Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

I am sorry, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Leader of the Opposition and the former coalition government made an active decision to reject the proposal to increase pension rates. They actively chose not to increase the pension—shame! After more than a decade of inaction by the Liberal Party, it took a federal Labor government to overhaul the pension system to make it more adequate and more sustainable for those age and disability pensioners, carers and veterans who depend on it.

We also know that when it comes to raising a family there are education costs. We introduced the education tax refund. Obviously the opposition thought this was such a good idea that they included changes to it in their own election campaign, which was very interesting. It was introduced by a Labor government, helping around 1.3 million families to meet the costs of their children’s education, like laptops and textbooks. Of course, we announced that we are now expanding it to include school uniforms. Eligible families can claim a 50 per cent tax refund on their education expenses up to $780 for each primary school child and over $1,500 for each high school student.

We have heard about the Medicare Teen Dental Plan, under which more than 800,000 preventative dental checks have been undertaken. We have also heard about the increases we announced during the election campaign for the family tax benefit for teenagers aged 16 to 18. Can I say that, as a parent of a teenage daughter who is 16, I understand these costs and I understand that they increase as children get older. Under the new measure, the new maximum rate for FTB A for 16- to 18-year-olds will increase by $208 per fortnight. That is just over $6,000 per year. This is the same rate that currently applies to 13- to 15-year-olds and the eligibility conditions are the same.

We know that families and pensioners cannot trust the opposition. We know that during the election campaign they told us they wanted to increase the cost of living for low- and middle-income families through a tax on companies that own our supermarkets and our petrol stations so they could fund paid parental leave for high-income earners. We know all this. We heard it all during the election campaign. Those opposite do not understand the pressures that Australian families face. We know that they voted against our tax bonus for working Australians. We know that they voted against our stimulus package. We know that they voted against that package that protected and saved jobs during the global financial crisis and we know that, if they had their way, Australia would now be in recession and thousands of families would have faced unemployment, would be without a job and would be unable to pay their bills. While the opposition keeps playing their negative fear and scare campaign politics with serious issues like the cost of living, we want to continue to deliver real results—protecting jobs and providing proper support for Australian families, pensioners, carers and those in our local communities.

In closing I want to touch on the interest rates issue. We know that those opposite keep running this fear campaign on interest rates, but what we also know is that while those opposite were in government there were 10 interest rate rises in a row. We know that interest rates are now lower than when they left office in 2007 and we know that people are now paying less in mortgage interest rates. A family with a $300,000 loan is currently paying $236 a month, or over $2,800 per year, less than in November 2007. I am very pleased that we are addressing the cost of living for families. We do have a plan to continue to do that and I am pleased to be part of a government that has that plan.

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