Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Not only did no-one hear him but no-one listens to him. The reality is that Australia's economic recovery has been one of the strongest anywhere in the world, faster and stronger than the United States and the United Kingdom, then Canada, then France, then Italy and Japan.

In last night's budget we announced a $8.6 billion package of measures to ease the cost-of-living pressures on Australian families, recognising that cost-of-living pressure is the No. 1 topic around the kitchen tables of the country. Cutting the fuel exercise in half will see a family with two cars that fill up once a week up to $30 dollars a week better off and $700 better off over a six-month period. A $420 bonus to the LMITO, low- and middle-income tax offset, will support more than 10 million low- and middle-income earners, which means if you are on $60,000, $70,000 or $80,000, on 1 July and after that when you put in a tax return, you will see $1,500 in your bank account as a result of tax relief provided by this government. Also in the budget was a $250 payment to six million people on income support—veterans, pensioners, carers, people on the disability support pension and concession cardholders, including self-funded retirees. Six million Australians will get that $250 payment, for many in addition to the indexation arrangements, which are also providing cost-of-living relief. Also in this budget was a measure to reduce the cost of medicines to make them more accessible to 2.4 million Australians. So the measures we announced last night were responsible, they were targeted, they were temporary and they were designed to provide cost-of-living relief for Australians who need it most.

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