Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We've been here before, hearing these cost-of-living arguments from the opposition. I've said they lean in with their chin. Last time they leaned in with their entire body. Now the whole team are throwing themselves over the cliff. These people have no shame. They come here and lecture the Australian people that what they demanded at the last election, which we delivered last night, was a mistake. These are the people that brought down a trillion dollars of debt and showed nothing for it; they showed absolutely nothing for it. These are the people that had a design feature for low wages. They said low wages were a design feature of how they were going to run the economy—and guess what? That's what we got from them. That's what the consequences were. These are the same people that saw, for the first time in the history of this country, the middle class shrink under their watch. And they're coming in here and lecturing us about what should and shouldn't be done? Sorry, I keep forgetting—they have no policies, remember? That was official. They've got no plan, they've got no thought, they've got no strategy. We know the strategy they've adopted has done over people in this country for nine years now.

Then you look at some of the areas where change has taken place. But think about what they've done in the aged-care sector. Think about what their position was on the aged-care sector—no support for aged-care workers or for feminised industries. Think about all the low-paid workers, the men and women of this country. Where were those opposite on the proposition for a dollar-an-hour wage increase?

They opposed it. They come in here with no shame, every one of them, and say that they have a position that's right.

Quite clearly, in the budget last night there were a whole series of critically important pieces that will make a change and a difference for thousands—and millions—of working Australians and people in our community. The cheaper childcare strategy: quite clearly, there are going to be millions of people better off as a result of the early education program. That is an investment in the future, not money given off to Alan Joyce with no accountability, $2 billion; not watching some of the biggest names in companies around this country that were given billions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars or tens of millions of dollars turn around and spend it on bogus training packages. I mean no offence to Grill'd—I occasionally eat their burgers myself—but, I'll tell you what, giving them millions of dollars to set up a burger university, to train people for cheap labour, is the strategy they have.

The difference for us is that we have a clear strategy: 180,000 places, fee-free, for TAFE and vocational education places. That will give capacity for our economy. It will give the ability for people to learn more. It will give an opportunity for our economy to be turned around, to have the skilled labour that we need from Australians. And there are those 20,000 new university places over the next two years—again, an investment in our future. It's an investment right now. It means that money that would be coming out of people's pockets to do those things isn't happening, but it's value-adding to the economy. It's value-adding to households.

Expanding paid parental leave to six months—where are they about that? You don't think that's a cost-of-living saving? You don't think that's an advantage for men and women—women, in particular—in our community? You don't think that's an important gender-equity question that has value right across the economy? And there's more affordable housing.

Seriously, you're going to sit here and say to the government, as the ex-government—the ones that shrank the middle class, that set low wages as a strategy, that turned around and gave us this housing crisis—while we're coming up with solutions on our side, that this is not a solution affecting the cost of living? Of course it is. It logically is. It has the capacity to. It has the obvious support for that outcome.

Getting wages moving will be the great example. That will be the real test for these people with no shame. That will be the real test, to see whether they support improvements in employment relations arrangements in this country that will finally get wages moving and not put it off to the never-never—to do it as quickly, smartly and effectively as we possibly can, to make sure Australians get a better and fairer ago.