Renee Coffey (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Across Griffith I hear the same message in different ways. At my mobile offices, commuter terminals, my coffees at local cafes, community events and in conversations with families, students, renters, first home buyers, workers, small-business owners and pensioners, people are working hard and doing their best. They are making careful decisions about household budgets and they want to know that their government understands those pressures and is acting responsibly to help. This year's federal budget is about helping people now while making responsible changes for the future. That is why we are delivering cost-of-living relief, strengthening fuel security and lifting productivity while reforming our tax system to address longstanding issues of housing. These national changes are felt locally across every suburb in my community.

In health, this budget strengthens Medicare and invests in care close to home. We're delivering $1.8 billion over five years to make Medicare urgent care clinics a permanent part of our health system. In South Brisbane, Coorparoo and Carina, the clinics have already supported more than 40,000 presentations in my community. Now they will provide permanent relief to our healthcare system so families can access walk-in bulk-billed care without sitting for hours in an emergency department. We're also delivering an additional $25 billion over five years for public hospitals, including for the Princess Alexandra Hospital, the Mater and Queensland Children's Hospital in my community. We are continuing to make medicines cheaper through the PBS, with an additional $5.9 billion to list more medicines, including treatments for cystic fibrosis and chronic kidney disease, so Australians can access life-saving and life-changing treatments without being priced out of care.

Across Griffith, I speak with young people who are working hard, saving for a deposit and doing everything they were told would put homeownership within reach, but the path to a first home has become steeper, narrower and less fair. People in Griffith are going to inspections, turning up at auctions and bidding for homes they want to live in—a place of security, stability and belonging. Too often I hear they are competing against investors who have the tax system on their side and they are watching prices move further away. Since 1999, house prices have risen by more than 400 per cent, more than twice as fast as incomes. We owe it to them to level the playing field and give them a fairer pathway into homeownership. That is why this budget rebalances the tax system in the housing market. From July 2027 negative gearing for residential property will be limited to new builds that add to our housing supply. People who want to invest in property, build wealth and use negative gearing still can, but that support will be directed towards building more homes. Under this approach, investment in property will also support the construction of more of the homes that we need. This is not easy reform, but it is the right reform. I am proud to be part of a government that backs aspiration for all, because the opportunity to build a secure future should not depend on whether you own property already. It should be within reach for the young worker trying to buy a first unit, the family saving for a modest home, the renter hoping for stability and the next generation working hard to build a life of their own. We are also investing a further $2 billion in enabling infrastructure to help build 65,000 more homes, extending the ban on foreign investors buying existing homes, continuing support for social and affordable housing through the Housing Australia Future Fund and providing $59.4 million to community housing providers to help secure housing for young people at risk or those experiencing homelessness.

Our approach is clear for working Australians: people who work hard should be able to keep more of what they earn. We're introducing a $250 working-Australians tax offset that will benefit more than 13 million workers, including around 1.5 million sole traders. We're also introducing a $1,000 instant tax deduction, making tax time easier and delivering cost-of-living relief for workers who claim work related expenses. Together with tax cuts already delivered and legislated, these measures mean an Australian worker on average earnings could be up to $2,816 better off each year. This is Labor's approach: helping households with the pressures they face today while strengthening Medicare, building more homes, backing workers, lifting productivity and making our tax system fairer.

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