Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is proudly building our country and providing security for the future of all Australians. From 1 July this year, another round of energy bill relief was rolled out for every household and small business around the country. Paid parental leave has been expanded by another two weeks, and superannuation has been added to it for the very first time ever. Three million workers on the minimum wage and award wages have received another real pay increase. On 1 July next year and the year after that, all 14 million Australian taxpayers will receive our government's tax cuts. As the Labor government, we want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn, unlike those opposite.

As a government, we're focused on delivering economic opportunity for women, abolishing non-compete clauses and pursuing competition reform to boost productivity. We are building the nation, after spending the first term cleaning up so many of the messes that were left behind by those opposite. We have real ambition for this nation. We have ambition that will drive this government every day to deliver the fundamental things that we believe will build our nation and will make a positive difference to people's lives. We view each day as an opportunity to fulfil the commitments that we made to the people of Australia at the last election, as well as to expand our vision to take our nation forward. As the Prime Minister said, delivering on our promises to build more homes means cutting through the red tape that is holding back housing construction, as well as clearing away barriers that stand between skilled workers and nationally significant projects.

We can be a manufacturing powerhouse. We were, in decades gone past. We need to build that manufacturing capability again, and this starts with reforming the stagnant approvals process so that households and industry alike can take advantage of the opportunities presented to us with cleaner, cheaper energy, to bring down their bills and to power the next generation of manufacturing jobs. As a government, we must make sure Australian workers and Australian businesses have the opportunity and the skills to get the best out of technology, including AI. But we must maximise the productivity benefits while protecting people from potential risks. I'm confident, as a nation, we can rise to these challenges that present to us and that we, together, will prosper. Because of the hard work and patience of Australians, we have come through the worst global inflation since the 1980s and the biggest international energy crisis since the 1970s.

When we came to government in May 2022, real wages were going backwards, inflation had a six in front of it, and we were experiencing interest rates that had increased, which are now all coming down. Today, real wages are growing at their strongest rate in five years. Inflation has a two in front of it, and interest rates have been cut three times in the last six months. At the same time, over 1.15 million new jobs have been created. Our patience as a nation and our hard work are paying off. We are going to prevail.

Importantly, the gender pay gap is down to a record low, and women's workforce participation is at a record high. We know that those opposite—we know, because I've been in this chamber for a while—did nothing at all to alleviate, nor did they have a plan even to reduce, inflation. They did nothing when it came to driving unemployment up and cutting services. What they didn't do was ever support people when they were under pressure. We know they ran skills down in this nation. So we've had to rebuild. That's why we've invested in TAFE.

The Albanese Labor government has been more responsible in our endeavours to attack inflation.

We've brought inflation down, we have provided direct assistance to families to deal with cost-of-living challenges, we've improved our workforce, we're improving the skills and we're bringing manufacturing back because we believe in the Australian people. They put their faith in us, and we will work every single day to make their lives better.