Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for her question. Today at Parliament House I hosted, with the Deputy Prime Minister, a fantastic group of Australians. There are times in this job where you are lifted up by hearing the stories of Australians and the difference that government decisions can make to their lives, to the way they deal with day-to-day issues. Each one of the people we met today is benefiting from our government's delivery.

We met Bec and Anthony, who both work at the Woollies in Dickson; they are now earning hundreds of dollars a week extra because of their penalty rates, which are now legislated and protected. We met Ruby and Yao, both studying construction and using free TAFE to get the skills they need for a job for themselves but also to enable them to build homes for Australians and to engage in that sector. We met Kieran, who is studying law at Canberra uni. He is saving around $9,400 with the 20 per cent cut in his student debt. We met Emily, who is undertaking paid prac for an eight-week nursing placement. I reckon most Australians would know we need more people to do nursing. I think they would also be surprised to think that people like Emily, before this change, would have had to have lost income in order to do a paid prac placement that is a compulsory part of becoming a nurse.

We met Jess. Jess is saving $700 a year on her endo treatment; that is making an enormous difference to her. We met Juliana and Drishti—they are childcare workers. They have a 15 per cent wage increase as a direct result of this government's policy. They spoke about the retention level staying there in childcare just as aged-care workers are retaining workforce there. We met Anne, a teacher whose school in South Australia is on track to receive full and fair funding under our government—something we didn't promise prior to our election but we delivered on in our first term, finally delivering those agreements for the teachers, nurses, students, workers and people who want stronger Medicare. This is delivery in action—

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