Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about the issues that really matter to the people of McEwen. We are a community of working families, young people trying to get ahead, older Australians who have given so much for our community and local businesses and towns that keep our suburbs thriving. McEwen is a proud growth electorate. From the new estates in Donnybrook, Beveridge and Wallan, through to the established communities of Doreen and Diamond Creek, right through to the Macedon Ranges up to Woodend, people are drawn to our area because it is very special and because of the opportunities, the lifestyle and the community that we have. But with growth comes pressure—pressure on health services, housing, roads, schools and household budgets. For far too long, people in growth areas like ours were ignored. For nine long years, under the coalition, all our community ever got was empty promises and a pack of media releases. Infrastructure lagged behind population growth, costs kept rising, and essential services became harder to access. But 22 May 2025 changed that. The Albanese Labor government is delivering practical, tangible reforms and delivering on its promises, which are making life easier for people in our communities. And there is more to come.

Health care is consistently raised as one of the biggest concerns for families. People want to be able to see a doctor when they need to, and they want to be able to afford their medicines and get mental-health support close to home. That's why we've got this historic investment in Medicare—and why it's so important—tripling the bulk-billing incentive. As a result, bulk-billing rates have done a dramatic U-turn locally. That means more families in our communities can now visit a GP without having to choose between health care and groceries. In fact, the latest figures now show 23 fully bulk-billing practices in McEwen, which is double what there was prior to this reform.

Cheaper medicines are making a real difference to families. Under Labor people are now paying no more than $25 a PBS script, saving families hundreds of dollars a year. It's not an abstract policy. This is money back into the pockets of people managing chronic illness, raising children and supporting ageing parents. The reduction in price and the introduction of 60-day prescriptions have made a big difference. In fact, the recent figures show over $10 million has been saved through our policy changes. And the savings are only set to grow in 2026, the year of delivery.

Last week, the health and hospitals agreement provided $25 billion towards Australia's public hospital system. It's a landmark reform. It ensures that services that we are boosting stay sustainable long into the future. Telehealth has been strengthened, with 1800MEDICARE, ensuring that, no matter where you are or what time it is, you can access free health advice. This is a great new service that's ensuring people in fast-growing semiregional parts of McEwen can access care without long travel times. Importantly, we're rebuilding the mental-health services, with programs like Medicare Mental Health Check In. Mental-health care should be accessible, affordable and treated with the same seriousness as physical health, and the service requires no referral, charges no fees and provides access to trained professionals by phone or video.

Housing affordability, of course, is one of the defining challenges for our electorate. Young people across McEwen want the same opportunity to buy that their parents had, to raise a family and put down roots in their community. This Labor government has listened and responded, with essential programs like the five per cent deposit and First Home Guarantee. Thousands of young people have been able to purchase their first home without paying expensive lender mortgage insurance. The scheme is already helping people in our community get into the housing market sooner, with just on 2,000 properties purchased with this assistance.

At the same time, we're delivering the single biggest investment in social and affordable housing in Australia's history, through the Housing Australia Future Fund. It means more social and affordable homes will be built where they are needed most, including in our area. In fact, in McEwen we've already had $7.1 million invested in Mernda, with the Johnsons Road estate, through the housing support fund, to help the City of Whittlesea meet the growing residential demand. For renters, we have delivered the first back-to-back increases to Commonwealth rent assistance in 30 years—a real help, at a time when rents have risen sharply. Through the Help to Buy Scheme, Labor is giving Australians another pathway to homeownership while lowering the upfront cost of buying a home, and, with a $10,000 incentive for building apprentices to boost the workforce, and 100,000 homes to be exclusively for first home buyers, young Australians can now start believing again that they can afford their own home. It's about dignity, stability and opportunity.

Cost-of-living pressures are real, and families in McEwen have them every day. That's why our government has focused on targeted, responsible cost-of-living relief.

We all know how important energy bill relief has been over the past few years. But we haven't stopped there. We've also invested in home batteries—and I'm looking forward to mine getting fitted this week, actually—and cheaper, more reliable, renewable energy, which will help drive down power prices in the long term. The latest figures show over 200,000 cheaper home batteries are being installed by Australians and over 1,300 across McEwen.

We're ensuring that education is available and affordable, with a further 20 per cent cut in student debt. We're raising the income threshold and capping the indexation rate, ensuring HECS debts cannot grow faster than wages. This has assisted over 1,500 people in our area. The point about this and the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement rollout is that this is about investment in public schools by the Australian government. In fact, our investment is the biggest investment ever. In McEwen, it's easier for students who need additional learning support to catch up, keep up and finish school, making sure that we have things like year 1 phonics checks and numeracy checks, evidence based teaching practices and more individualised assistance such as small group tutoring. We are cracking down on the supermarkets to ensure Australians are not being ripped off at the checkout. We're standing up for consumers and farmers by strengthening competition and transparency in the grocery sector. Governments should be on the side of households, not big corporations. We're passing telecommunications legislation to ensure companies act with due care and responsibility. And this year we're developing codes that set out the detail of what responsible businesses look like. We know there's more to do, but, to be sure, this government has an unwavering commitment to easing the cost-of-living pressures for Australian families.

Anyone who lives in McEwen knows that the roads matter for safety, productivity, reliability and quality of life. People want to get to and from home to be with their families, get to schools and get to their jobs safer and quicker. That's why the Albanese Labor government is investing over a billion dollars in local roads and infrastructure in our community. That includes key projects such as the stage 2 of the Yan Yean Road Upgrade and the Camerons Lane Interchange at Beveridge. In Walland, the intersection of Watson Street and the Northern Highway has received a major investment of $40 million from the Commonwealth, with additional turning lanes built on both sides, which will help provide smoother journeys. And, of course, there are the Watson Street ramps.

These are things the former government always talked about but never delivered. In fact, the Liberal Party never went to an election promising to build this much-needed traffic-busting infrastructure. We got into government. We're building it. The state government joined in, and now we're seeing actual work being done. That's something that's been talked about but neglected by the former government. This targeted spending is better for our community. Through our increased local road funding, Labor is making dangerous intersections and roads safer. Through direct shire funding, we're empowering local governments to fix roads like Sutherlands Road in Clarkefield, Three Chain Road in Lancefield and, Fersfield Road in Gisborne have already benefited from this. And let's not forget Wellington Street and Darraweit Road in Wallan and Breadalbane Avenue in Mernda, which have all benefitted from the upgrades and improvements that our government has invested in our communities.

These investments are more than just concrete and asphalt. They are about reducing congestion, preventing accidents and supporting economic growth in one of Victoria's fastest growing areas. The people of McEwen are hardworking, optimistic and community minded. They deserve a government that listens and delivers. Now they have one. In housing, health care, cost-of-living relief, roads and education, our government, the Albanese Labor government, is delivering better outcomes for local communities. We're about delivery, not division. This is a government that is focused on fairness, opportunity and building a stronger future for Australians, and I'm proud to be here standing up and advocating for our community.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:32 to 16:00