Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to be speaking on this motion tonight, because, if you listen to the debate that's gone on, you can see the stark difference between us—a government that really cares about people and gets that it is tough for Australians at the moment—and those on the other side. We understand cost-of-living pressure and it's a priority for us. We are continuing to roll out many cost-of-living measures. It's our No. 1 priority.

That's why you'll see that we're doing tax cuts for every taxpayer and a pay rise for all minimum-award-wage workers, totalling an increase of around $9,000—not a small amount of money. Last week, the minister for workplace relations announced the government would back an above-inflation minimum-wage increase for low-paid workers. We've got paid parental leave up to 24 weeks and super now being paid on all government paid parental leave. We've got a $10,000 bonus for housing apprentices on top of their wages. We've got 30 per cent off home batteries to permanently cut power bills. We've got paid pracs for nurses, teachers and social workers.

We've got a boost to Medicare, with $1.8 billion extra in hospital funding so Australians and people in my electorate can get the quality health care they need and deserve. We're seeing more choice and lower-cost health care for women with our record women's health package. We've expanded the five per cent deposit scheme to all first home buyers, with more than 230,000 first home buyers accessing the scheme. There's been another pay rise for aged-care workers. We're expanding bulk billing. There have been cuts to student debt. There's so much that this government is doing across the board. They might only be little bits, but they're making a big difference to people's hip pockets.

We will make medicines cheaper—we started that on 1 January with the $25 scripts—but we know we've got more to do. It's our government that's always there. It's our government that's about fairness and equity for all Australians. That's why we're doing other things around strengthening our social safety net, on top of increasing wages for some of the lowest-paid and most vulnerable people in our communities. We're helping with the cost of essentials. We're improving access to housing and education. One million households are benefiting from back-to-back increases in rent assistance, 1.1 million Australians are benefiting from higher social security payments and tens of thousands of single parents have access to the parenting payment (single) for longer.

As the member for Bean mentioned earlier, this is on top of the tax relief that every single taxpayer is getting. They've had one; there's another one coming this year and another one next year. We are also making sure that 1.2 million people on low incomes continue to pay no, or a reduced, Medicare levy while still having access to cheaper medicines and more bulk billing. There's so much more I could talk about.

We also know that we're in the middle of a war overseas and Australians are feeling the pinch at the bowser, which is why today we announced a 50 per cent cut in the fuel excise for three months, cutting fuel prices by around 26c a litre. It's also why, last week, we passed legislation to enforce higher penalties for petrol companies that might want to use the war to profit off Australians through price gouging. If they do the wrong thing, they'll be hit with a maximum $10 million per offence. We've also passed legislation in the House to allow truckies and road transport businesses to negotiate a fair deal more quickly to keep their trucks moving.

So this government is doing everything it can to support Australians with the cost of living. Just imagine how much harder it would have been for the people of Brisbane and the people of other electorates, our fellow Australians, if these cost-of-living measures weren't there. That was at stake because we know those opposite voted against all our cost-of-living measures, or at least most of them, and Australians depend on them. They depend on a government that's fair and reasonable, that cares for them and that understands that we have cost-of-living pressures. But we know we have more to do.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:31

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