaim to get over the line. Why? Where does that money go? Our children have been locked out of the housing market. The best part of economic development is owning your own home. For almost 10 years, they didn't even bother to have a housing minister. We have built more homes in the last three years than the coalition did in almost 10. There are 490 social and affordable housing homes being built in Cairns right now. By the end of 2026, that number will top 500.

You want to talk about households? We're building them. We're building them for people to live in, for people to build their lives and for people to participate in the economy and make their time here on this planet better. That's what Labor does. We think about the people, and the people impact the economy. You want to talk about the economy? I'm the basketball player, but I understand supply and demand, so we're addressing supply. You look at our cheaper renewables—the batteries, including home batteries. Guess what that produces? Demand. There we go. It's economic management.

But, if you're looking at it more closely, interest rates are lower. Unemployment remains low and steady. There are tax cuts for everybody. Wages are going up. Child care is getting cheaper. Health care is getting cheaper. We are building more roads, and that includes $7.2 billion for the main artery in Queensland, the Bruce Highway, which will improve transportation, reduce costs and make sure we don't have so many problems during the wet season. That, by any definition, is good economic management.

As to surpluses—a lot is made of surpluses—we've had two. The opposition had the merchandise. They had some cups. You could get a T-shirt. I could wear an NBA T-shirt; that doesn't mean I played in it. It's always good to wear the shirts that you actually earn.

The clean energy policy is an investment in our future—Australia's future, our children's future. It will create real jobs, real opportunity and manufacturing jobs in places that need them the most, because where are the most renewables? The regions. We've got the most wind; we've got the most sun; we've got the most space; we've got the most water. The regions will lead the way in a renewable energy tidal wave that will take Australia into the 21st century—not looking backwards, not trying to prop up ageing and failing coal stations and not thinking about nuclear, the most expensive form of electricity. What was it? An $18 to $100 increase that every single Australian would pay for a nuclear ambition that was 20 years in the future? I'll be 65. My children will have bought their own houses—well, they'll build their own houses because of the five per cent deposit. They wouldn't have built their own houses if those opposite had had their way—but they would have had less super; they would have been on their knees. But we are preparing them for a great future. We're delivering them the economy they deserve and one that they can thrive in.

Deliberately, wages were kept low, hurting people. But we've enshrined penalty rates. So, after I get back to Cairns tonight, when I go and have a beer with some mates on the weekend I'll know that the bloke serving me the beer is being paid properly. He's giving up his Sunday so I can enjoy mine. But the best thing about that beer? It's cheaper. Everybody loves cheaper beer. It's going down great guns in the far north. So I'll be having a cheaper beer from a bloke that I know is getting paid well as he saves up for a five per cent deposit for his first home. What a great day!

We know that the job is not done. We know that there's more work to do. While those opposite are workshopping clever nicknames—I notice 'Nuclear-man' didn't get a run—we're getting on with the job. We were voted in to lead and to build Australia's future.

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