Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This government is focused on one thing, and that is helping with the cost of living, because we know every little bit helps. We've delivered tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, we've created more jobs and we've lifted pay. These tax cuts are about easing pressure and helping households get ahead. As we know, as opposed to the plan from those opposite, every Australian taxpayer under Labor got a tax cut. We're also introducing a new $1,000 instant tax deduction from 2026-27, giving Australians even more support at tax time.

We've made medicines cheaper by reducing the maximum price of PBS medicines to only $25, and for those pensioners with a card, $7.70 is all they're paying under Labor for their PBS scripts. From July 2025, people in my community have already saved $9 million under that measure, and they're set to save even more now, with it going down to $25 a script. We've already cut 20 per cent off student debt, which is relief for around three million Australians, including more than 80,000 people in Victoria and over 18,000 people in my electorate of Lalor. This really goes to the nub of supporting people with the cost of living.

Under the former coalition government, many families were locked out of childcare support by a prejudiced activity test. That's why we've introduced the three-day childcare guarantee, ensuring all families receive three days of subsidised child care, regardless of their financial circumstances. This, we know, is a productivity measure. We know it will get mums and dads back into the workforce. We're investing $430 million over four years to deliver cost-of-living relief for young families and we're helping parents get back to work.

In fast-growing communities like mine, these measures matter. It's not rhetoric in Lalor. It's not rhetoric in Hoppers Crossing. It's not rhetoric in Werribee. It's not rhetoric in Tarneit or Manor Lakes. It's targeted, practical support that helps productivity and helps young families, because helping young families and helping Australians with the cost of living isn't optional. It's our responsibility, and that's exactly what this Albanese Labor government is doing.

I want to talk now about investment in roads. For a decade, while I was in opposition, I watched growth corridors like the one I represent be neglected by the former coalition government. Our community was growing rapidly, without support from a federal government. Despite that, infrastructure continued to be lacking. It just went on and on.

When the Albanese Labor government was elected in 2022, we got straight to delivering what our community needed. In partnership with the Victorian government, we committed $114 million to deliver the first stage of the Wyndham ring road. This transformative project is now nearing completion. The bridge is finished. Now, with Wyndham City Council and the state government completing the Ison Road extension from the bridge to the service station roundabout, we're nearly there.

That congestion-busting infrastructure will be further supported, because we haven't stopped there. We've made another commitment, matched by the state, of $125 million for the Princes Freeway and Werribee Main Road Interchange Upgrade. That will start the minute the second part finishes. That means that people will be able to get off the freeway, cross over onto the extension and onto the bridge over the railway line and then go into Manor Lakes and Werribee. This really will make a difference.

We delivered an additional $13.2 million through the Roads to Recovery fund to upgrade local roads, because safer local streets also mattered. This is double what the former government had given across the country. We're upgrading the Princes Freeway and the Werribee Main Road interchange. That'll improve the intersections and provide local families with a safer commute. I want to give a shout-out here to the new state member for Werribee, my colleague John Lister, who has already made sure that we've got temporary lights there so that people are supported in coming off that freeway, because it was getting so dangerous. We're transforming the Ballan Road intersection, replacing the roundabout with traffic lights and building additional lanes and priority bus lanes, again in conjunction with the state government. This is what congestion-busting infrastructure looks like. In my community, it is time saved in the car, it's a safer commute to school and it's getting people home to their families sooner and safely.

At the most recent federal election, Labor again committed to investing in Lalor—a total of $70 million, which the state government will match, to deliver the second stage of the Wyndham ring road, a bridge over the Werribee River. It's been coined the fourth bridge over the Werribee River because the City of Wyndham has the Werribee River running straight through the middle of it, separating our communities. We need more crossings, and this will be another one, futureproofing our community, taking pressure off the CBD and supporting the people of Tarneit and Wyndham Vale to commute from one side to the other, because growth corridors like Lalor deserve infrastructure that serves its community, and that is exactly what this government is delivering.

We're also assisting people with getting into a home. In my community, a highly aspirational community, buying your first home has, for too long, felt like a dream—out of reach—for local young people. First home buyers were told to simply save harder whilst house prices continued to rise under a coalition government. The Albanese Labor government has been determined to change that, and we have. From 1 October last year, first home buyers became eligible to buy with just a five per cent deposit and, for single parents, a two per cent deposit. In communities like mine, where hardworking young families are looking for stability and for somewhere to call home, the five per cent deposit scheme has shaved years off the time it takes to enter the housing market and therefore years off their mortgages.

The result of this policy speaks for itself. My electorate has had the second-highest uptake across the nation of the government's housing policies. Since our election to government in 2022, 5,404 individuals in Lalor have benefited. In growth corridors like my electorate, homeownership goes beyond just housing; it's about belonging, setting down roots and a chance to build a future, with a new school provided by the state government just around the corner, with infrastructure to match. This government believes that, if you work hard, owning your own home should be within reach. It is clear that this policy has changed the lives of locals in my community. It's made a real difference.

I just touched on education and that 'school around the corner'. The former treasurer for Victoria, Tim Pallas, who was the member for Werribee, would joke and say that there were more schools built by state Labor in the City of Wyndham than there were in any other state in Australia. The growth is so intense; the need and the demand is so high. As someone who spent over two decades in schools as a teacher, a principal and a proud public educator, I know firsthand that funding has a direct impact on what happens in our classrooms, and that is why I'm so proud to be part of a government that is delivering a better and fairer education system. Through the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, we're delivering an additional $16.5 billion in Commonwealth funding to public schools over the next 10 years and an extra $49 billion in the decade after that. In my electorate, this means support for over 35 public schools supporting tens of thousands of local students. It's funding certainty tied to reforms that lift student outcomes and that support effective teaching and learning practices. It means more resources in classrooms and more support for teachers. Compare that with the coalition's record, where they ripped $30 billion out of public schools. Under the coalition's national reform agreement, attendance rates went down, high school completion went down and teacher shortages got worse. Their ideas about supporting private education over public education meant worse outcomes across the country.

Only Labor is rebuilding public education, and that's what our $16.5 billion Better and Fairer Schools Agreement is all about. We're tackling teacher shortages head on through strengthening teacher training, paid prac and Commonwealth teaching scholarships that encourage more students to become teachers. As we heard from Minister Clare last week during question time, we now have more teachers in training. We're strengthening antibullying and wellbeing reforms because children can't learn if they don't feel safe. I know this firsthand. This government is backing teachers, schools and families because investing in education is an investment in our future, an investment in our productivity, an investment in our economy. Education is not a cost. The difference between those opposite and those on this side is a belief in that fundamental truth.

The Albanese government is also prioritising investment in our precious public health system. We've heard many, many, many talk about the Medicare urgent care clinics and about more bulk-billing happening in our communities, but we've also done more around hospitals. We've committed an additional $25 billion for public hospitals over the next five years. I say to those opposite: is that something you'll cut? This is an unprecedented 12 per cent increase in funding to support public hospitals across the country. It's historic. It strengthens our universal health system when it matters most. And it is backed by the investments into urgent care clinics; women's health, with $800 million; and getting those bulk-billing rates back up in primary health. We understand preventative measures and preventative health are where the rubber hits the road. Through the National Health Reform Agreement, Commonwealth funding for public hospitals will reach $219.6 billion nationally from 2026 to 2030-31. The Albanese government's funding is three times the increase provided by the previous government's five-year deal.

At the core of this Albanese Labor government is a commitment to Medicare. It represents health care as an Australian right, and no amount of Liberal red tape will change that. The Albanese Labor government has made the single largest Medicare investment since its creation 40 years ago, allocating $8.5 billion to deliver more bulk-billed GP visits. That is happening in my electorate. There are now 1,300 more bulk-billing GP clinics across the nation. In Lalor it's changing every day. We've also launched 1800MEDICARE. The Labor government delivers on its election commitment to better access to free health care.

When the Albanese Labor government was elected in 2022, we inherited an economy under serious pressure and a budget weighed down by years of fiscal mismanagement. Inflation was already at 6.1 per cent and rising. Let me repeat that for those playing at home: 6.1 per cent and rising. That was the inflation figure that we inherited, and it put real strain on household budgets. Those opposite promised Australians a budget surplus; in nine budgets in government, they failed to deliver a single one. Under the Morrison government, spending peaked at 31.4 per cent of GDP, yet there was no plan to repair the budget. In fact, they went to an election proposing even bigger deficits and more debt.

Labor took a different approach of responsible economic management focused not on politics but on the long-term interests of every Australian and supporting our Australians doing it tough. Since coming to office, we've delivered two consecutive budget surpluses, the first in nearly two decades. This is strengthening the nation's finances. Under the coalition, debt was forecast to exceed $1 trillion in 2023-24. Through disciplined budget management, we've pushed that back and avoided more than $60 billion in interest costs. We've identified $114 billion in savings, including $20 billion in the December MYEFO. We know households are still under pressure and inflation is stubborn. That is why we are combining responsible fiscal repair with targeted cost-of-living relief, rebuilding the budget while supporting Australians through challenging times.

Unemployment is low under Labor. We've lifted wages. We've given every taxpayer a tax cut, with two more on the way.

This is a government that is serious about fiscal management. It's serious about budget discipline. It's serious about what is a cost and what is an investment, and—I speak for everyone on this side—education and health are clearly investments. When those opposite go looking and getting their razor blades out, those are always the areas that they cut; history will tell you that.

This government will support the vision that we have for Australia. It includes fairer super. It includes universal health care. It includes access to early education through to higher education, so that every Australian can make the best of every opportunity they're given in this country.

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