Rowan Holzberger's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2026-02-05T22:06:05+00:00
items: Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Defence Properties | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Queensland: Infrastructure | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Racial Discrimination Act 1975: 50th Anniversary | Statements on Significant Matters | House debates
items: Mental Health Month | Statements on Significant Matters | House debates
items: Labor Government | Adjournment | House debates
items: Movember | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Student Debt | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Medicare | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Energy | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Health Care | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Economy | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
items: Labor Government | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
items: Housing Affordability | Adjournment | House debates
items: Cost of Living | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Albanese Government: Economy | Statements by Members | House debates

Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I'm sorry—the honourable member for Goldstein. I appreciate that there was a bit of a lesson there. That's what happens when you run out of something to say in a 15-minute speech. I...
encoded: I'm sorry—the honourable member for Goldstein. I appreciate that there was a bit of a lesson there. That's what happens when you run out of something to say in a 15-minute speech. I thought, 'Well, this is good; he's clearly run out of things to say, so we're going to get an insight into how you handle a speech when you don't have anything more to say.' But, unfortunately, we went on a bit of a kaleidoscopic journey into the honourable member's mind. Looking at the point in his speech at which I'd refer people to in the future, if they ever wanted to get a bit of an insight into what happens when somebody panics, go to the 10-minute mark and you'll be completely entertained. I'm not sure there's anything of substance to respond to in his contribution as part of this debate, but I would very much like to support the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025. At first glance, it may not stir immediate passion. It is an uncontroversial bill. It enjoys broad support across the parliament, including from the opposition parties—all of them—and other members in the parliament. I think this bill is a reflection of the calm and methodical approach to economic and financial reform that this government undertakes. Just as this government has approached superannuation reform through the changes to the payday super, and just as we're addressing failures like First Guardian and Shield, this bill approaches digital assets with the same careful consideration and pragmatism that shows that this government is about governing responsibly and ensuring that Australians are protected while the Australian financial system can innovate and grow. The name Sam Bankman-Fried will bring to the minds of tens of thousands of Australians the idea of pain and loss. When the platform FTX collapsed in 2022, many ordinary Australians—not sophisticated investors—lost life savings. In fact, the collapse of a financial product or something financial that someone believed in has a devas…
date: 2026-02-04T12:20:00+00:00

Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: Tim—I think the honourable member for Goldstein, having come into the same class as me in 2025, showed the experience of having been in a previous class as well.
encoded: Tim—I think the honourable member for Goldstein, having come into the same class as me in 2025, showed the experience of having been in a previous class as well.
date: 2026-02-04T12:20:00+00:00

Defence Properties | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government ensuring the future of the defence estate, and what will this mean for defence capability?
encoded: My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government ensuring the future of the defence estate, and what will this mean for defence capability?
date: 2026-02-04T14:07:00+00:00

Queensland: Infrastructure | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to deliver the infrastructure Australians...
encoded: My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to deliver the infrastructure Australians need? What other approaches to infrastructure are there?
date: 2025-11-27T15:00:00+00:00

Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: I rise in support of the Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025. I am just looking around the chamber. I am not sure that anybody who is here this morning had the...
encoded: I rise in support of the Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025. I am just looking around the chamber. I am not sure that anybody who is here this morning had the absolute experience of sitting through the member for New England's speech on this bill last night. Even people who have been here for a long time, who are used to the long rollicking performances that the member gives, may have been a little bit stunned by some of the things which he mentioned. Apart from the fact that it could be characterised as an impassioned speech against multiculturalism, it managed to somehow drift from the Inca empire to calling Australian workers 'lazy'. But I think, fundamentally, he missed completely the point of this bill, which is: it is not about saying which employers are good or bad but about saying whether or not an employer is accredited to be a sponsor for a skilled visa. Hopefully, that might allay some of the concerns that the opposition has about this bill. I would urge them to reconsider their opposition to this bill and support it. Or maybe it was the member for Riverina, who very typically said people in the city don't understand what it is like to work in the bush. But I know, Deputy Speaker Claydon, that you and I both worked in the bush, we both worked on farms and we spent a lot of our time out in there in the sticks. And we know that, by and large, farmers are really just trying to do their best and that most of them are trying to do the right thing. But as is always the case with government programs—with immigration in particular—the public needs to have some sort of comfort that we have control over how it's working. So allowing the public to know that employers out there are being held accountable for their part in the arrangement gives some sort of comfort to the whole community that the system works. Because, as the member for Mallee said in her contribution, migrant workers aren't an option; they're essential. In order for that …
date: 2025-11-27T09:42:00+00:00

Racial Discrimination Act 1975: 50th Anniversary | Statements on Significant Matters | House debates
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description: I rise on the 50th anniversary of the Racial Discrimination Act and think that it's a reflection really on how far we've come as a country that it's been 50 years since it was put in place. I...
encoded: I rise on the 50th anniversary of the Racial Discrimination Act and think that it's a reflection really on how far we've come as a country that it's been 50 years since it was put in place. I know from growing up with a name like Holzberger that, even though I might like look like a lot of the kids that I grew up with, just having a name can invite ridicule, teasing and bullying. And while I guess I took it, in most cases, with the sort of humour with which it was intended, it didn't feel great and it did make me feel excluded. I can just begin to imagine what it must feel like for people in the community who might have a different accent or different skin colour. The brutality of that reality for people means that there is a role for government when it comes to passing laws on that. So I think this was something, 50 years ago, that really shows that even though we've come a long way there's still a lot to do. It reminds us that 50 years ago Australia was really coming out of that White Australia policy. And it's remarkable to think that I, now at the age of 52, was born so close to that period in time. It's been a great thing for Australia. Before I conclude, I've got to say that the one thing I never thought I would appreciate so much as a federal member of parliament is going around to school assemblies, particularly primary school assemblies, in Forde, a very multicultural electorate. Seeing all those little kids with different coloured faces and different shaped faces all looking up and singing the national anthem has got to be the most moving thing I have experienced as a federal member of parliament. Multicultural society makes us stronger and all the better for it.
date: 2025-11-26T16:08:00+00:00

Mental Health Month | Statements on Significant Matters | House debates
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description: I spoke on this yesterday in the Federation Chamber, but I think a longer speech gives me the opportunity to go into this in a little bit more detail. On a light note, the moustache which I'm....
encoded: I spoke on this yesterday in the Federation Chamber, but I think a longer speech gives me the opportunity to go into this in a little bit more detail. On a light note, the moustache which I'm. now proudly displaying is 26 days old, I think. It's actually thanks to my friend next to me, the member for Hunter, who encouraged me to raise awareness and funds for men's health but particularly for men's mental health. If the camera were able to look around this chamber, there are three of us sporting moustaches. It's important that guys who don't normally like to talk about their health or situation feel encouraged to do so. I guess my own experience with mental health is informed by where I grew up. I have the great privilege of representing the electorate of Forde now in Logan, in the northern suburbs of the Gold Coast, but I'm a Broken Hill boy at heart, a country boy. Broken Hill is a mining town like Gladstone. It's a mining city, actually, and it is working class to its bootstraps. The men and women out there are tough, hard-working and salt of the earth—everything that you would expect about Australians when you think about Australians. The men are tough working-class men. Even though it's 1,400 kilometres or so away from where I live now—even though the geography is different—the demography is the same. People in Forde are tough working-class people, men and women, trying to do their best, trying to get ahead and putting themselves last so often. When I think about growing up in Broken Hill, I think of two guys who would be my age today if they were still around, but they're not still around. It's been a long time since I've been back to talk to their families, so I won't use their last names, but I'll use their first names. Anybody who knows who I'm talking about will know them—Benny and Jezza. Benny was this magnetic kid with this cheeky smile. When I became interested in politics as a young person, the New South Wales government had come to power and was cuttin…
date: 2025-11-26T13:03:00+00:00

Labor Government | Adjournment | House debates
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description: My first adjournment speech in my first last sitting week of the year is giving me a chance to reflect on what I've learnt over the last six months. I have tried to employ a very simple...
encoded: My first adjournment speech in my first last sitting week of the year is giving me a chance to reflect on what I've learnt over the last six months. I have tried to employ a very simple philosophy in the electorate that I am privileged to represent, and that is to listen, to fight for what I hear and to deliver for our community. To that end, we've been doorknocking most weekends of the year. Our team have been out there, knocking on doors. I've been organising house visits. We've been holding community barbecues. The sorts of issues I'm hearing are that people are still doing it really tough. It's been a crisis, in many ways, as our housing minister says, 40 years in the making—not just in housing, but in energy, training and so many areas. I think that this government is beginning to turn it around. I think that we are really beginning to deliver. With Medicare, I've never seen, in all of the time that I've been a participant or an observer of politics, one single policy have such a massive impact as that policy to provide incentives to everybody for a GP to bulk-bill. That has meant that, in the electorate of Forde, we went, overnight, from nine bulk-billing clinics to 20—more than doubling the number of clinics. That number has gone up to 21, and that number is only going to continue to rise. I've never seen a policy so successful. I believe that housing is my No. 1 priority in Forde. That is where people are really doing it the toughest, and this has been a failure of policies, as our housing minister says, over 40 years in the making. A complete lack of federal government investment in public housing like we used to has created the problem that we have today. Our post-war economic miracle was very much based on cheap public housing and cheap public energy, and, over the last 40 years, the federal government really has left the field and left people to struggle with what we have now. But we are delivering, and I am delivering in Forde, some very practical polic…
date: 2025-11-26T19:34:00+00:00

Movember | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: I'd like to start with a light hearted observation about what I've got between my nose and my lips at the moment. I think we're about 24 days into Movember now, and this is what I've got! But, on...
encoded: I'd like to start with a light hearted observation about what I've got between my nose and my lips at the moment. I think we're about 24 days into Movember now, and this is what I've got! But, on a serious note, it is there to bring attention to men's health and, especially, men's mental health. My experiences are very much informed by where I grew up—Broken Hill, in outback New South Wales. It's a mining town—mining city, really—of about 25,000 people. It's a working-class environment to its bootstraps. It's tough, and it's really there that my early experiences of mental health were born. Even though Broken Hill is 1,400 kilometres away, according to demographics it's not much different to the area that I represent now—tough, working-class people and tough, working-class men. There are two friends that I remember very much growing up with, and I'll use their first names, because I haven't talked to their families for a while. Jezza and Benny were the rough, tough kids. Benny was probably one of the people that really sparked my interest in politics in many ways. When we had a school strike, Benny was the one who was up there encouraging me—not that he cared about the politics behind it all. He just wanted to have a day off! But he had that real, natural leadership, that natural gravitas, that carried people with him. Jezza was slightly different. He was really quiet and just a lovely bloke. And neither of them are here anymore—my age. People say we shouldn't talk about suicide, but I think the only thing worse than talking about suicide is not talking about it. And why the focus on men? I think it's because 75 per cent of suicide victims are men. If we can improve the opportunities for people to access mental health care for men, we will improve those opportunities for everybody. In fact, maybe it's typical of blokes that the people who most often bring mental health support for men up with me are women—the mums, the sisters, the daughters and the wives. In the la…
date: 2025-11-25T16:57:00+00:00

Student Debt | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to build a better and fairer education system, including helping Australians with student debt? What...
encoded: My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to build a better and fairer education system, including helping Australians with student debt? What other approaches have been put forward?
date: 2025-11-24T14:12:00+00:00

Medicare | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: I rise to speak against the motion this morning. My neighbour the member for Bowman is actually the mover of this motion, and it just proves the old adage that you can choose your friends but you...
encoded: I rise to speak against the motion this morning. My neighbour the member for Bowman is actually the mover of this motion, and it just proves the old adage that you can choose your friends but you can't choose your neighbours, because I feel as if I would like to offer a little bit of political advice. Maybe they're better off not talking about this issue. Maybe there needs to be a little bit of self-reflection here, because when it comes to the reason people are finding it difficult to access health care today, it is because of the policies that they presided over for more than nine years. The member for Bowman mentioned a woman who has to come deep into Logan to access a bulk-billing doctor. Perhaps that's because in Logan, on the northern Gold Coast, we managed to increase the number of bulk-billing clinics overnight from nine to 20. That's more than double, and that number has only gone up. That was overnight, between Friday night and Saturday morning. Now we have gone up to at least 21, and that number is going to continue to rise. So I would suggest the member for Bowman direct more people to Logan because that's where they are going to find it. He won't need to, because that's not the only place this constituent of his is going to be able to find a bulk-billing doctor; that number is going to continue to rise in his electorate as well. The opposition whip mentioned that we have been in power for 3½ years and it's time that we took responsibility. We are taking responsibility for the solution—if they won't take responsibility for the problem. When I was campaigning in 2021 for the seat of Forde—unsuccessfully, mind you—and in 2022 we all noticed that bulk-billing was beginning to ebb. You could see that one clinic had decided to stop bulk-billing, and then another clinic. You got the sense that this was the beginning of a landslide, which did happen. Unfortunately, as we came to government that landslide came crashing down, and while it came crashing down as a …
date: 2025-11-24T11:41:00+00:00

Energy | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government helping deliver cheaper, reliable energy for Australians? Are there any risks to our energy security?
encoded: My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government helping deliver cheaper, reliable energy for Australians? Are there any risks to our energy security?
date: 2025-11-04T14:08:00+00:00

Health Care | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: I remember some advice that Peter Duncan, the former member for Makin, gave me ages ago: with politics, you come into it and you think you're going to change the world, but it's actually really...
encoded: I remember some advice that Peter Duncan, the former member for Makin, gave me ages ago: with politics, you come into it and you think you're going to change the world, but it's actually really about the changes you make for individuals at a constituent level. But every now and then a policy comes along and it's such a great honour to be a part of it that actually really does change the world—that's the incentives that the government has introduced for bulk-billing. I have never in my time in politics as an observer or as a participant witnessed a policy have such an immediate and positive impact as this one. I had the great pleasure of being able to ring around the clinics in Forde the other day. Out of 45 clinics, we started off with nine bulk-billing on Friday, but on Saturday that number had gone to 20. That was an increase from about 19 per cent to 43 per cent overnight in the clinics that now bulk-bill. That's more than doubling the number of clinics that bulk-bill in Forde. I'd like to say thank you to Dr Danish and Dr Murtaza at the Holmview Doctors and Skin Cancer Clinic, who showed me around and told me that they were just waiting for something like this to come in to be able to fully bulk-bill. They know that, in our community, people need full bulk-billing. They know that, in our community, working families won't go and see the doctor if it means that they have to pay for it, because it's either that or feed your kids. This is a measure that not only relieves the cost-of-living pressures but improves the health of our community.
date: 2025-11-03T16:28:00+00:00

Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: I rise in support of the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025. In preparation for this, I have said that title a number of times out loud and in my head, and I stumble over the word 'regulatory'....
encoded: I rise in support of the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025. In preparation for this, I have said that title a number of times out loud and in my head, and I stumble over the word 'regulatory'. It's difficult enough to say the word, let alone complete the task. When you're a businessperson or an individual dealing with government bureaucracy, regulation is confounding, it is constraining, it is a break on productivity, and it is very annoying, to say the least, on a personal level. I'm reminded of the story I came across years ago of the young kid watching their grandmother cook a leg of lamb in a saucepan. He observed that the grandmother would chop off the end of the leg of lamb, put it in the saucepan and then cook it. It would be, of course, delicious, as all of those meals were. Years later his grandmother came to visit his house. She observed him cutting off the end of the leg of lamb, sticking it in the saucepan and then cooking it. She said, 'Why did you bother cutting off the end of the leg of lamb?' The grandson said, 'Well, that's what you used to do.' She said: 'Yes, but the only reason I used to do it was so that it would fit in the pan. You've got a bigger pan. You don't need to cut it off.' So often, regulation is just like that. It is about doing something which, at some time in the past, made sense but doesn't make sense anymore. And it is about looking at things which have become almost tradition but, really, when taking a second look, have become entirely superfluous. It is something that I came across when I was in small business for myself. I used to run a small contract-mustering business in western New South Wales, where I learned that idea about personal responsibility and creating something out of nothing. Entrepreneurialism really is that—it's about taking what you have and forging ahead to create value for yourself and for the people in your life. I then took the lessons that I learned there, when we moved down to the coast, and I ran a c…
date: 2025-11-03T15:31:00+00:00

Economy | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
type: item
description: That's right. That is what they are calling a spree. But in one year—and I will say it is in one year—we have built more houses in Forde than the opposition built in almost 10 years...
encoded: That's right. That is what they are calling a spree. But in one year—and I will say it is in one year—we have built more houses in Forde than the opposition built in almost 10 years of government across the whole country. I say one year because they spent two or three years trying to hold it up because they saw it as a spree. Finally, in skills and training, we have free TAFE, which the opposition said people would not value because it is free. When I was working on farms I learned that with the right skills you can fix everything. As I am sure the member for Riverina knows, with a bit of silicon and fencing wire, you can fix just about anything. And it turns out that with the right skills you can even fix the broken skill system that we were left with after the opposition gave it to us. The thing that Australia has which is our most valuable resource is not underground but on top of the ground. It is the people of this country. With the right skills you can skill up and you can get a return on that investment and that is what all of these things are—they are a return on an investment. They are carefully calculated, methodically thought through returns on the investment that we will see for generations to come. Do you know what really costs? Doing nothing. That is the bill that you do not get until after the election. Because when governments do not invest it is Australians who are left to pick up the tab. There are just some things that it is better to do collectively, for the government to invest in. Health care is one of them; otherwise, you end up with a health system like the American system, where it is every person for themselves. Public housing is another one of them. Skills and training is another one of them. While the Australian people are sick to death of privatisation and economic rationalism, for some reason the opposition wants to continue with that failed policy. There is a role for government investing in the economy, just as there is a role in the …
date: 2025-10-30T15:48:00+00:00

Economy | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
type: item
description: Thank you. When I gave my first speech in the House, I said that I don't have political heroes, but I've got plenty of sporting ones. One of my greatest heroes is Dean Jones, one of the greatest...
encoded: Thank you. When I gave my first speech in the House, I said that I don't have political heroes, but I've got plenty of sporting ones. One of my greatest heroes is Dean Jones, one of the greatest batters ever to play for Australia. There were times when you were watching him, where the poor bowler was being hit all over the park. They must have been thinking, 'There is nowhere we can bowl to this person.' That's exactly what it is like watching the shadow Treasurer bowl up to the Treasurer of this country at the moment. That's exactly what it must be like when they have to come up with an MPI every time. Where can they hit the government that is so focused on the Australian people, so focused on their game, while they're divided on themselves? Where do they hit it? So today they've come up with the words 'spending spree'. Let's have a look at what is meant by a 'spending spree'. To me, a spree is something you do carelessly, throwing around money frivolously on things that don't matter. But, when the opposition say, 'Spend less,' what they really mean is, 'Invest less.' I've run a small business, and it's been an enormous privilege. You learn quickly that there are two ways to run a small business: either you invest in your plant and your people and build something sustainable, or you strip the profits out and run the business into the ground. Running a country is like running a small business: you can slash and burn, or you can build and invest in your people and your future. Let's look at what we're investing in. We are investing $8.5 million in Medicare. One of the most profoundly moving experiences that I have had in politics was this week when we were ringing around the GP clinics in Forde. We have only got to about three-quarters of them so far but already we have found out that it is going from seven bulk-billing clinics to 15 overnight. I have never in all of the time that I have been either watching or participating in politics seen a single policy with such…
date: 2025-10-30T15:48:00+00:00

Labor Government | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
type: item
description: When I saw that I had an opportunity to address this MPI, I opened up the email and I couldn't believe my luck. I thought, 'You've got to be joking!' because, if the opposition reckoned that...
encoded: When I saw that I had an opportunity to address this MPI, I opened up the email and I couldn't believe my luck. I thought, 'You've got to be joking!' because, if the opposition reckoned that we're the ones not governing for all Australians, then they either haven't been watching what's going or have been watching their favourite television programs a bit too much again. But they certainly haven't been listening to people out in the regions, where I come from, and in the outer suburbs and suburbs, so maybe I could tell them what is going on. We've just opened our 90th Medicare urgent care clinic. That's 90 places where mums and dads and pensioners and battlers and everyone in between can walk in and see a doctor and walk out without paying a cent—bulk-billing, no drama. There's one in the northern Gold Coast in the suburb of Oxenford, and there's one in Logan at Browns Plains, which I hear is one of the busiest in the country, because it's our people that really need this sort of help the most. And there are more urgent care clinics on the way. Compare that to when the opposition were in government. They watched bulk-billing collapse. They starved Medicare. They abandoned Australians who were at most vulnerable. This government, though, stepped in. We tripled the bulk-billing rate for pensioners and for kids, and now we're extending it right across the board. That's governing for everyone. Health care is just one part of it. Let's talk about housing. I spoke about housing the other night in here, about how, back in postwar Australia—really, the foundation of the economic miracle that was postwar Australia was Labor and Liberal state and federal governments working together to build housing, create jobs and lay the foundation for this country's postwar miracle. They weren't mucking about with culture wars and cheap shots; they were rolling up their sleeves. In fact, I like to surprise people a bit when I say that one of my economic role models is actually Thomas Playf…
date: 2025-09-04T16:11:00+00:00

Housing Affordability | Adjournment | House debates
type: item
description: During the election I said that housing is my No. 1 priority. That's for two reasons. First, housing is one of those basic human needs. Once you have met it, it gives you the literal space to...
encoded: During the election I said that housing is my No. 1 priority. That's for two reasons. First, housing is one of those basic human needs. Once you have met it, it gives you the literal space to become the person that you were meant to be and to do the things for your community that only you can do. Without a roof over your head, nothing else is possible. The second reason is that there is no greater impact a government can have on the economy than providing affordable housing. It really twigged for me in a casual conversation that I had about 20 years ago, when somebody told me that public housing was to be built around a meatworks in Brisbane to provide affordable housing to workers. That one conversation sparked an interest, and I went on to learn that the postwar economic miracle of Australia was achieved through two things: cheap housing and cheap energy. It was state and federal Labor and Liberal governments working together to build Australia. It's largely forgotten now. But, before World War II, in the heart of Australian cities, there were great slums. Look at those genteel inner-city terrace homes today and just remember that, before the war, three or four families would be jammed into each of them—and those families were the lucky ones. Governments knew that it just wasn't good enough for our veterans to come back from World War II and live in slums, and so that was one impetus to build affordable housing. The other impetus was the economy. It was to provide cheap rent not just for vulnerable people but for workers. It's easy to think that cheap rent means more money in people's pockets to spend in local businesses, and, sure, that's important. But the economic benefit is much more profound than that. The real economic benefit is that cheap rent means wages don't need to be so high. That helps attract business. In fact, it's how the car industry, for example, became an industry. Public housing came to Australia. Public housing was built around car plants. On…
date: 2025-09-01T19:55:00+00:00

Cost of Living | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government strengthening Medicare while easing cost-of-living pressures for Australians?
encoded: My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government strengthening Medicare while easing cost-of-living pressures for Australians?
date: 2025-09-01T14:04:00+00:00

Albanese Government: Economy | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: The Albanese Labor government has achieved something positive that you just won't read about in the economic textbooks. I've always believed that you need to run the economy like you run a...
encoded: The Albanese Labor government has achieved something positive that you just won't read about in the economic textbooks. I've always believed that you need to run the economy like you run a business. Having run businesses, I've learnt that there are two ways to run a business: you can invest in your plant and your people or you can strip out the profits and run the business into the ground. The Labor way is the better way, and that is to invest in your plant and your people. Now, the figures speak for themselves. A couple of weeks ago, in the same week, interest rates came down, unemployment came down and real wages went up. When I was studying economics in a country high school in the 1990s we were told that's not supposed to happen, but it did happen, and for two reasons: because of the economic policies of the Albanese Labor government, led by the Treasurer, and, more importantly, because of the hard work of the Australian people. We know there is still a lot of work left to be done, but in this government we are focused 100 per cent on the cost of living and the economy. By doing it the Labor way—investing in our infrastructure and investing in our people—all Australians will enjoy the benefits.
date: 2025-08-25T16:35:00+00:00