Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In my electorate on the south side of Brisbane, it doesn't matter if you're speaking over the back fence in Corinda, it doesn't matter whether you're on someone's doorstep having a conversation in Salisbury, and it doesn't matter whether you're down at the shops in Sunnybank; the conversation is always the same. The thing that is impacting people in my electorate on Brisbane's south side, and indeed across Australia, is the cost of living. During the election campaign, I had the great privilege of speaking to thousands of people from across Moreton, and they told me very clearly that what matters to them is the cost of living, health and housing. The 2025-26 budget is firmly focused on those issues—not just talking about them, not just empty rhetoric about them, not blocking them as we have seen the Greens and the Liberals do together, not mere chatter, but actual delivery when it comes to these critical issues.

The member for Mallee talked about truth bombs before. I tell you that, particularly when it comes to the cost of living, the biggest truth bomb in this chamber is the fact that those opposite have voted against every single cost-of-living measure that Labor has put forward. When it comes to the opposition, what is clear is that they do not want to take action on the cost of living—because, if you don't vote for 20 per cent off HECS, if you don't vote for free TAFE, if you don't vote for a tax cut, if you don't vote for better health care, that means that you are voting against tackling the cost of living.

I would like to spend my time tonight talking not only about what Labor has done in terms of the cost of living and health care and in terms of housing but also about what we're doing locally in my community. When it comes to the cost of living, Labor has undertaken a tax cut. We know the opposition has voted against that tax cut—because Labor helps Australian taxpayers earn more and keep more of what they earn. We did the first round in July 2024, and additional cuts in both 2026 and 2027 are coming down the pipeline so that people are paying less tax at the same time as Labor is investing in making sure that some of the lowest paid workers are given a pay rise. This is all in the context of inflation coming down from having a six in front of it to having a two in front of it. It is all in the context of making sure that we have kept unemployment at a low level and of delivering a critical tax cut to everyone around the country.

Energy bill relief is one of the other things that we have been incredibly passionate about. We have been delivering for people across Australia and extending relief to the end of 2025 for every household and around one million small businesses—two $75 rebates. I'll tell you, in Queensland, where we had a Labor government that also delivered back-to-back energy rebates for people in my patch, what that meant and what that continues to mean is hundreds of dollars worth of energy relief. When you get your bill, it means it's going to be cheaper. This is around $1.8 billion in additional payments on top of the nearly $5 billion of bill relief delivered so far.

I spoke earlier about cutting student debt, but it bears repeating, because this Labor government has cut student debt by 20 per cent. It doesn't matter if you have a university debt, it doesn't matter if you have a TAFE debt, it doesn't matter if you are studying to be a sparky or if you are studying to be a journalist at university—wherever you are and whoever you are, you will get a 20 per cent cut when it comes to your student debt. We're cutting a combined $19 billion in student loans for three million Australians, reducing all HELP debt and other student debts by 20 per cent. These reforms made indexation arrangements fairer, limiting future indexation and retrospectively reducing the indexation applied in 2023 and in 2024, which have already decreased student loan debt by $3 billion. It's designed to give people a flying start to life, because, when you start your career, when you start your family and when you start your journey towards your future, having 20 per cent off your debt makes a difference.

Deputy Speaker Freelander, I want to go to health—something very close to your heart—and making medicines cheaper. From 1 January 2026, the maximum cost of medicines on the PBS for everyone with a Medicare card and no concession card will be lowered from $31.60 to $25 per script. Labor created the PBS, and it runs through our veins—the importance of making sure that health care is accessible and that health care is affordable. This is the lowest in 20 years. It will remain frozen at $7.70 for pensioners, and $1.8 billion has been invested for new medicines on the PBS. We've seen that from the health minister just today.

Urgent care clinics and strengthening Medicare are some of the other important things that we're doing to make sure that health care remains affordable and accessible, and, in my patch, I am lucky enough to have an urgent care clinic in Oxley. My daughter Margaret, who turned two in June, has something called reactive airways, and what that means is she has trouble breathing sometimes. For our family to be able to nip down to the Oxley urgent care clinic and get an assessment quickly, professionally and without having to wait in enormous emergency room lines for people who are more critical than her, it means that, as a family, we have peace of mind and the advice that we need, when we need it. It's not just on the south side of Moreton. It's not just at the PA. It's not just at Canossa at Oxley. This is 87 urgent care clinics across the country, and there are plans for an additional 50. This is an example of how Labor delivers when it comes to health care. It strengthens Medicare with increasing rates of bulk-billing, and we're doing more training for doctors and nurses to be able to deliver it.

When it comes to housing, we're making it easier to buy, we are making it better to rent, and we are building more homes, because we know that the challenges around housing are hard for everyday families. We know that this is something that has been building not just for the last few years but for 40 years. What we also know is that the opposition has been a major contributor to the challenges that we face around housing. It's not just young people trying to get in their first home; it's families who are trying to scrape together rent and also save for their first home. It is parents who are worried about whether their children will ever get into the housing market. We know that those opposite not only want to raid people's super to address housing, causing significant issues to people's future nest eggs, but failed to have a housing minister for most of their tenure last time they were government.

In the last three years, over 180,000 Australians bought their first home with a five per cent deposit, and more than a million households have been supported with our 45 per cent increase to rent assistance. More than 500,000 homes have been built since we came to office. There are 28,000 social and affordable homes in planning and construction with Labor's investments. When you contrast that with those opposite, we know that, when it comes to social and affordable dwellings, they built just 300-odd houses.

I want to take the opportunity to talk about my electorate of Moreton. We've been talking about the big picture, and it's something that impacts on people in my electorate every single day. It's reflected everyday. These measures in the budget add to significant Labor commitments to the community. We're delivering on health, we're boosting our green spaces and we're providing tangible support to grassroots community groups.

There's the Southern Suburbs Junior Rugby League club, or Souths Junior Magpies, with their president, Ryan Bartley. I'm incredibly excited that we made an election commitment to deliver an important upgrade to the change rooms at that facility. It's a community hub on the south side, with players from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, in Acacia Ridge, which is the suburb where I first chose to live—and we decided to stake our claim on the south side because we knew it was a great place to raise a family. That election commitment is for $693,000 to upgrade the change rooms, allowing women and girls to play rugby league on the south side.

The Old Bridge Football Club in Salisbury—the club president is Amer Sadikovic—has kids' football and 150 senior players. We made an election commitment of $190,000 to install new lighting at that club so it will be able to host games and run training at night. That will help the club attract more players and increase participation from juniors all the way through to seniors.

There will be a Medicare mental health clinic in Moorooka. That's something that we have not ever seen in our part of the world. It will be a first. There has been a $1 billion investment to expand free public mental health services via Medicare, including $225 million for 31 new or upgraded Medicare mental health centres, and one of them will be in the heart of Brisbane's south side. It's got free walk-in mental health care. Every centre provides free access to a psychiatrist and psychologist either onsite or on call. This is an important facility to ensure that, when it comes to mental health, people have the support that they need.

There's the M1 upgrade. The Treasurer and I had the great privilege of going out to the park-and-ride at Rochedale just a few days ago. From Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill, the M1 Pacific Motorway upgrade has been completed. It means the six to eight lanes will reduce congestion and improve travel times along one of Queensland's busiest roads. Also, the busway extension, a new bus station and the park-and-ride at Rochedale will improve public transport connectivity. It includes an extension of the cycleway for more active transport opportunities, and there will be approximately 700 jobs during construction. So it doesn't matter whether you're riding your bike, you're catching the bus or you're driving your car, it's an investment that Labor have made to ensure that we are getting people home to their families faster and more safely.

In terms of the environment, at Toohey Forest, which Minister Plibersek and the former member for Moreton, Graham Perrett, and I visited early this year, we have a $3 million funding injection for the Brisbane City Council—and I do want to acknowledge the work of our local councillor, Steve Griffiths—to construct a fauna crossing under Toohey Road, connecting two large bushland habitats. It's designed to make sure that koalas, wallabies and echidnas have a safe mode of passage across to fantastic, beautiful parts of bushland in my local community.

There is $2 million for the restoration of the Archerfield Wetlands, which forms part of the $200 million Urban Rivers and Catchment Program. This project will restore degraded man-made ponds to natural wetland systems. The project will support native species and create habitat for threatened species.

Graceville Riverside Parklands will receive part of $11.7 million, from the government's Thriving Suburbs Program, for six projects in Brisbane. Minister King and I visited the site where this upgrade will happen. It's $1.4 million going into Graceville Riverside Parklands to revitalise the park's existing structure and transform the area with activated, open green space; a children's nature play area; picnic facilities; and riverbank and fauna habitat stabilisation.

The Acacia Ridge TAFE is the largest trade training centre in all of the southern hemisphere. Labor is investing $20 million over five years to create the TAFE Queensland Batteries Centre of Excellence at the Acacia Ridge campus, and I want to thank Minister Giles and the Deputy Prime Minister for visiting there with me recently.

In addition to that, we have seen so many local community groups again and again receive support from this Labor government. Whether it's women's hockey, Meals on Wheels, neighbourhood community centres, Girl Guides, the RSL, horse and pony clubs, basketball clubs, P&C or sailing clubs—and so on—this is a Labor government that supports the community every day. This budget delivers real results for Moreton: lower bills, more access to health care, more homes and stronger community support.

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