House debates

Tuesday, 13 February 2024

Statements by Members

Albanese Government

1:34 pm

Photo of Anne StanleyAnne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

A helping hand: it's the Australian way, and it's most definitely the Labor way. I'm proud to be a member of a government that recognises that almost all of us, at some stage, need that helping hand, and in difficult times, with the cost of living being what it is, a helping hand is needed now more than ever. That's why I welcome the Treasurer's recently announced tax cuts, which will see every Australian worker better off from 1 July. That's why I welcome the $500-a-year assistance that helps age pensioners, like Mollie in Macquarie Fields, pay their electricity bills, something that Mollie has told me has been so helpful. That's why I welcome our boosting of Medicare to get bulk-billing rates up and the changes in prescriptions and medicines to make them cheaper. The list goes on and on: rent assistance, child care, JobSeeker payments. It all adds up and it all helps. The government wants people to earn more and keep more of what they earn. Under our government there are more people in jobs, they're earning more and, with the tax plan that comes in on 1 July, they'll keep more of what they earn.

Good governments ensure that people are better off, and that's what is happening here. That is what the Albanese government was elected to do, and that's what the Albanese government is doing.