Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is absolutely a matter of public importance. It's a matter of public importance to reiterate to the House and to every Australian the vast amount of work that this government is in fact undertaking to tackle inflation: bringing down the costs of everyday living goods, including medicines; delivering greater childcare subsidies; providing energy relief; and increasing opportunities to learn and to train with fee-free TAFE, to create a pathway and opportunities for other jobs that, in fact, may well pay better.

Importantly, because we believe in ensuring that Australians can earn more and keep more of what they earn, we are delivering tax cuts to every taxpaying Australian—that's 13.6 million people—and we are making sure that we are not holding back wage growth. In my electorate of Hasluck, there are 84,000 taxpayers who will be receiving that tax-cut through our government's fairer tax cut plan in July. It is quite extraordinary to think that from July every woman in Australia—every woman in Fowler, every woman in the seat of Ryan—will receive a tax cut, at an average of around $1,700. Under our fairer tax plan, 84 per cent of all taxpayers are going to receive an even bigger tax cut than they would have under another government. It would be helpful for those opposite to keep in mind just how sensible Australians were in making a decision to vote an Albanese Labor government in—how otherwise their conditions would be so much worse. With regard to the states and territories, I want to mention that 83 per cent of taxpayers in New South Wales are going to receive a bigger tax cut, and, as we just heard from the lovely member for Ryan, 87 per cent of Queenslanders are going to receive that bigger tax cut. It will help. It will make a real difference.

Because we're also a government that does not subscribe to the deliberate suppression of wages, real wage growth is now a feature of our economy again. The industries with the largest contribution to quarterly wage growth are health care and social assistance, and education and training. A great proportion of women in those sectors are the beneficiaries, yet again, of the Albanese Labor government.

At the pharmacy—and we know there was a bit of a battle to get this over the line, thanks to the coalition—people can now make much greater savings on their medicine bills. We've reduced the maximum cost of a PBS script from $42.40 to $30. That's genuine cost relief for the member for Fowler's constituents, who have realised more than $1½ million in savings through more than 123,000 scripts. That is genuine cost-of-living relief. In addition, in the first five months since this government introduced 60-day scripts, constituents living in the seat of Fowler have benefited from the reduced cost—and, of course, the added convenience—with more than 27,000 scripts dispensed. It is the same in my electorate of Hasluck, where $2.3 million has been saved at pharmacies across more than 185,000 medicine scripts that are now cheaper, with around 17,000 60-day scripts dispensed. These savings will continue to grow, providing genuine relief for people managing their household budgets.

We've made record investments in Medicare. We've tripled the bulk-billing incentive. This has enabled more people, particularly concession card holders, pensioners and people with children, to find a GP who is willing and happy to bulk-bill. We've also introduced urgent care clinics across the country. I'm really lucky to have one—the North Street Medical Centre in Midland—in my electorate of Hasluck. Every time our constituents take advantage of the increased availability of bulk-billed appointments, they are genuinely saving money. The government are committed to making it easier for people to see a GP who bulk-bills, and we are absolutely committed, as the party for Medicare, to protecting and strengthening Medicare as well.

The previous speaker, the member for Ryan, mentioned cheaper child care. That is great, because it gives me an opportunity to speak to both her constituents and those of the member for Fowler about the thousands of families who are now eligible for greater childcare subsidies. In Hasluck there are 5,600 families who have directly benefited from cheaper child care, and in the member for Fowler's electorate there are around 4,600 eligible families. This is real, genuine cost-of-living relief that the Albanese Labor government is delivering, and it is already benefiting more than 16,000 families across Australia.

On energy bill relief we've done the same. We have delivered direct payments and introduced major changes to transmissions to ultimately achieve greater— (Time expired)

See this speech in context