Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Cost of Living Tax Cuts) Bill 2024 and what our new tax cuts will mean for the people that I represent in this place, the people of Cowan.

I may be biased, as I'm sure everybody here is biased towards their own community, but Cowan is a prime example of an electorate that best represents the people of Australia. The people of Cowan are hardworking; they go to work every day to provide for their families and for their loved ones, and many of them have come from around the world for a better future and to call Australia home. They are indeed aspirational Australians. I've heard that word 'aspirational' spoken a lot during this debate and I have listened carefully as those opposite described what 'aspiration' is. The member for Bowman, for example, described 'aspiration' and talked about aspiration in terms of people aspiring to buy an investment property. Well, let me tell the House a little bit about aspiration.

Aspiration is the migrant daughter of a bus driver, born in a country where she could only ever hope to be the daughter of a bus driver, standing in this place and delivering a speech as a minister in the federal government. But it's also the young man I met while doorknocking who had just finished school and wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do with his life and who didn't realise he could actually study a degree in counterterrorism at Edith Cowan University until I explained to him that I actually wrote the course and that it was a good option for him. Now, three years later, he is aspiring to work in the field of counterterrorism and law enforcement. Aspiration is also the single mum in casual work who aspires to save enough money to fix that leaky roof. It's the young couple expecting their first child and budgeting for the cost of early childhood education so that they can both return to work and manage the cost of living. It's the early childhood education and care worker, it's the nurse, it's the police officer and it's the tradie, all of whom will get a tax cut under our better way—under our Labor tax reforms.

Like all the members here, I don't claim to be anything special when I say that I go out there and listen to my constituents. I know that's something that each and every one of us do; we undertake those activities as part of the privilege of being representatives of our communities in this place. I listen to my constituents when I meet them regularly at my meet-your-member events, or when I have 'open offices' or community events, or even when I'm just walking through my local shopping centre. I'm sure many in this place will be very familiar with the fact that it takes three hours to buy a bottle of milk at your local shopping centre or when visiting your local café! One thing I often hear from them is how difficult it is with the cost-of-living pressures right now. But I must also say that since being elected into this place in 2016, I have often stood in my seat and spoken about the pressures on people in some of the poorer suburbs in my electorate and how that's impacting them.

There's absolutely no denying that household budgets are under the pump. There's a genuine sense of stress and anxiety every time people look at the bills or line up at the checkout counter. Just go to your local shops, stand back and observe. I don't normally buy bread, but the last time I was there I was buying a loaf of bread for my brother-in-law—who only eats white bread!—and I noticed people looking into their purses and their wallets, counting the coins to be able to afford a loaf of bread.

It's pretty tough out there, and I know from listening to members on all sides that everyone is acutely aware of just how tough the people that they represent are doing it. But the difference is that we're doing something about it. We went to the election with a promise to deliver cost-of-living relief, and the Albanese government is doing exactly that. From tripling the bulk-billing incentive and cutting the cost of prescription medicines to providing energy bill relief and making early childhood education and care more affordable—in fact, 11 per cent more affordable than it was before we came to office—at every turn we're doing everything that we can to deliver that cost-of-living relief to the people of Australia.

At my meet your member events, people have told me that we need to do more for taxpayers, and this message has been echoed very strongly in communities across the country. It's crystal clear that every taxpayer needs and deserves a meaningful tax cut and, as good governments do, we've listened. It's pretty despairing to hear those opposite rabbit on about broken promises, but what they cannot deny, what they cannot come in here and say, is that those tax cuts aren't a better way, aren't delivering cost-of-living relief for the people that they represent and aren't going to mean more money in the pockets of the people they represent. Listen carefully to what they say, because not a single one of them can come in here and deny that fact.

Good government isn't about shying away from tough decisions. It isn't about staying the course just to look after your own political interests when there is a better way ahead of you. It's about doing the right thing for the right reasons and, importantly, at the right time. It's about putting people ahead of politics, and that is exactly what we're doing.

From 1 July, we're giving every taxpayer a tax cut, which will deliver more help for those working families in Cowan and every electorate represented here and will put cash back into people's pockets at a time when they need it most. It's a huge thing for the people of Cowan because we are set to be the biggest beneficiaries of Labor's tax cuts in Western Australia. There are about 83,000 taxpayers in Cowan, and they're now going to get an average tax cut of $1,451. That means that that single mum can fix that leaky roof. It means that that young couple preparing to have a baby can put something aside for when their baby is born. It means that that young man who undertook studies and aspires to work in law enforcement and counterterrorism can buy the books that he needs to complete his final year at university.

We're already getting extremely positive feedback from across my community in Cowan. Constituents are ringing my office and telling us what that extra $1,450 means to them. They can pay their insurance bill, fill up their car, put food on the table and pay their mortgage. They're also telling us that they're proud that the Prime Minister and this government is sticking up for people in need rather than sticking to a tax policy from five years ago.

What makes me even more incredibly proud is what these tax cuts will mean for women across the country. It doesn't need to be said that women work hard right across Australia, and we want to ensure that they also get to keep more of their hard-earned money. Our tax plan will see Australian women taxpayers receive, on average, a tax cut of $1,649 from 1 July. That's an extra $707, on average, compared to the previous government's plan.

Under our plan, huge numbers of early childhood educators, disability workers and aged-care workers will also benefit from our tax cuts. It isn't circumstantial. It's not just by accident that this happened. It's by design. Just as those opposite, by design, had that the centrepiece of their economic plan was to keep wages low, our design is to give people back more of what they earn. Our design is to get wages moving. Our design is to give people a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, and our government has applied a clear gender-impact lens to the changes that we're proposing, to measure the significant benefit that these tax cuts will have for women.

A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to Emma, an aged-care worker and a proud United Workers Union delegate. She was telling me how excited she was to be getting back $1,700 in her pay packet from the tax cuts. I also spoke to Caro, who I mentioned last week in question time. She's an early childhood educator who's been in the industry for 45 years. I tip my hat to anyone who's been in early childhood education for 45 years. Don't get me wrong: the highlight of my day, every day, is visiting early childhood education centres, but after 45 minutes I am exhausted. So hats off to Caro for doing it for 45 years. She has absolutely devoted her life to education and she was able to tell me what it means to her—as a childcare worker, a female worker, a hardworking woman—to get these tax cuts. Hearing from Caro and Emma was a humbling reminder of the reason why we form Labor governments: it's to ensure that we deliver for all Australians, especially those who need it most, to ensure that nobody is left behind. That's what these tax cuts do; as the Prime Minister has said and the Treasurer has said, they don't leave anyone behind. The original stage 3 tax cuts were leaving behind some of the most hardworking people in Australia who are doing it the toughest, many of them in electorates around the country just like Cowan.

Our changes, our better way, our tax reforms, ensure that every working person in Australia, every taxpayer, gets a tax cut. I'm proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government that is delivering real cost-of-living relief to families in the community of Cowan and in every community across the country. Over the course of today, as we did last week, we'll hear many contributions on this policy reform. But, as I said earlier, not a single person can come in here and say that these tax cuts won't benefit the people in their electorate—that the people in their electorate won't get a tax cut or that anybody in their electorate will be left out. And, as that's the case, that's a pretty sure sign that we're doing the right thing by all Australians.

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