Anne Urquhart (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Leader of the House. How is the Albanese Labor government continuing to deliver on its legislative agenda to help Australians?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Braddon for the question. There are 150 of us in the room, all of whom faced an election. But only one of us recorded the largest swing in Australia. I congratulate the member for Braddon on that.

The legislative agenda for the government has already started, and, as the Prime Minister has already referred to in question time, that legislative agenda is different because we have a Labor government. That legislative agenda involved the first bill today, which was the 20 per cent cut to student debt for students from both universities and TAFE who have student debt. They will get a 20 per cent cut which they would not have had. It was at risk as to how the election would go, and, certainly, the plan from the coalition—the alternative—would have been that the first bill was to raise taxes for every Australian taxpayer. Instead, the first bill from the opposition is coming from the member for New England and is to abolish net zero.

This continues what we did in our first time. In our first term, issues that were at stake in the legislative agenda went through because the Albanese Labor government got wages moving. Because we had the Albanese Labor government, we had legislation for energy bill relief. These were all opposed—making medicines cheaper, free TAFE, the urgent care clinics, progress on closing the gender gap. These issues were all at stake, but the principles of the last term—that this would be a government that wanted people to earn more and keep more of what they earn and that this would be a government where no-one was held back and no-one was left behind—are part of the legislative agenda for the Albanese government in its second term.

Today, because the government is Labor, we have started the pathway for 20 per cent off student debt. We will go on with legislation to make sure that penalty rates for workers are guaranteed. That will happen because the government is Labor. We will continue to have tax cuts for every taxpayer because the government is Labor. There will be more free GP visits because the government is Labor. There will be even cheaper medicines because the government is Labor. There will be permanent free TAFE occurring only because the government is Labor. There will be more affordable homes after three years of blocking by the coalition and the Greens to stop more homes being built. There will be more affordable homes because the government is Labor. There will be more energy bill relief because the government is Labor. You'll have a situation where people will earn more and keep more of what they earn because the government is Labor.

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

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.