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

All that the member for Fairfax has demonstrated with this motion today is that he obviously has an incredibly short memory. He has forgotten that, when Labor came to office, inflation had a six in front of it and now it has got a three in front of it. He has forgotten that the former government left us with huge deficits, $1 trillion of Liberal debt, and he has forgotten that annual real wages fell for five consecutive quarters before Labor came to office. I suppose focusing on the economy takes a back seat to the coalition's self-made drama, to the on-again off-again relationship with the National Party and the unedifying jostling for leadership positions. The Australian people deserve more than that. They deserve a functional opposition.

The Albanese Labor government, on the other hand and in comparison, has a clear and consistent focus, and that is supporting Australians with the cost of living. Every day, our focus is on delivering cost-of-living relief for those across our nation. The truth is that if the opposition seeks to change that approach, if the opposition thinks that that's not a good idea, then they have to come clean with the people of Australia and tell them what they intend to cut, because we know that the opposition has got form in this space. We've seen them try to destroy bulk-billing by introducing a co-payment. We've seen them send manufacturing jobs overseas. We've seen them rip billions of dollars out of the Public Service, and we have seen them cut from health and education over and over again.

We understand that Australians remain under pressure, that families are continuing to do it tough. That's why we're continuing to roll out targeted cost-of-living relief. Australians are benefiting from cheaper medicines and from more bulk-billing GPs. In my electorate, that's risen from 11 to 23 under our investment for GPs. We have reduced student debt, provided fee-free TAFE and are supporting students on mandatory pracs. We've delivered cheaper child care and are holding the supermarkets to account. We've delivered tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer.

We've done this all in a responsible way. While providing this range of measures, we've paid down Liberal debt, delivered two budget surpluses and delivered the biggest budget turnaround in a parliamentary term ever. Debt is $176 billion lower in 2025-26, which is a saving of $60 billion in interest costs. The budget position has improved by more than $233 billion over the seven years to 2028-29, compared to what Labor inherited in May 2022.

There are positive signs for our economy too. Growth in the economy is increasing, being driven by that private sector. The data shows that private investment recorded its fastest quarterly growth in almost five years. There's also been growth in dwelling investment. Under the coalition it was going backwards by 3.6 per cent in annual terms. Now, under the Albanese Labor government, it is growing 6.5 per cent and has risen for seven consecutive quarters. This is the longest consecutive period in 10 years.

As I mentioned before, under the former coalition government, annual real wages fell. They went down, they went backwards. This was by deliberate design. It was a deliberate feature of the economic architecture. As a result, living standards, real per capita incomes, were going backwards too. I'm proud to be part of a Labor government that's turned that story around, a government that stands up for Australian workers, a government that said that wasn't good enough. Labor has the lowest average unemployment rate of any government in 50 years. Most recently, it was at a historically low 4.1 per cent.

This is a result of Labor's economic policies; reducing inflation from its peak, wage and employment growth, and tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer. While the coalition has spent its time infighting and consistently voting against Labor's cost-of-living supports, Labor has been getting on with the job of taking the pressure off Australians. Before the opposition gets to speak on this, the question that they need to ask is: if you want to change that approach, what are you going to cut?

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