House debates Questions without Notice

Cost of Living

Tuesday, 29 November 2022 House of Representatives

Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition

2:00 pm

My question is to the Prime Minister. Before the election the Prime Minister promised to make families' lives easier through cutting power bills by $275, a promise repeated on 97 occasions, as well as promising to deliver cheaper mortgages. Prime Minister, isn't it true that these promises were just ploys to win votes, and Labor have failed to deliver on these fundamental promises which impact families the most? Will the Prime Minister apologise to Australian families?

Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

I'll give the call to the Prime Minister when the House comes to order.

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister

2:01 pm

I thank very much the Leader of the Opposition for his question, which goes to whether we are making measures to improve people's living standards. The commitments that we gave—

Michael Sukkar

Michael Sukkar Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services

Delivering your promises!

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister

I'll take the interjection, which is another way to term it: whether we're keeping our promises.

Michael Sukkar

Michael Sukkar Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services

Say the number 275!

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

The member for Deakin will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister

We are keeping our promise to lift the minimum wage. We did that when we put in a submission to the Fair Work Commission, which resulted in a 5.2 per cent increase in the minimum wage. This week we will pass our secure work, better pay legislation, which is aimed at lifting wages and aimed at making sure that we look after working people. The secure jobs, better pay bill will have a number of measures in it which will make a difference to people's living standards: putting gender equity and job security at the heart of the Fair Work Commission's decision-making; banning wage-secrecy clauses; giving the commission the expertise and powers to end the historical inequality between the pay and conditions in female dominated care industries—that will make an enormous difference; expanding access to flexible work arrangements, particularly for women and others with caring or educational responsibilities. If you combine that with cheaper child care and increased paid parental leave then that will make an enormous difference. Expressly prohibiting sexual harassment in the Fair Work Act—you don't think that improves people's living standards?

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

Order! The Prime Minister will pause, and I'll hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.

Paul Fletcher

Paul Fletcher Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

Mr Speaker, it's on relevance. In question time you've previously upheld a point of order because the minister's answer doesn't—

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

Resume your seat. The question included, 'Isn't it true that you made promises?' The Prime Minister is talking about his commitments. It was a very broad question and a very political question, and I give the call to the Prime Minister.

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister

It was, indeed, Mr Speaker, and I can see why they're embarrassed. They voted against all of this. They voted against bolstering the ability of workers to recover unpaid entitlements. They voted against it being against the law to advertise a job that pays below the minimum wage. They voted against that! They said, 'It's all wrong, all bad.' We're going to reform the better off overall test as well to make enterprise bargaining more attractive. We've delivered on our commitment to establish a royal commission into robodebt, and don't those over there like what's coming out of that! We're repairing our international relations, which we said we would do. They're still trashing them. They're still busy trashing those relationships, particularly in the Pacific. We've delivered already the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, and that's coming in with more than 1,000 people signed up already. We've already expanded the Commonwealth seniors health card. We've abolished the cashless debit card. We are delivering on our promises.

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

The member for Groom is warned.

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister

We have spent six months delivering on our promises. Those opposite just stood still for a decade, and ever since then they've been coming to terms with it.

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

There's far too much noise in the chamber. The member for Groom is warned. It's only the first question. I want the House to be quiet so I can hear from the member for Hasluck.