Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) | Hansard source

I thank Senator Ciccone for the question. Again, all the work has been done on this side of the chamber to make sure that, when 1 July rolls around tomorrow, we've got a whole range of supports flowing through to Australians to assist with the cost of living.

Of course, we've got the tax cuts that those opposite voted against, which will come in on 1 July. Every Australian taxpayer will get a tax cut from 1 July this year. From 1 July, we will reduce the 16 per cent tax rate to 15 per cent, with another one to come next year. We've also passed important legislation to help more Australians into the dream of homeownership. We've got the working Australian tax offset—again, Senator Bragg voted against that—to provide a permanent annual tax offset of up to $250 for every working Australian taxpayer. There's the $1,000 instant deduction with no receipts—again, those opposite voted against that—allowing workers to deduct up to $1,000 off their taxable income without providing receipts.

We know that, while the changes to negative gearing, CGT and trusts don't impact the majority of people, they help support the investment that we are making in 13 million Australian workers through those tax cuts coming in. We will also see the national minimum wage increase by six per cent, and modern award wages will increase by 4.75, following the annual wage review decision, to which we provided a submission in support of a real wage increase.

Around 2.6 million Australians will also benefit from indexation of a range of social security payments and thresholds. Workers will also benefit from having super paid at the same time as their salary and wages. And, of course, there's the work that we've been doing to ban excessive pricing in supermarkets. (Time expired)