Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Can I just say to the collective bright brains trust that was sitting opposite: when they say 'fight out the ideas' they don't mean physically attack the shadow Treasurer. I'm really sorry to see that he is under that ailment. What I was expecting to see when we were discussing the topic of inflation here today was that, unlike what we saw in the budget reply, maybe, just maybe, the opposition was going to come and say, 'This is our idea to fight inflation.' I thought it might even be possible that, if they weren't going to disclose an idea, they might have come forward and given a hint that maybe the shadow Treasurer is the Josh Lyman of Australian politics and actually had a secret plan to fight inflation. But, no, there's no plan, there's no secret plan and there's been no costing of their ideas. This is an opposition that is completely out of its depth.

We understand that getting on top of the inflation challenge is a central focus for a government and a budget in handling our economy. But it's worth the opposition reflecting on the fact that the highest level of quarterly inflation was under the previous government, in the March quarter of last year. Theirs is the record of ignominy when it comes to inflation. In fact, the level of inflation in the March quarter of 2022 under the last government was the worst quarter for inflation this entire century. That is the record from which they come into here and purport to lecture us on handling the inflation issue that is confronting our economy and confronting all Australians right now.

So, being clear that this is a problem that started under the last government, it's important to realise that they didn't do anything to address the shocks that our nation has been confronted with externally over some time. There were the supply shocks generated by COVID. There is the war in Ukraine, which has had a global inflationary effect. But, of course, we've also had the pent-up savings that occurred during those COVID lockdown periods across the country. But did the previous government, seeing these things occurring, do anything in terms of its economic settings, in terms of the way it delivered its budgets over the last decade to make sure that Australia was set up to deal with these challenges? No, it didn't. It's got no ideas whatsoever about how to deal with these important issues.

On our side of politics, however, the centrepiece of our second budget is a $14.6 billion cost-of-living package over the next four years that will ease pressure on Australians whilst putting downward pressure on inflation. People are under the pump; we acknowledge that as a government. We've carefully calibrated and designed this budget so that it takes pressure off the cost of living rather than adding to it. This budget prioritised responsible, targeted cost-of-living relief while also investing in the future, securing the services that Australians rely on and strengthening our nation's finances. The cost-of-living measures in our 2023-24 budget included the largest investment in bulk-billing incentives ever, delivering $3.5 billion to triple the bulk-billing incentives and help 11.6 million eligible Australians access a GP with no out-of-pocket expenses. To put that in real terms, in my own community in Burt that will assist over 90,000 people. We've also tripled the veterans' access payment to make it easier for veterans to access a GP. We're reducing the cost of medicines by up to half for at least six million people. We're spending up to $3 billion on electricity bill relief across the country. We're seeing that retail price increases are now expected to be 25 percentage points lower than what we would've seen if we'd had the 'no policy' approach of the previous government.

Our budget includes $4.9 billion to increase the base rate of several working-age and student income support payments like the JobSeeker payment and youth allowance by $40 a fortnight for eligible recipients. Again, for ordinary Australians in my community that will help over 9,000 people. In the 2022 budget delivered by Labor we also increased the annual totally and permanently incapacitated pension payment by $1,000, providing financial assistance to our most injured veterans. Our budget included $2.7 billion to increase the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance by 15 per cent, and a $1.9 billion investment in the single parent payment.

Let's not forget that from 1 July, which is only a few weeks away now, we're making child care cheaper for 1.2 million Australian families. They will be better off as a consequence. That will assist over 6,000 families in the electorate of Burt. This will have an immediate impact on the hip pocket of young families. And it concerns me that the relevant shadow minister for this area continues to criticise this policy. It's a real 'have it each way' approach from this opposition. They walk in here and whinge about a policy that is going to provide cost-of-living relief for Australian families: a childcare subsidy policy that is going to make it cheaper to access, make it easier for families to access and make it easier for both parents to be able to continue to pursue their careers. It is a productivity-lifting policy, yet they come in here and complain about it. Of course, the opposition couldn't vote against it because they know how good a policy it actually is.

This will help maintain an affordable, high-quality early childhood education system across Australia. Investing in child care isn't just about assisting young Australians; it's also good for our economy. It boosts productivity and workforce participation—critical, as even the shadow Treasurer pointed out, for helping deal with these issues of inflation. In fact, Treasury estimates that our cheaper childcare plan will add some 1.4 million hours per week in terms of the workforce. That's the equivalent to putting an additional 37,000 full-time workers into the workforce. It's about taking all of those matters into account, as the Reserve Bank governor did. When asked about our budget, he made this very interesting and telling point: 'I don't think the budget is adding to inflation; it's actually reducing inflation in the next financial year.' That's completely the opposite to what the shadow Treasurer was trying to maintain earlier. Treasury's advice is that our policies to ease cost-of-living pressure are expected to directly reduce inflation by three-quarters of a percentage point in 2023-24. So the shadow Treasurer, who likes selectively quoting out of the budget papers, might want to refer to those particular figures as well.

Of course, inflation is still higher than any of us would like, and it has been more persistent than would be ideal. That's why we are putting downward pressure, in our budget, on inflation. It's why we are making these meaningful differences to the families that need support most, by providing this cost-of-living relief in our budget. Australians also understand that, when the Reserve Bank of Australia makes its decision in respect of interest rates and the cash rate, that is a decision that is made independently of government.

As I started to say before, the coalition likes to 'talk it up', by selectively quoting some statistics from its record in the past decade when they were in government. Let's just think about what ordinary Australians—mums and dads and Australian families—saw in the economy and in their own hip pockets under a decade of this last government. They saw flatlining and anaemic wage growth. They saw a circumstance under the last government where the cost of living was still going up, but nothing was happening to help them pay for those increases in the cost of living. They had completely flat wage growth and flat growth across the economy. This was a previous government that did not understand the need to support ordinary workers across the economy. In fact, it wasn't just something that happened under their term of government; it was a deliberate policy position of the last government to keep wages low, to keep the incomes of Australian families low.

So let's just reflect on that versus what we have achieved in just one year of being in government. We've successfully advocated for wage increases for minimum and award wage workers, and a funding pay rise for aged-care workers. We are delivering cheaper child care. We are delivering cheaper medicines. We are tripling the bulk-billing incentive to support 11.6 million eligible Australians. We are delivering fee-free TAFE and more university places. We are expanding paid parental leave. We're building more affordable homes through the National Housing Accord. We have brought in a new pensioner work bonus for older Australians so that they can continue working without affecting their pension. We are increasing the base rate for eligible recipients of JobSeeker, Austudy, youth allowance and other working-age payments. We are increasing the maximum rate of the Commonwealth rent assistance by up to 15 per cent—the biggest increase in over three decades. In partnership with state and territory governments, we are providing electricity bill rebates for more than five million households and one million small businesses. Our budget is delivering real cost-of-living relief. It's a responsible budget. It's a practical budget. That is not what we ever saw from those opposite.

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