Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

There's no doubt that the cost of living is a real issue. There's pressure on families, which is why it's been front and centre on everything we've done since coming to office. But it's frankly absurd to see One Nation bringing forward a cost-of-living motion of urgency in light of their record. Of course, they gave no policy announcement in this urgency motion. They gave no solution. They just turned around and carried on defending the status quo, because, when you vote for the status quo, you are defending the status quo.

One Nation, the Liberals and the Nationals, better known as the uniparty of the right, have never supported any of our cost-of-living measures, let alone treated them as urgent. The only urgency the uniparty of the right has ever shown on cost of living is when they've rushed to oppose our measures to help working Australians. It's always interesting to see them get worked up when their uniparty gets called out. But, when three parties keep voting the same way and pushing the same old policy issues and the same old ideas, be it smashing workers' rights or voting against cost-of-living relief, it's hard to know what else to call it.

Take a look at the voting record in parliament. In December 2023, we put forward laws to protect same jobs, same pay, to make sure that wage theft is also illegal and to make sure that labour hire workers aren't getting ripped off, and of course the uniparty voted no. In February 2024, we made it easier for millions of working casuals to convert to permanent work and introduced a right to disconnect and minimum standards for the gig economy, and the uniparty voted no. In March 2025, we voted on our Free TAFE Bill to help hundreds of thousands of Australians train for jobs in nursing, construction and aged care. The uniparty voted no. Just last week, once again, we put forward reforms to deliver a tax cut for every taxpayer, and the uniparty—guess what?—voted no.

If their voting record weren't enough to show that One Nation, the Liberals and Nationals are in the same group together, the same far-right group, they love using the word 'uniparty' because they like describing everyone else, but the fact is that the Right—the coalition and One Nation—are happy to turn around and vote against all the sorts of arrangements that have dealt with the cost of living that have made Australia a little bit easier whilst we're taking the challenges on across the economy.

Last month, at the National Press Club, the One Nation leader called for a complete overhaul of Australia's industrial relations system. She went on to describe workers as lazy and complained that you can't sack people these days. If it weren't enough, the One Nation leader also argued against paying women on maternity leave. She said: 'Fair enough. Why should businesses pay them?' Of course, she's flipped that before she flops back. Now compare that with the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson. When asked about Senator Hanson's take on workplace laws in an ABC interview, his response was simple: 'I agree with that.' He went on to say, 'Before she said it, I said it first.' The coalition against cost-of-living relief are the people sitting over there—the mates in One Nation, the Nationals and the Liberal Party. We've now reached the point where senior leaders of the uniparty are competing over who thought of their policy to smash workers first and to make it harder on cost of living.

Last week, independent research reported in theAustralian found that One Nation's workplace measures would leave health workers up to $34,000 a year worse off. That's $34,000 less for some of the most essential workers in our communities. The Health Services Union national president, Gerard Hayes, said that One Nation's measures were like dropping a cluster bomb on wages and conditions. That's what the uniparty of the Right actually believes should be happening. Low wages are a deliberate design feature of their economic policy, because, for the last 20 years, they've voted for it. Low wages are a deliberate design, all while turbocharging cost-of-living pressures. That's what their answer is.

Unlike the uniparty, our focus has always been on cost of living. That's why, starting today, the Albanese government is giving every taxpayer another tax cut. These are some of the measures, along with Medicare and with three million workers getting wage increases, that will make a difference.