Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

Australians deserve to have an honest debate about tax. Instead, they are getting a scare campaign courtesy of the coalition that is, true to form, based on slogans. There they are—the coalition, inventing a new tax when they really should be spending more time developing substantive policies. And that is being reflected. This negligent void around policy development is being reflected in their plummeting fortunes in the polls. Australians have cottoned on. They have clued on to the fact that the coalition have nothing to offer them.

We genuinely understand the concerns that Australians have around these jointly held assets, and the Treasurer has been explicit in saying that we will introduce subsequent legislation to address these concerns. I might remind everyone that the last time landmark generational reform was done in this country was in 1999, around the GST, and the then Howard government had to introduce over 100 amendments across 16 pieces of legislation to tidy up these grey legal areas. It is not unusual for this sort of thing to happen with generational reform.

Today is a day where Australians are going to be receiving some critical adjustments to their personal finances. This Labor government is responding to the sustained cost-of-living pressure Australians have been feeling, and we are responding with tax cuts. Starting from today, Australians will receive a tax cut which will put an additional $270, roughly, into their pocket this year, and then around $540 from next year. With all five tax cuts that we have delivered, we expect the average worker to receive an additional $2,800 in their pocket, starting in the next 12 months. This is also on top of the working Australian tax offset we introduced in the budget—architecture that is designed to put an additional $250 into people's pockets, starting from next year.

On this day, we're seeing an increase to the minimum wage. It's only Labor governments that back in increases to things like the minimum wage. For the first time, the minimum wage will crack $1,000 per week, and that will benefit young people, people who work part time, women, casuals, people who work in retail and hospo, people on our farms and people in the services industries. It'll make a significant difference to their finances.

We're also introducing payday super today. This means workers will have their super paid alongside their wages, and they will benefit from that gift of compounding interest that super delivers. It means an average 25-year-old worker will retire with an additional $5,000, roughly, in their retirement savings. It is significant.

We are introducing a $1,000 tax deduction, with no receipts needed for workers. This should help a bit over six million workers—around half of all taxpayers. We're making it easy for working Australians to claim back their tax.

In addition to this, we're also boosting paid parental leave by another 10 days, taking it up to 26 weeks. It means families will receive an additional $30,000 over this period, and it will enable them to spend more time with their newborn child.

In addition to this, we are making permanent our Medicare urgent care clinics, which have been visited by over three million Australians. We have cheaper meds, costing $25 per script. And today, in parts of Australia, in New South Wales, South-East Queensland and South Australia, eligible households will be able to apply for three hours of free electricity between the hours of 11 and two, through the solar sharer program; Victorians will kick off on 1 October.

All this adds up to substantive cost-of-living relief, and it builds upon a very exciting bill that we introduced today which is cracking down on unfair trading practices—things that drive consumers crazy, like drip pricing and subscription traps that you can never seem to escape. This is how this Labor government is responding in kind to the cost-of-living pressures that Australians feel. (Time expired)