Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

If the Liberals actually cared about the living standards of Australians, they would not have presided over a moribund decade of low productivity. It was the lowest decade of productivity growth that we have seen in 60 years. If they actually cared about the living standards of Australians, they would not have presided over energy secrecy and energy chaos—22 policies and a failure to land even one. Now they've cooked up, in their cooker's laboratory, the nuclear frolic. We are just watching as this narrative crashes and burns with the Australian people. I'm really pleased that they are taking this to the next election, because we can finally apply some scrutiny and science to these claims.

If they actually cared about the living standards of Australians, they would not have presided over galloping, out-of-control childcare costs. In fact, they rose 41 per cent in the decade that those opposite presided over. They would not have presided over the collapse of bulk billing. They would not have watched as wages stalled and stagnated. They would not have watched economy-wide skill shortages in this country which in turn fed into the supply-chain problems that we had when the pandemic washed over us.

If they actually cared about the living standards of Australians, they would not have burdened young Australians with $1 trillion in debt and nothing to show for it—or not enough to show for it. If they actually cared about Australians' living standards, they would not have presided over the housing crisis. The decline in housing started in around 2016, and it has been in freefall ever since. Now we are trying to turn this supertanker around. If they actually cared about Australians' living standards, they would have offered Australians the best fuel-saving technology in cars a decade ago. Instead, Australia is a laggard with respect to fuel efficiency standards. Australians have been denied the most fuel-efficient cars for over a decade while those opposite were in power.

But the reality is that those opposite never cared about Australians; they cared about themselves. You only had to watch Nemesis to confirm that. It was all about their politics; it was nothing to do with the Australian people.

We have come to power, and now we are here to clean up their economic mess. Our focus is on delivering as much relief as we can—and that's what we've done, over two budgets—to the Australian people. With respect to one area, health, for example, we have given Australians to more affordable and accessible health care. We have rolled out 58 urgent care clinics around the country, including one in Prahran in my electorate. This clinic is currently diverting at least 20 patients from the emergency department to the clinic, and that's lowering the pressure on our overburdened hospital system.

We've also delivered cheaper medicines for Australians. This has come in the form of 60-day scripts, which have already saved around $13 million for Australians over the last two months. It comes off the back of cheaper medicines where we cut the general script from $42.50 to $30, saving Australians around $20 million a month in the year since it was introduced.

We have also given Australians more access to immunisations on the National Immunisation Program through their local pharmacy. For example, the Shingrix vaccine, a highly effective vaccine against shingles, is now available free to all Australians over the age of 65, immunocompromised patients and First Nations patients who are 50 years or over. This vaccine normally costs $600 but you can get it for free because we have enabled that to happen.

In addition, we have bedded down these cheaper medicine reforms with an agreement with the community pharmacies sector—$3 billion. That has only come about because of our economic management, which has allowed us to have the first budget surplus in 15 years, something they talked and talked about. They talked a big game but they could not deliver. We've delivered it and it has enabled us to provide more relief to Australian families.

Child care is an incredibly important issue for families. In Higgins, families spend the highest amount on child care in Victoria, and the reforms we introduced have brought welcome relief to those families.

See this speech in context