Josh Dolega (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry. Former prime minister Howard has been rolled out into the debate again today. It takes me back. And how could we not go back and think of how, when they're not fighting and sniping and stabbing each other in the back, that side of politics actually delivers cost-of-living support for working Australians? They introduced Work Choices.

Now, I have to give a trigger warning for people, because, at the hands of those opposite—not all of them here today but their side of politics—WorkChoices single-handedly caused so much destruction for working Australians. WorkChoices had a real impact on Australians. Australians who were on an award wage had a real pay cut of around $97 a week thanks to the actions of those opposite. Seventy per cent of workers lost their shift loadings, 68 per cent of workers lost their leave loadings, 65 per cent of workers lost their penalty rates, 49 per cent of people lost their overtime loadings, 25 per cent of people no longer had public holidays, more than 3½ million Australians lost their protection from unfair dismissal, and unknown numbers of Australians were sacked or treated unfairly and had no recourse.

My dad was one of those people who was affected by WorkChoices and by those opposite. By God, the trade union movement and working people will never forget what you mob are like when you have your act together, and that's why we will always continue to fight you.

But let's also have a little bit of a talk about how we on this side of politics, the government side, address cost-of-living pressures for everyday Australians. We are taking steps to implement policies that deliver real outcomes for people in need. We started that on 1 January this year with medicines. PBS scripts came in at $25. We talked about the Howard years. Scripts on the PBS have not been that low since 2004, so we are delivering real cost-of-living measures for people who need them with their medicines. For those on benefits, like pensioners, their scripts on the PBS are capped at $7.77.

We're also delivering real cost-of-living support when it comes to health and mental health for all Australians. We are investing in Medicare mental health centres, and I know that the new Medicare mental health clinic we've opened on Steele Street has been warmly welcomed by the Devonport community in my duty electorate of Braddon. People have warmly embraced coming and getting mental health support without the need for their credit card; all they need is their Medicare card. They've warmly embraced our Medicare urgent care clinic at the top end of Steele Street, where people can come in and get the urgent care and support they need without needing their credit card, just their Medicare card.

We've tripled the bulk-billing incentive, and we've seen over 1,200 GPs sign up to become Medicare bulk-billing practices. People can actually make the decision to choose to prioritise their health, rather than choosing whether they go to the doctor or pay for school fees or pay for groceries. We're putting health back as a priority, which is easing cost-of-living pressures.

I was talking about wages being cut under the Howard government. We've been increasing wages. Since we've come into government, we have supported a 15 per cent wage rise for the most vulnerable and needed workers in our community: aged-care workers. We've also supported workers in early learning. These are some of the most underpaid workers with some of the most important responsibilities that we have: caring for our little ones while their parents go to work. We always talk about the dignity of work. Getting parents back into the workforce and contributing so they can have the life they want is pretty bloody important.

We've increased public sector wages, after deliberate suppression and attacks— (Time expired)