Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last election, northsiders living in my electorate of Lilley sent a clear message. They issued a blunt appraisal. They wanted a government who would work for them to deliver a better future for all Australians. Since the election, every member of the Albanese Labor government has put their shoulder to the wheel, delivering for Australians.

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has delivered multi-employer bargaining and is fighting to close labour-hire loopholes. The Minister for Health and Aged Care has delivered cheaper medication, with more savings to come later this year. The Minister for Social Services raised the rate of JobSeeker, youth allowance and Austudy and expanded eligibility for the single parenting payment. This week the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the Attorney-General passed the constitutional amendment legislation so Australians can vote for a voice to parliament and constitutional recognition for Australia's First Nations people. The Minister for Industry and Science has delivered the National Reconstruction Fund, to invest in renewables and the manufacturing sector. And the Minister for Housing has been relentless in her work to ease the pressure on the housing crisis, with the introduction of the Housing Australia Future Fund, the single biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a decade. Our plan includes 20,000 affordable homes, including 4,000 for women fleeing domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness; 10,000 affordable rentals; and $200 million to repair remote Indigenous housing. But this week, before we all go home to our electorates, the Greens and the coalition have teamed up to delay this vital legislation, which I find absolutely shameless.

While the coalition and the Greens chalk this block up as a political win, this move has real life consequences for people living in Lilley, in Brisbane, in Griffith, in Petrie and in Dickson. Every day of delay past 1 July is $1.3 million that will not be spent on housing. But while they are blocking, we will get on with building. While they are about delays, we are about delivery. And while they are about protest, we are about practical action that will help people, because we won't forget about the people living this every day on the ground. Our new $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator will deliver thousands of new social homes across Australia. This investment will build more housing for more Australians in more parts of our nation.

The Albanese government knows that cost-of-living pressures are hurting people. That's why we're providing the largest investment in bulk-billing incentives ever, making it easier and cheaper for Australians to see their doctor. Northsiders have told me about their struggles to find a bulk-billing GP. At a mobile office in Everton Park recently, my constituent Ivan, who is 77, came to tell me that he couldn't afford the co-payment to go to a doctor, that he needed a bulk-billing GP. We've announced the largest ever increase to the bulk-billing incentive in the history of Medicare, so that northsiders like Ivan can see a doctor when they need to. This will provide an immediate benefit to 65,989 people in my electorate of Lilley, on the north side. Additionally, we are making hundreds of medicines cheaper by allowing millions of Australians to buy two months worth of medicine for the price of a single prescription. This change will save patients up to $180 per year and benefit more than 37,707 Lilley residents.

The Albanese government's early education package, starting this July, will benefit 8,900 families in Lilley on the north side. For every Australian family on about $120,000 with a child in care three days per week, the changes deliver real cost-of-living relief of about $1,700 per year. I recently visited Goodstart Early Learning in Aspley. That centre was devastated by last year's floods, and they couldn't reopen until February of this year. When I spoke with Michelle, the centre director, it was clear that they faced many big challenges, and one of the greatest was recruiting staff. On top of our early education package, a further $72 million will be invested to build and retain the early childhood education workforce nationally, while the Queensland government delivers free kindy for Queensland families, a move that I know will take the pressure off household budgets.

With the cheeky 15 seconds I have remaining, may I congratulate the mighty Maroons on closing out the Origin series last night. This is the first time since 2016 that we have taken out the series back to back. A personal congrats to Lindsay Collins, of my electorate of Lilley, who took out Man of the Match. We love you. Well done, Maroons.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 11:41