Linda White (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese government understands that the rise in the cost of living is hitting a lot of Australians pretty hard. That's why our economic plan is carefully calibrated to take pressure off the cost of living rather than adding to it. The government's cost-of-living package provides assistance with rent, energy bills, and cheaper childcare and medicines. Much of the assistance is being rolled out right now, and the benefits will continue to flow over the coming weeks and months. Our policies to ease cost-of-living pressures are expected to directly reduce inflation by three-quarters of a percentage point in 2023-24. Inflation will still be higher than we'd like and more persistent than ideal but down from where it would have been. We are making a meaningful difference to families around the country, and we will continue to do so.

We can contrast this to the coalition who oversaw a decade of wasted opportunities and warped priorities and who left Australia with falling real wages, cost-of living pressures and $1 trillion of debt without an economic dividend to show for it. What we did have to show for it, however, were those fantastic 'Back in black' mugs, which was just a slogan, not ever a reality. What we've seen from the coalition opposite is that they voted for higher energy bills for millions of households and small businesses. They wanted more expensive medicines, and they won't support more affordable housing.

It really pays to look at the cost-of-living measures in the 2023-24 budget, because this is a significant package of cost-of-living benefits for Australians. For one, we're investing $3.5 billion to triple the bulk-billing incentive for the most common GP consultations for children under 16 and Commonwealth concession cardholders as part of the government's $5.7 billion investment in Medicare. This will support 11.6 million eligible Australians to access a GP with no out-of-pocket costs. This is one of the largest investments in bulk-billing incentives ever, making it easier and cheaper for Australians to see their doctor, something the coalition would never have done. In fact, they have been undermining Medicare for many, many years.

We've also seen changes to the pharmacy maximum dispensing quantities. We're reducing the cost of medicines by up to half for at least six million Australians. Some patients will be able to receive two months worth of their medicine per visit to their pharmacy, saving $1.6 billion in out-of-pocket costs over four years. There's the energy price relief plan where we will see up to $3 billion of electricity bill relief through the Energy Bill Relief Fund to take pressure off households and small businesses, in partnership with state and territory governments. This will benefit more than five million eligible houses and one million eligible small businesses. The retail electricity price increases in 2023 are now expected to be around 25 percentage points lower, and retail gas price increases are around 16 percentage points smaller than expected prior to the government's energy initiatives.

These are real benefits that are attacking the cost-of-living crisis that we are seeing. The government is also making it easier for households and small businesses to access energy savings and upgrades through financing options for households and a new tax break for small- and medium-sized businesses. We've also seen $4.9 billion increase to the base rate of several working-age and student income support payments, like the JobSeeker payment, Austudy and youth allowance by $40 a fortnight for eligible recipients. This includes extending eligibility for the existing higher rate of JobSeeker payments to single Australians aged 55 to 59. We've got the $2.7 billion increase to the maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistance, and it goes on and on. We have successfully advocated for wage increases for minimum award workers and are funding pay rises for aged-care workers. We are doing a significant amount of work to ease the cost of living for Australians. They know it. Unfortunately, the coalition are ignoring what is happening just for political reasons.