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

It's been six months since 3 May, when Australians went to the polls. It's been six months since Australians got to participate in that great dramatic and democratic process of being able to cast their vote. It's been six months since people chose a Labor government focused on cost of living. But the measure of a party and the measure of a government has nothing to do with winning elections. The measure of a government is what it does with its time in government. The measure of a government is what it delivers for the people who elected it. The measure of a government is what it does for everyday Australians when it comes to governing.

You couldn't see a starker contrast between what we've seen from Labor in government and what we've seen over the years from the coalition government. When it comes to the Labor government, we are a government with our eyes firmly fixed on delivering for Australians every single day. Today, I want to take you through those points of delivery—what we've been focused on and what we've had our eye fixed on.

The first is urgent care clinics. The Albanese Labor government has been focused on rolling out urgent care clinics so that people in our suburbs can access bulk-billed health care. In my electorate of Moreton, and certainly on Brisbane's south side more broadly, we have one at the bottom of Canossa hospital and we've got one at the bottom of the PA. These urgent care clinics give people who have a high fever the ability to go to a place with just their Medicare card and see a doctor. They give people who have a strained arm the opportunity to go to a place with just their Medicare card and see a doctor. If your kid is sick on the weekend, they give you a place to go with just your Medicare card and see a doctor.

We've also been investing in women's health—the largest investment in women's health that this country has ever seen. And what have we seen come from that? We've seen more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. We've seen investment into putting oral contraceptive medicines on the PBS for the first time in 30 years. And we've seen menopause assessments being rebated for the first time. That's what we're doing; we are delivering on women's health.

There is more bulk-billing. On 1 November, we introduced an increase to the bulk-billing incentives. That means we will see hundreds of GP practices sign up, hundreds of GP practices who will now only bulk-bill. If you walk through the doors of a Medicare bulk-billing practice, again, that means you will only have to use your Medicare card. This is something that is incredibly important for accessible and affordable health care.

When it comes to the cost of living, we've also been investing. We've introduced a 20 per cent reduction for student debt balances. Whether that's a TAFE debt or debt related to a university course, for someone in my electorate like Helena, who has benefited from the average of $5,500 off her student debt, this is life-changing stuff. This is stuff that has a real impact.

We have made medicines cheaper so that you will never pay more than $25 for a medicine on the PBS. For people in my electorate like Ken, it means he saves more than $60 each and every month because of a Labor government. We have made deposits of five per cent available for first home buyers, and that means for people in my electorate like Kane and Jaxen they have been able to get into the housing market.

Labor is delivering, and the delivering that we are doing every day makes the cost of living easier for people, but we know there is more to do. That is why these past six months are just the start. Every day, this Albanese Labor government will be focusing on delivering for people. And when we contrast that against what we have seen the opposition spending their time on—they haven't been focused on Helena, they haven't been focused on Ken, they haven't been focused on Kane and Jaxen; they have been focused on themselves. They have been focused on the member for New England, the member for Canning, they have been focused on an absolute shambles of a party room. We are focused on delivery; they are focused on division.

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