Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The cost of living and the cost of housing are consistently the biggest issues for people in my electorate of Blair, and I know many people are doing it tough. On this side, we hear that, and that's why cost-of-living delivery for Australians remains our No. 1 priority in this year, with a big focus on strengthening Medicare and boosting housing affordability. Those opposite, the Liberal and National parties, have political amnesia, so I'm going to give them a few facts. With the way they talk about the economy, you'd think we were in complete despair. But we've made a lot of progress on the economy. Inflation was 6.1 per cent and rising when we came to office. It's now 3.8 per cent. Nominal wages have grown above three per cent for 14 quarters, the longest consecutive growth in a decade and a half. We've overseen more than 1.2 million jobs being created, and the average unemployment is the lowest of any government in 50 years. And we're giving every taxpayer a tax cut, with more tax cuts this year and next year.

In recent times, we've seen the positive difference that this government has been making locally in easing cost-of-living pressures, and we're improving the lives of my constituents and investing in our community's future. New data shows that Australians are now accessing more bulk billing clinics than ever before. In my electorate, that's nearly doubled to 23, allowing more people to see a GP for free. This is not just about access to healthcare. It's a very important way to take the pressure off local families.

Complementing this, the Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic is providing bulk-billing walk-in care close to home. It's providing a lot of care for a lot of people and proving more popular than ever before. It's seen 33,000 patients since it opened in 2023, an average of 45 to 60 patients a day. From 1 January, general patients are paying no more than $25 per PBS script as part of our cheaper medicines plan—or $7.70 for pensioners and concession card holders. That's saving local residents in my electorate more than $1.5 million.

Eighty thousand taxpayers in Blair have received a tax cut, and there's another coming in July this year and the year after that. That will mean that average taxpayers get to keep an extra $50 a week. We're delivering pay rises for minimum- and award-wage workers. Having a government on your side and putting a submission in to support the raising of the minimum wage is really, really important. We're taking the total increase under Labor to over $9,000, as well as pay rises for early childcare educators and aged-care nurses. In Blair, we've seen thousands of workers in industries like retail, care and hospitality, which are very reliant on award wages, directly benefiting from these pay increases.

I know that child care is a major expense for local families. In January, we introduced a new three-day guarantee so that every child who needs it is eligible for three days of subsidised early learning each week. This builds on Labor's Cheaper Child Care policy, which has already helped 9,000 families in Blair, helping them to save on average $7,000, over the 2½ year period, in out-of-pocket expenses.

We're cutting student debt, and we've done it by 20 per cent, so 23,000 young people and graduates with a HECS debt in Blair will see an average reduction of $5,500 on their student loans. This is really resonating with local students I've spoken with. There is also our paid prac for nursing, teaching, social work and midwifery students.

I've met TAFE students and building apprentices who are benefiting from free TAFE and from incentives of about $10,000 to complete their trades and build more homes. Fee-free TAFE has been very successful, with around 5,000 enrolments in the Ipswich region since the program started in January 2023, providing valuable cost-of-living relief and helping people to get ahead and improve their opportunities and aspiration.

Importantly, we're helping more young people and first home buyers into homeownership sooner, through our five per cent deposit and our Help to Buy scheme and by reserving 100,000 homes for first home buyers. Since we came to power, nearly 5,000 locals in Blair have been helped into homeownership thanks to the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme, one of the highest take-up rates across the country. And, while temporary energy rebates have ceased, we've helped local families to permanently cut their electricity bills through our Cheaper Home Batteries Program.

We're coming at the cost-of-living challenge from every angle and trying to help many people with targeted and responsible support. Meanwhile, those opposite complain and whinge about the cost of living, yet they opposed our tax cuts and pretty much every cost-of-living and housing measure we've introduced in the last parliament and this one. We're fighting to deliver for our local community.