Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last night I watched the Treasurer deliver a responsible commonsense budget, and I am proud because this government is delivering on its promises. We are addressing the immediate challenges facing people right now and delivering much-needed cost-of-living relief. But don't take my word for it.

Less than 24 hours on from the budget I am being told how much this will help my constituents, particularly those on low incomes. In fact, this morning I received an email from a constituent, Tom. Tom is a GP at Kiama Downs. Tom told me that he's so happy after seeing the budget news last night. Do you know why? I'll tell you. Tom told me, and these are his words:

People in our community on low incomes, and those with chronic severe diseases will now have a fighting fair chance at affordable health care again.

He went on to say that the patients who attend his practice will be happy for years to come. That is a fantastic outcome.

I have GPs calling and emailing me to tell me that they're now going to be able to bulk-bill everyone who needs it. That is an incredible achievement, and one that I'm proud of. Eighty-nine thousand people in Gilmore will benefit from the strengthening of Medicare. That is an absolute win because being able to avoid and/or manage chronic conditions and being able to see a doctor when you need to are the best ways to lift people out of poverty. Our cheaper medicines policy will halve the amount of money that 50,000 people in Gilmore will pay for their scripts—50,000 people will have their medication costs halved.

And what about electricity prices? In Gilmore, we have a lot of veterans, a lot of pensioners and seniors and a lot of people who hold concessions cards. I'll tell you what, $500 off their next electricity bill will mean a lot. It'll mean a whole lot. Helping people pay their electricity bills is a good way to alleviate the rising cost of living and help keep people out of poverty.

You know what isn't a good way to lift people out of poverty? It's to oppose the Housing Australia Future Fund, which is what the coalition and Greens are doing. They are fighting against the millions of people the Housing Australia Future Fund will help. People like a young mum in Worrigee who I've spoken about in this chamber before and the dozens of other people contacting my office every single week looking for help finding a home or the 50 people in Moruya living in a campground with nowhere else to go. I encourage the coalition and Greens to have a think about that and to support the Housing Australia Future Fund.

But what about renters? In the budget, we've increased the Commonwealth rental assistance by 15 per cent. This is the largest increase to Commonwealth rent assistance in more than 30 years. Around 1.1 million households will benefit from this increase.

We wanted to ensure that this budget would help people through difficult times, which is why we've increased the parent payment for single parents. As a result of our changes, 57,000 single parents will see an increase to their income support payment, and payments for single parents are one of the higher payments in the income support system, recognising the difficulty of balancing care and work as a single parent with young children. That's something I'm proud to support.

We're delivering more support for the most vulnerable in our community, because we know they're doing it tough. Not only that, we've also responsibly manage the budget. We are providing real assistance to people who need it. We're delivering real cost-of-living relief. Last night we delivered the biggest ever investment in bulk billing, lowered the cost of medicines, funded the biggest-ever pay rise for aged-care workers, offered real relief on electricity bills, and that's not even all of it. The Albanese Labor government is creating opportunities that all Australians can share in and making the services we rely on stronger. Our plan will grow the economy, create new jobs, boost renewable energy and invest in skills and training. It is a responsible budget, a practical budget.

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