Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Herbert for his question, and I hope he informed his constituent that he voted against $1½ billion of energy price relief. I hope he also informed his constituent that, when the Queensland government took regulatory action to put a cap on coal prices in order to take pressure off the system, he was also against that, because he voted against cheaper gas prices here in Australia as well, with the cap on gas of $12 that we brought to this parliament. That received the support of the Liberal government in New South Wales and the Labor opposition in New South Wales—which is responsible—and the Queensland government. Indeed, it received the unanimous support of every state and territory government around Australia, both Labor and coalition, because they all understood what the circumstances were that we were dealing with.

We will continue to take action to take pressure off the cost of living. Tomorrow will be 100 days until cheaper child care comes in. On 1 January, cheaper medicines came in. Fee-free TAFE is in place already. We know what those opposite would do if they had the chance, if they had to deal with these issues, because we've seen what they've done before. The Leader of the Opposition's biggest idea was a tax on GP visits, which would see the cost of visiting a GP rise by $7. But it wasn't just that. Not only did he not reduce the cost of prescriptions but his big idea was to raise the cost of prescriptions by $5. No wonder he was seen as Australia's worst health minister.

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