Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2025-2026 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026, brought forward by the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, and I commend him for doing so. These bills underpin our government's expenditure decisions made since the 2025-26 budget, the commitments that we took to the 2025 election and that we have been able to deliver in my home in Melbourne's western suburbs, in Sydenham, as well as for Australians right across the country. We introduced a number of really important reforms that are already making a difference in the lives of everyday Australians.

Australians didn't vote just for a Labor government. They voted for a government with priorities in health care, education and infrastructure. They voted for a government with a clear economic plan. But, most importantly, they voted for a government that puts the Australian people first, because that's what a Labor government does. Australians have been doing it tough. Household budgets are tight, and many families are working harder than ever just to get by. There have been devastating global events, which have a hand in current economic tides. But there's also the role of governments. In times like these, people look to their government for support, and they expect us to make change, not just in words but in action.

When we got elected, that's exactly what we did. When Labor first came to government after the coalition's Morrison era, the inflation rate had a six in front of it; now it has just a three in front of it. That's because of everything this Labor government has done to improve Australia's economic environment to make life easier for everyday Aussies. We have delivered real cost-of-living relief. But, more than that, we're laying the groundwork for a stronger and fairer future by investing in the services people rely on every day and in the local infrastructure that keeps our communities moving—in health care, education, energy, workforce skills, and local communities like mine, in Melbourne's western suburbs. And we are building for the next generation of Australians.

I'm so proud to represent such a beautiful, diverse community in the west. We are one of the youngest electorates in the country, with a median age of just 35. In the city of Melton alone, nearly 80 babies are born every week. It's full of young families, setting up their futures in the western suburbs, and they've chosen our community to call home. The Albanese Labor government is doing everything it can to support young families in the west. We are rolling out real cost-of-living relief, help that makes a difference at the checkout and to power bills, at doctor's appointments, in rent and in mortgage payments.

I've fought really hard to make sure our community receives its fair share—every announcement, every dollar, every project. We push for Gorton because I know how much it mattered, and I'm really proud of what we will be delivering. We're installing a new roundabout at the intersection of Mount Cottrell Road and Greigs Road. We're upgrading the Caroline Springs Recreation Reserve, Keilor Recreation Reserve and Lionheart Reserve. We're helping the Sri Durga Temple build a new community and education centre. We've opened a new childcare centre in Brimbank, in Kings Park. We're helping the St Michael Ethiopian church expand programs for language assistance and youth outreach. And we are providing important infrastructure upgrades to strengthen community safety right across Gorton.

These are the places where our kids play sport and learn, where families gather, where communities come together. These upgrades really matter, and this is what delivering for our community looks like. Infrastructure is really important. It matters because in my electorate, in the western suburbs, we are seeing so much growth in our community. That's a good thing, but it comes with its own set of challenges. A growing community means things like more people in more cars on our roads—roads like the Western Freeway and the Calder Freeway. The Western Freeway is a critical transport route for passengers and freight. It links in with major freight routes throughout our state, including the Midland, Sunraysia, Pyrenees, Henty and Wimmera highways. Approximately 86,000 vehicles travel on the Western Freeway stretch between Melton and Caroline Springs every day, and we're expecting that figure to rise to about 113,000 by 2031. That's why we've invested $1 billion to upgrade the Western Freeway between Melton and Caroline Springs, all towards improving capacity and safety along the freeway for our community in the west.

Then there's Calder Park drive. If you're a westie like me, regularly driving these roads, you already know that the Calder Freeway has a really dangerous intersection at Calder Park Drive. That is exactly why, in March last year, we announced $300 million to upgrade this interchange on the Calder Freeway. This diamond interchange will make things a lot safer for my community. Early planning stages are underway with the department, and they're currently refining the interchange design scope. They're speaking to stakeholders about how the works may impact them and what this might look like. This project is about improving access between our roads and about community safety.

Better planning means getting the basics right: building roads to withstand the tens of thousands of cars driving on them day and night. And our westies—our locals—travel on them every single day. They spend more hours of the day away from their families, sitting in traffic—more hours at risk of road accidents. And westies deserve better than that. We deserve to get home safely and efficiently. That's why I'm advocating for these changes, which will mean less time on the road and more time at home with our families. And we're making those changes.

Around 26,000 people in my electorate have student debt. They're the same people who are trying to save for a deposit to get into the housing market, or paying a mortgage; they're paying bills; they're starting their own families; they're working hard, trying to get ahead. But many people still face barriers to education and training—barriers that the generations before us simply didn't face. I hear it from young people in the families in my community all the time. I speak regularly with so many young people in the west: students at uni or TAFE or in schools, all across my community, and they keep telling me the same thing. They're facing cost-of-living pressures that their parents' generation simply didn't have. It's not fair, and the younger generations of Aussies deserve better.

That's why we've made HECS fairer. It's why we've cut 20 per cent off student debt for young people pursuing an education, whether it's at uni or TAFE, in VET or apprenticeships. Wiping 20 per cent off every student's debt was the first piece of legislation this Labor government introduced to parliament after we came in last year. By Christmas, millions of Australians had seen that reduction for themselves the next time they'd logged into their myGov account. Those with an average debt of $27,600 have seen a reduction of $5,520 in their outstanding debt. This means that students can keep more of what they earn. There are no applications and no forms, just real cost-of-living relief.

We've capped the interest, so that young people's student debt doesn't spiral out of control, and we've raised the minimum repayment threshold, so students aren't forced to pay back more than they can afford. This means that, for example, if you earn $27,000 a year, you'll save over $1,000 a year in repayments. You can still pay off more if you want to. But this makes the system fairer for everyone, no matter what their income is. This 20 per cent cut will be especially important for VET students. It applies to more than 280,000 VET student loans and Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan accounts, and it will remove $500 million from those balances. That's a huge boost for apprentices and trainees starting out in the workforce.

But this isn't a one-off change. It's about making the whole system fairer for the students who'll study tomorrow as well. It's about long-term structural change. Reducing student-debt burden helps graduates build a better future for themselves and for their families. It's about intergenerational fairness, because getting an education here in Australia should not leave young people with a lifetime of debt. For the more than 26,000 people in Gorton who currently have student debt, this is real change, real cost-of-living relief and real fairness. And that's what this Labor government is delivering.

A young community like mine means a community building their futures, starting families and buying their first homes. Right now, Australia is facing a housing challenge that has been a generation in the making. When the coalition were in government for almost a decade, they were negligent when it came to housing. They didn't take responsibility. They didn't step in. They didn't deliver. This problem can't be tackled overnight. But, unlike previous coalition governments, we are addressing this issue. We're not leaving the struggle for homeownership to an entire generation. We're not leaving it to the states. We're taking a hand in it. We have brought the federal government back to the table, where it always should have been.

That's why I'm so proud to report on the success of the Albanese Labor government's five per cent deposit scheme. My electorate of Gorton has one of the highest uptakes in the country. Since we came to government, more than 3,000 people in Gorton have bought their first homes with just a five per cent deposit. And this scheme is simple: no income limits, no limits on places, no house price caps. It's just real help for real people.

But helping people into a home is just one part. We also need to build more homes. In Labor's last term, we built 500,000 homes across the country. Right now, 28,000 social and affordable homes, funded by our government, are in planning and construction. And we are aiming even higher. This term, we are working towards a bold national goal: 1.2 million new homes in five years. We are also building the workforce to deliver them. In Gorton, more than 400 construction apprentices are getting $5,000 incentive payments to train in the trades. These young workers will help build the homes that our community so desperately needs. This just shows that the contrast between us could not be clearer. The Liberals wanted young people to raid their super. They voted against Help to Buy. They voted against building 100,000 homes for first home buyers. Labor is delivering, Labor is building and Labor is giving young Australians a fair shot at homeownership.

The Albanese Labor government is laser focused on the health care of all Australians. We've introduced a suite of reforms to strengthen Medicare, boost our healthcare workforce and make health care more readily accessible to all Australians. When it comes to securing affordable and accessible health care, we're making sure that no Australian is left behind. We have made record investments in Medicare, like our landmark agreement to deliver record funding to state and territory hospitals, with $25 billion in additional funding for public hospitals. That is three times more additional funding for public hospitals than under the last five-year agreement. There are now 23 Medicare bulk-billing clinics in my electorate of Gorton in Melbourne's west. Seventy per cent of GP clinics in Gorton are fully bulk-billed. I visited some of these clinics, including Our Medical Caroline Springs and the Taylors Hill Medical Clinic. We also have two urgent care clinics nearby in our community, in Melton and in Sunshine. They're amongst the 90 urgent care clinics Labor has opened across the country, with another 50 still coming. We've cut the cost of PBS listed medicines at just $25.

We've done so much in women's health. We've added new contraceptives to the PBS for the first time in 30 years—Yaz, Yasmin and Slinda—we've introduced the first new menopause treatments on the PBS for the first time in 20 years, and we're ensuring there's better access to IUDs and birth control implants as well. We've opened endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics across the country. Let me be clear: this does not happen by accident. It happens because we have a Labor government with a majority female Labor caucus, unlike those opposite, who fail to elect enough women and who then undermine the ones who are elected and do manage to break the glass ceiling. We are a government who understands the challenges faced by Australian women because that's who we are. For that reason, we make changes for women right across the country, like expanding paid parental leave to 26 weeks so that Australian women are supported in getting back into the workforce. We're also paying super on paid parental leave. We've brought in cheaper child care and the three-day childcare guarantee, and we've secured a 15 per cent pay rise for early childhood educators. This is about closing the gender super gap so that Australian women can retire with more super.

When we were elected, we committed to delivering on the issues that matter to Australians, like better infrastructure, health and education outcomes. I am proud that we are delivering real changes and real cost-of-living relief for Australians in my community in the west and for those right around the country. On doing so, I commend this bill to the House.

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