Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) | Hansard source

I acknowledge the member for Gellibrand and thank him especially for his work on Asian capability and the big report that he has just released as the chair of the education committee. Today is obviously a very important day. It's the 10th anniversary of your election, as I understand it—the class of 2016—but also the last day of the budget session of the parliament.

We have spent every day of this session delivering cost-of-living relief and delivering real change for Australians. We know, despite welcome progress in the Middle East and lower prices for oil and lower inflation and unemployment in the most recent data, that Australians are still under pressure. They have legitimate concerns about where they fit at a time of accelerating change and intensifying global and generational pressures. We don't just acknowledge those challenges; we are addressing them. That's why we are delivering more tax cuts for Australian workers, more pay rises for people on awards and the minimum wage and a fairer tax system for first home buyers. It's why we're delivering more help with the cost of fuel and more paid parental leave for mums and dads. It's why we're delivering super on payday and a permanent instant asset write-off for small businesses. It's why we're delivering our ban on excessive pricing at the supermarket. It's why we're delivering smaller deficits and less debt than the trajectory that we inherited from those opposite. It's why we're delivering the lowest average unemployment of any government in this country in half a century. It's why we have delivered and are delivering an ambitious budget defined by reform and resilience and responsible economic management.

We've been delivering for the Australian people while the member for Hume has been destroying the Liberal Party. We've been delivering for Australians. He's been destroying the once great Liberal Party. There's a very simple reason for this. The three right-wing parties in this country seek to capitalise on the real pressures that people are facing while they vote to make those challenges worse, not better. All three right-wing parties share this divisive anti-worker, anti-housing agenda, and you can see that in the way that they vote. So as those opposite leave the House at the end of this budget session, they should reflect on why the Liberal Party is circling the drain on the member for Hume's watch. It's because every time the Australian people need them to vote to help them with these real pressures that they face, they vote to make things worse rather than better. They leave this parliament today more divisive and more divided than ever. We leave this parliament today delivering for the Australians who sent us here.

See this speech in context