Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday didn't just mark the beginning of a new financial year, it marked the next step in the Albanese Labor government's crusade to ensure that cost-of-living relief is delivered to everyday Australians, and it sits in stark contrast to what we've seen from those opposite this week. What we've just seen in this place is an opposition blocking reforms designed to protect children. The members across can sigh, but there's no quorum count this time. It's an important reform, and it's a reform that they've ganged up with the Greens to block.

This is something that we've seen before, so in reality it should come as no surprise. We've seen it on climate. We've seen it on housing. We just heard during the MPI in this parliament every excuse that they could think of—every obfuscation that came to mind, every reason—to not back reform that protects our children. The news I want to give to those opposite is this: we will not lie down when it comes to ensuring that Australian children are safe. We will not go away, and we will not rest because the sacrifices endured by those parents who have lost their children should not be in vain. This government will do everything to make sure their sacrifice is not in vain.

I want to address briefly what the member for Griffith has just said, because, as a Queenslander, I'm very proud of a number of the reforms that the member just mentioned, but I will note that these are Labor reforms. It was Steven Miles who introduced 50c fares, which go to making sure that people can have relief when they tap their card at the bus or to get on the train. And it was many energy workers who came together to make sure that publicly owned renewables could be back in state government hands. Those reforms, which were about making sure that Queenslanders have relief that they need when it comes to hip-pocket issues and the cost-of-living matters that are impacting on families every day, are echoed by what the Albanese Labor government has done this week to roll out critical reforms and real, positive changes that will improve the lives of every Australian—changes that help workers and families, that support health care and that help with the cost of living.

It is important to remember that yesterday marked a tax cut, the fifth from this government, for every Australian taxpaying worker. It is important to remember that this government, unlike those opposite, backed in minimum and award wage increases which came into effect yesterday. It's important to remember that from this moment forward, if you're getting paid superannuation, it's getting put on your balance when you earn it. It's important to remember that a Labor government didn't just deliver paid parental leave; it's now expanding it to 26 weeks. It is a time when it is most important to spend more time with our littlest Australians. There have been 137 Medicare urgent care clinics rolled out across the country. The Oxley Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in my local electorate on Brisbane's southside is proud to have had over 33,000 visits. An extra $25 billion has gone into public hospitals and we have banned supermarket price gouging. Our government is focused on delivery.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) | Link to this | Hansard source

I've recently been spending a lot of time thinking about what moral government is and what type of government seeks to divide citizens, feed corruption and break trust within the community. The short and sharp of it is that it's an immoral government. I want to make this clear: it is now a moral imperative to remove the most immoral government in Australia's history, the Albanese government. I don't say this lightly. Right from the moment it was first elected, it sought to divide Australians. It sought to have a referendum based on the social solidarity of our most marginalised population. I fully respect the fact that it had a right to do that by putting the voice to the Australian people. What's immoral about their choice is that they knew it would fail. The idea that you would put the social solidarity of the most marginalised section of our community on a ballot paper knowing it would fail is an abrogation of leadership and responsibility and something I do not think this prime minister will ever be able to shake. He took not just social solidarity but reconciliation, to bring our nation united, to move forward together, and made sure it would fail.

Even in the days leading up to that referendum, there was the complete failure of moral leadership we saw as the events of 7 October 2023 unfolded. On 8 October 2023, we had protesters saying despicable and horrific things on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. This was a moment where we needed leaders to stand up and call out antisemitism and speak to the type of character and country we wanted to be. The silence that we heard from our prime minister and our national leaders every step of the way led to horrific incidents like, on 10 November, the protests at the front of Central Shule in Caulfield South in the Goldstein electorate. It led eventually to the most horrific terrorist incident on our most famous national beach. That is an unforgivable failure of leadership—an immoral failure of leadership—by this government.

But it didn't just end there. What we've seen at every point is that this government has been prepared to eat into the equity of the spiritual nature of our country, eat into the character of who we are, for their own political survival. You just need to look at what they did in the lead-up to the last election. I know the Labor Party is used to branch stacking to be able to achieve an outcome they seek. But to engage in citizenship stacking, where they deliberately went around and targeted electorates and got people to become Australian citizens on the eve of a national poll, is absolutely disgraceful. Not only that; we've seen that the minister has brought in people from overseas conflict zones and bypassed identity, health and security assessments as part of the pathway to bring them into Australia, without any proper measure of who people are, whether they are unsafe for the Australian community and whether they pose a threat to the rest of us. This is not a debate about the individuals; it's a debate about government policy. It was an immoral act by this government.

Now, we see even more immoral leadership as the Prime Minister and his ministers refuse to audit whether federal money has found its way into the hands of organised crime through the CFMEU Labor cartel. The reality is that we have public money finding its way into the hands of organised crime and with complete disinterest from this government. Even worse, we saw the Prime Minister say 50 times over before the last election that he wouldn't introduce a suite of taxes that he then went on to introduce once he had secured his victory. A moral government is one that builds trust, works with the community and seeks to achieve an outcome to improve the whole of the nation. We presently have an immoral government that is focused on how it divides the Australian community and leaves us in a weaker position to save their own electoral bacon.

There is hope. We can have a moral government again that's focused on uniting Australians and building trust and taking Australia forward together. But the only way we can do that is by seeing a change of government and the end of the Albanese government. Whether it is dividing Australians on the basis of race—and we need to acknowledge that this prime minister has overseen the greatest spike of racism in Australia's history—or whether it is stacking the electoral roll, bringing people into Australia without security assessments, facilitating corruption from the CFMEU or breaking promises on the budget, this government has broken its promise to the Australian people.

Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Congratulations, Speaker, on your 10 years in the parliament, which you and the class of 2016 are celebrating today. I want to highlight some of the changes the Albanese Labor government has delivered from 1 July. We are completely focused on helping Australians deal with cost-of-living pressures. We know that people have been doing it tough, with rising costs from the servo to the supermarket, so we're helping people earn more and keep more of what they earn. From 1 July, every Australian taxpayer received their third tax cut, thanks to the Albanese Labor government. The combined impact of our tax cuts will leave the average working Australian up to $2,800 better off every single year.

At the same time, 1 July saw three million workers receive a well-deserved pay rise, with modern award wages increasing by 4.75 per cent and the national minimum wage going up by six per cent. We have advocated for increases to the minimum wage at every annual wage review since we came to government. As a result, for five years in a row, these workers have seen increases in their pay, with the national minimum wage now $12,000 a year higher and above $1,000 a week for the very first time. That's more money in the pockets of cleaners, care workers, workers in hospitality and retail, and more.

We know that one of the most important foundations for a comfortable and secure retirement is a healthy super balance. At the moment there is about $6 billion a year in unpaid super. This disproportionately affects younger workers and those in insecure work, who are often lower paid and vulnerable. They are also the people who can least afford to miss out on retirement savings. That's why I am so delighted that, as of 1 July this year, superannuation must be paid within seven business days of pay day instead of every quarter. This means that workers will start earning returns on their super sooner, reducing the risk of unpaid super and ultimately leaving them better off when in retirement.

We're also helping all Australians to get a fairer deal at the checkout, with our ban on supermarket price gouging now law. From 1 July, if supermarkets are doing the wrong thing and are charging prices that are not in line with what it costs to stock their shelves, they will pay the price. The ACCC has the funding and the power to seek penalties for supermarkets of up to $10 million per breach of our new laws or 10 per cent of their annual turnover in the previous year. It's just one of the ways that we're working to keep supermarkets competitive and fair for customers.

We're also making the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory, tackling shrinkflation with stronger unit-pricing rules and funding CHOICE to give shoppers more information on supermarket prices. Personally, I've always been a big supporter of local fruit and veg shops. Our changes are also backing them in, with $2 million in grants to help fresh produce suppliers to get the skills they need to take on the big supermarkets. More competition strengthens the grocery market. It keeps prices down and it gives everyone a fairer go at the checkout.

Something I am particularly excited about is that, as of 1 July this year, Australia now has a national environment protection agency. It will be a national environmental watchdog with real powers, a clear set of rules, a clear mandate to monitor and enforce those rules, and big consequences for doing the wrong thing. In my electorate along the beautiful Illawarra coast, we have one of the most beautiful natural environments you will find anywhere in the world, and we're a regional city that is growing, so ensuring that the rules around what you can and can't do are crystal clear actually supports everyone. It protects our precious environment, and it helps us to get on with building the critical infrastructure we need in housing and energy in the right places, in the right settings, and with consistency, transparency and integrity. The National EPA will be a modern and effective regulator, enforcing the rules we have put in place under the reformed Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

There is a long list of changes that have now come into force, far too many to cover here, but I am so proud that our government is getting on with the job of delivering the change that our communities need. We're helping people with the cost of living, lifting wages and giving everyone a fair go.