Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the member for Hinkler's empathy towards his community. It's just a shame that it has only come now that he's sitting on the benches opposite. I welcome the focus from those opposite on helping families with the cost of living. It's just a shame it's only come now you're in opposition.

Let's look at your report card from when you were in government, firstly on wages. What happened to wages when those opposite were in power? They stagnated. It was a deliberate design feature of their economic strategy. How do we know? The former minister for finance Mathias Cormann told us. Well, the strategy worked—one of the few things you were able to achieve while you were in government. Wages flatlined. During the campaign, when those opposite were given an opportunity to back ordinary workers in this country, they baulked. Low wages were so ingrained in their thinking that they refused to back a wage increase in line with inflation for our lowest-paid workers: aged-care workers, childcare workers, cleaners—those who got us through the pandemic. Those opposite wanted to deny them a $1-an-hour increase. So on wages you failed.

What have we done? We passed the secure jobs, better pay bill to get wages moving. We supported an increase in the minimum wage, an outcome that has helped around 2.7 million Australians. That's because we on this side of the House will back workers. We will back good wages. We know that the best way to fight the cost of living is to have a good, well-paying job.

There's child care. Child care is one of the biggest expenses for families with young children. What happened to childcare costs while you were in government? They climbed 41 per cent in eight years. They were taking a bigger and bigger chunk of the household budget. Some parents simply dropped out of the workforce altogether. Just last year, 73,000 people who wanted to work didn't look for work. Why? Because of the prohibitive cost of child care. So, on one of the biggest expenses for household budgets, childcare costs, you failed again. What are we doing? We are investing $4.5 billion in early education and care to make it more affordable and accessible to families—96 per cent of families will be better off—because we know that the best way to fight the cost of living is cheaper child care. It's good for kids, it's good for parents and it's good for the economy.

There's gas and electricity. Events around the world have meant that families and small businesses have had to contend with higher power prices. The war in Ukraine, disrupted supply chains and increased international demand for gas have had an impact on energy prices. We can't control those events. So what can we control? Having one energy policy, not 22 attempts, is certainly a good start, so that we can give industry the certainty they need to make long-term investments; providing government commitment to and investment in renewable energy; and providing support to a bill that brings households relief on their power bills. These are all things that we can control to help bring down the cost of energy. These are actions that we on this side of the House are taking to help households and small businesses with power prices. But, again, those opposite refuse to support it. So, on gas and electricity prices, you failed.

So let's check the cost-of-living report card for those opposite. On wages growth, those opposite failed. On the cost of child care, those opposite failed. On the price of gas and electricity, what did they do? They failed again. You failed in government, you failed during the campaign and now you're failing in opposition. Lift your game. Come over and support some of these important bills that we are putting through. That's all I'm asking of you. If you care about the cost of living, if you want to show empathy to your community, vote for and support the bills that we are putting forward.

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