Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, middle Australia is hurting. Labor's inflationary budget is putting upward pressure on interest rates. Labor's aged-care policy is causing nursing homes to close down. Labor's industrial relations policies consistently ignore and then harm small businesses. And Labor's gas market intervention is increasing power-bill pain. Middle Australia is hurting. Why does Australia always suffer when Labor makes it worse for them?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm asked about middle Australia. Well, middle Australia cares about the wages that they receive, and wages are increasing under this government. I'll tell you what middle Australia cares about: they care about their kids getting access to cheaper childcare—that's what they care about. I'll tell you what middle Australia cares about, particularly in our regions: they care about manufacturing jobs—that's what middle Australia cares about. I'll tell you what middle Australia cares about: they want to be able to go to the doctor for free and receive bulk billing, and 11 million Australians in middle Australia will be able to do that as a result of this government's actions. I'll tell you what middle Australia cares about: middle Australia want to pay less for their medicines, and, under our government, they will. I'll tell you what middle Australia cares about: when it comes to aged-care workers, 250,000 of them will receive a pay increase—that's what middle Australia cares about.

They are so out of touch, they only talk to each other about themselves. They should get out there and talk to middle Australia about what their concerns are, because, when I was out and about, after the fantastic budget delivered by the Treasurer just two weeks ago, when I visited Cook and Makin and Spence and McEwen and Fadden and Brisbane and Higgins—and yes, even Goldstein—and talked with Australians about what their concern was, what they were pleased with was the fact that this is a government that has their back; this is a government that is delivering for middle Australia. And that's what our budget did.