Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Whiteaker for the question and for drawing attention to the strong foundation that we laid in our first term. I'm very pleased to report that the government has spent the six months since the election delivering for the Australian people. In the first sitting fortnight of this parliament, we legislated our commitment to cut 20 per cent off student debt for more than 5½ million Australian students and apprentices. The first round of students are already starting to benefit from this cost-of-living measure. In August, we legislated to protect penalty rates and overtime pay, and we've expanded paid parental leave by a further two weeks. We've started rolling out our biggest ever investment into Medicare, with more bulk-billing for more Australians, delivering new incentives so more GP practices can bulk-bill every patient. And we are building on the success of the Medicare urgent care clinics by opening even more of these clinics around the country.

In the first term we slashed the cost of medicines on the PBS, and in the new year Australians will have access to even cheaper medicines because we on this side understand what this means to so many Australians. We understand what the cost of PBS scripts means, so from 1 January 2026 the cost of a PBS script will be cut to the lowest price since 2004, down to just $25 and $7.70 for pensioners and concession card holders. That's because we believe that no Australian should have to forgo the medicine they need because they can't afford it.