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

Two things magically happened on 21 May last year: the Albanese Labor government was elected—very exciting!—and the coalition suddenly realised there was an issue with the cost of living. It was a sudden realisation, because they didn't act on it during the nine years they were in government. Let's examine why their sudden interest in helping with the cost of living is such a charade now.

Act No. 1: under the coalition, the cost of child care went up by 41 per cent. Seventy-three thousand families were locked out of child care because they couldn't afford it. What did that mean? It meant kids couldn't get the early education we know is so critical and it meant there were fewer parents heading back into the workforce and contributing to our economy. And, critically, when it comes to the cost of living, it was a hit to household budgets. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to address this? We have reduced the cost of child care for 96 per cent of families across Australia. Approximately 7,800 families in my electorate are going to benefit from this. Over nine years, those opposite allowed the cost of child care to rise and rise. Under the Albanese Labor government, from 1 July we are making child care more affordable.

Act No. 2: power prices. This is probably where those opposite really excelled at acting. They acted like they were a government trying to come up with an energy policy. There were 22 attempts, but they couldn't deliver a single one, and, even when they had the chance to provide households with energy relief, they voted against it. Instead of siding with the Australian people, they sided with gas companies. They act like they care about reducing energy prices, but they voted for higher power prices. Contrast that with the Albanese Labor government. We have an energy policy that, first of all, isn't here after 22 attempts, and we are working our way through implementing it. We are upgrading our energy grid to enable more renewable energy to come online. Last year we capped gas and coal prices to shield Australians from the unprecedented international pressures on energy markets. We are acting on climate change and providing households with energy price relief.

In tonight's budget we are helping five million households and one million businesses with a reduction in energy bills. Those opposite couldn't deliver an energy policy, couldn't give energy certainty and couldn't help with power bills for households. What could they do? And here we come to the final act. Here's one of the few policies they had when they were in government—nine long years, and they had one policy: robodebt. It is extraordinary that those opposite can come into this place and pretend to care about the cost of living when they were the architects of robodebt. It was an illegal and immoral policy that had devastating consequences for the most financially vulnerable in our community—and they knew it. It was those opposite who hounded the most vulnerable with unlawful debt notices, chasing them for debts they did not owe. It was those opposite who decided to play the role of debt collector, scaring Australians who were already right on the edge.

Contrast that with the Labor government. In tonight's budget we are making it easier for those receiving the single parenting payment and JobSeeker. While those opposite put on the performance of a lifetime and pretend to care about the cost of living, we are actually taking action. For nine years under those opposite the cost of child care skyrocketed. They failed to deliver an energy plan and voted against providing energy price relief, and one of the few policies they had was robodebt. Today is performative. For nine years they did nothing on the cost of living. They may deserve a Gold Logie for their acting job today, but they don't deserve to be in government. That is why they were voted out on 21 May, and that's why they lost the seat of Aston, which is why we have the wonderful new member for Aston, Mary Doyle, amongst our ranks.

See this speech in context