Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians are hard workers and they always have been. They do the extra shift. They pay the bills. They raise the kids. They save a little extra for a rainy day. But, for too long, Australians have felt like the economy has not been working for them. After a decade of Liberal neglect, wages were held back, Medicare was weakened, housing got harder to afford and working people were told to just cop it. Those across from me still don't get it. They don't get that working people are not asking for miracles. They're asking for a fair go.

This Albanese Labor government gets it. We're doing something about it. From today, every taxpayer is going to get another tax cut. Around three million minimum-wage and award workers are getting a pay rise. It's lower taxes and higher wages, and that's money back in people's pockets. We are banning supermarket price gouging because Australians deserve a fair go at the checkout. We're expanding Paid Parental Leave to six months because new parents deserve more time with their new bub. We're making urgent care clinics a permanent part of Medicare so that people can get free urgent care closer to home. We're cutting the cost of medicines and we're strengthening bulk-billing. We've now passed new laws to give first home buyers a fair go because, if you work hard, you should be able to buy a home of your own.

This is what a Labor government does. We do not wring our hands. We get things done—lower taxes, higher pay, cheaper medicines, stronger Medicare, six months of paid parental leave, a fair go at the checkout and a fair go for first home buyers. That's real change. That's what the Albanese Labor government is delivering, and we are just getting started.