Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much. Those economic policies defied the party's values, such as the opposition to an income tax cut and the denial of working-from-home arrangements. It's there in black and white. The review goes on to say that as part of the budget the government announced it would provide an income tax cut for low-income workers in 2026-27 as part of its cost-of-living relief. The opposition announced that it would oppose that tax cut on budget night and voted against it when the legislation was introduced. We all know how that turned out. I'm not surprised Senator Bragg doesn't want to hear it, but we've got the receipts, and every time they want to talk about the economy, we're happy to talk about their record.

But let's look at wage rises for Australian workers. When the coalition were last in government, they said low wages were a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture. Almost three million award-wage workers received a 3.5 per cent pay rise last year under this government. And across the life of this government those same workers have received an increase of $9,000. But we haven't stopped there. This government has delivered a historic pay rise for 250,000 aged-care workers, and up to 200,000 early educators are receiving pay rises. Those opposite mocked those pay rises, but we know it's making a real difference. You cannot walk into a lunch room at an aged-care facility or a childcare centre without being told by their workers how much these pay rises mean to them; $100 a week extra is the difference between putting sports shoes on your kids' feet and not. And those opposite mocked it.

Let's go through some other economic achievements of this government: working hard to drive down the cost of living, and 30 per cent off home batteries to permanently cut power bills, with the highest take-up in Queensland, in Liberal held seats: the seats of Wright, Fadden, Longman—the list goes on. And teaching, nursing, social work and midwifery students are now all being paid for their practical placements; 50,000 students are already benefiting from that. We've boosted Medicare, with $1.8 million in extra hospital funding, helping Australians to get the quality affordable health care they deserve. We've expanded the five per cent deposit scheme to all first home buyers; 250,000 Australians, including 50,000 Queenslanders, are now benefiting from that.

But the Liberal Party and the Greens don't like it. We know they don't like this policy. They would much prefer that people were stung with LMI of up to $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 or $50,000, rather than being able to get into a home of their own. They opposed our policy, because they don't want to see Australians get into a home of their own. They want to lecture us on economic policy, and it's a disgrace.