My question is also to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. Minister, the Foodbank hunger report found that one in three Australian households experienced food insecurity over the past year, 44 per cent of households are struggling to put food on the table, and rising supply and transport costs are forcing charity networks to cut back. Foodbank Australia CEO, Kylea Tink, has warned:

This is no longer about temporary belt-tightening—it is becoming dangerously entrenched …

What does the Prime Minister say to the thousands of charities and not-for-profits on the front line, like Foodbank, who are seeing the human consequences of Labor's cost-of-living crisis every day?

We know many Australians are under pressure, which is why we are doing something about it. It's why we are delivering tax cuts, why we're delivering cheaper medicines, why we're delivering more bulk-billing and why we are delivering free TAFE, paid prac and lower student debt. We know there is more to do and there's more work to deliver that change. But I would make the point that, if you had been elected, Australians would be worse off. We would have higher taxes today. Every housing policy that makes a difference would have been abolished, and we would have had fewer homebuyers and fewer houses built. We would have fewer bulk-billing doctors. We would not have more urgent care clinics. Medicines would be more expensive. Aged-care workers, early childhood educators, minimum wage workers and gig workers would have been paid less. So let us be clear about which party is actually looking to help Australians who are doing it tough with cost-of-living pressures. It is certainly not the coalition, because your policies would be for lower wages, less bulk-billing, fewer urgent care clinics, fewer houses built and higher taxes today.

Senator Smith, first supplementary.

Anglicare Australia's cost-of-living index found that struggling households are facing a devastating baseline deficit, with executive director Kasey Chambers warning that families are skipping meals, delaying health care, relying on emergency relief and building unsustainable debt. How can the Prime Minister claim Australians are better off when families cannot afford to eat properly, access health care or pay their bills without going into further debt?

I again make the point that the senator asking this question is from a party that wants lower minimum wages, lower minimum wages, lower minimum wages and lower minimum wages. He is a senator who is part of a party that wants there to be less bulk-billing and fewer urgent care clinics. So let's be really clear about that.

In relation to the broader issue of food relief, I have now been given some assistance on that. The government has announced another $4.7 million in funding for frontline services to help more people who need it most. That includes $2 million for food relief, to be shared amongst OzHarvest, Good360, Foodbank and SecondBite, and an increase to emergency relief providers, who will get an increase of 15 per cent on their national funding.

Senator Smith, second supplementary?

I'd add that charities have described today's announcement as abysmal and equal to just $1 per welfare recipient, but I digress. The Salvation Army reports families are being pushed to desperate levels of hardship, with parents skipping meals, children going to school hungry and some people resorting to eating spoiled food. When working Australian families are increasingly turning to charities for emergency food relief, at what point will the Prime Minister admit that Labor's cost-of-living policies are failing Australians? (Time expired)

I again go back to where I started. We recognise there are many Australians who are under pressure. There are families who are finding it extremely hard to make ends meet, which is why we are doing what we are doing—tax cuts, cheaper medicines, more bulk-billing, free TAFE, urgent care clinics and the other points I have raised. That is also why we have advocated for increases to the minimum wage and why we have lifted wages in the care economy, particularly in relation to early childhood educators and aged-care workers.

Finally, I would make the point, in relation to the food relief providers, that there has been a significant increase as against the 2024-25 baseline funding. That's because the government understands that these providers do such an important job supporting those families who are doing it tough.