Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My community of Bennelong is just like many across Australia. We are a community that faces the very real consequences of a decade of inaction on housing, underinvestment in infrastructure and a lack of care for the environment, whilst we also navigate the cost-of-living pressures posed by global economic turmoil, inflation and rising costs of living. Recognising this, our government has made easing cost-of-living pressures its top priority in this year's budget. This budget shows a clear intent by the government that we acknowledge that many are doing it tough and that everyone needs support to deal with cost-of-living pressures. This budget is good for Australia and it's good for Bennelong.

Firstly, this budget provides every taxpayer with a tax cut, directly putting more money back into the pockets of 92,000 taxpayers in Bennelong. Additionally, every household will receive a $300 energy rebate—much-needed relief as energy prices remain high. We are also investing significantly in our local infrastructure. There has been $115 million allocated for New South Wales's first electric-only bus depot in Macquarie Park and an additional $10 million for the Macquarie Park Precinct and Bus Interchange. Further, over $25 million will be dedicated to upgrading local roads, ensuring safer and more efficient travel for all of our residents. In health care, we are committed to making essential services more accessible to everybody. A Medicare urgent-care clinic in Top Ryde—Bennelong's first—will provide critical healthcare services closer to home, and publicly funded MRIs will be available to locals for the first time from 1 July 2025 in Bennelong. This will ensure that everyone in Bennelong has universal and bulk-billed access to these important services.

Furthermore, this budget adds more funding to address the housing crisis we face, with an extra $6 billion in new measures to build homes across Australia, helping first home buyers and renters in Bennelong find secure and affordable housing. That's a total of $32 billion in funding for housing to address a decade of housing inaction by those opposite. In Bennelong, 23,805 students will benefit from the government's HECS and HELP reforms, making education more affordable and accessible, and wiping $3 billion in student loan debt across Australia. This year's budget is a comprehensive plan that provides immediate relief and long-term investments to strengthen our community, our economy and our nation. From tax cuts and energy rebates to significant infrastructure projects and improved healthcare services, this budget is designed to address the pressing needs of our economy and ensure a better future for all Australians.

I'd like to take the opportunity to go a little deeper into some of the measures in this budget that people in Bennelong care about, starting with housing. We all know that a secure and affordable home is a cornerstone of a stable and prosperous society. Housing is something I've cared about, and advocated for, for a long time during my decade in public life. I was proud to stand as a candidate for Bennelong in 2022 because I knew that our government was going to do something about the housing crisis. This budget continues on the monumental work we've done to date, but I also acknowledge that there is much more to do. As mentioned, more than $6 billion in new housing measures have been allocated through this year's budget, bringing the government's total investment in housing initiatives over the next decade to $32 billion. These investments will increase market and non-market housing supply. They'll support homebuyers and renters and provide assistance to our most vulnerable citizens.

Breaking down this allocation, we are first and foremost allocating a billion dollars to infrastructure projects to accelerate the construction of new homes. This funding will go to states to provide this essential infrastructure, including roads, utilities and parks, which are crucial for additional housing supply. We are also committed to providing more social and affordable rental housing. To this end, we are increasing the liability cap of Housing Australia by $2½ billion and providing an additional $3 billion in loans to support ongoing programs.

Recognising the need for a skilled workforce to build these homes, we are creating 15,000 fee-free TAFE places and 5,000 pre-apprenticeship programs specifically for the construction industry. This initiative will ensure that we have the workers required in order to build the homes that we need. Moreover, we are unlocking up to a billion dollars through the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to create more homes, particularly focusing on housing for women and children who are fleeing domestic violence.

We are increasing the maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistance by 10 per cent, on top of the 15 per cent increase last year, to further help one million households with the cost of rent. This measure is costed at $1.9 billion. We are also doubling Commonwealth funding for homelessness support and building more social housing through a new $9.3 billion National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness, with an additional $423 million in funding. Additionally, we are dedicating more than $100 million to build more transitional housing for women and children who are impacted by family and domestic violence and older women who are at risk of homelessness.

Finally, we're providing $30 million to support veterans who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness. Our veterans have served our nation, and it's our duty to ensure that they have a safe place to call home.

These new measures build on our Comprehensive Homes for Australia Plan. Through the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund and the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator, progress has been made. We understand the critical role that housing plays in our lives, and we are dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to safe, secure and affordable housing. However, whilst housing remains a cornerstone of this budget, we must also take action to tackle the broader cost-of-living challenges that impact every household. Our government recognises the financial pressures that families, students and small businesses face every day. It was with this understanding that we presented a budget designed to ease these pressures and provide tangible relief to all Australians, not just some.

On 1 July the Albanese Labor government will deliver a significant tax cut for every taxpayer. That's 13.6 million Australians who'll get a tax cut—not just some, but everyone. And we changed those tax cuts to ensure that they help those who need it most. These cuts are aimed squarely at middle-income earners and those who've been telling me that they need support. For example, a part-time worker on $40,000 would have got nothing under the Liberals' plan—nothing. Under this budget and this government they'll get a tax cut of $654 a year—$0 under the Liberals; $654 under Labor. That's 2.9 million taxpayers who earn $45,000 or less. They will get a tax cut because of this budget.

But it's not just tax cuts that will help with cost-of-living relief. Our government is allocating a further $3½ billion for energy bill relief starting on 1 July. We know that last year the Liberals and Nationals voted against energy bill relief. Last year's relief was targeted, as it should have been; that was right for the time. But locals in Bennelong over the last year have been telling me they need energy relief, too. In this budget we have energy relief for everyone. More than 10 million households will get a $300 rebate on their energy bills, while one million eligible small businesses will receive a $325 rebate. And this time there'll be no applications. You don't need to fill out forms; you don't need to apply for it. It will automatically be applied to the household's and small business's energy bill. The rebates from 1 July will be simple, universal and much needed by every household in Bennelong.

On energy, it is great to see that this budget reaffirms our commitment to renewable energy and that renewable energy is paying off. Wholesale electricity prices in the electricity market have fallen by eight per cent in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same time last year. This decrease is a direct result of our efforts to increase the share of renewable energy, aiming for an 82 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.

Very recently, the Energy Market Operator released its default market offer for 1 July, which will see energy prices for small businesses in New South Wales fall by eight per cent and for households by 2½ per cent. But there's more to do and that's why this budget delivers billions and billions of dollars for the environment and not one cent of new money for gas.

I now turn to another topic: education. Education should be a pathway to opportunity and not a lifetime of debt. That's why our government is cutting $3 billion from student debt for over three million Australians. We are capping the HELP indexation rate to the lower of either the consumer price index or the wage price, backdated to 2023. This means HELP debts will never grow faster than wages and will provide much-needed relief to students nationwide.

Health care is another critical area in which we are making substantial investment in this budget. There is nearly $4 billion allocated to make medicines more affordable by freezing the PBS copayment and by adding more medicines to the PBS. We have already saved residents in Bennelong over $2.4 million. For the next five years pensioners and concession cardholders will not pay more than $7.70 for PBS medicines, ensuring our most vulnerable citizens can access the medications they need without extra financial pressure.

Supporting families is at the heart of our policies as well. From 1 July 2025 we will pay superannuation on government funded paid parental leave, an investment of $1.1 billion over four years. This measure will benefit 180,000 families annually and help reduce the retirement income disparity between men and women, who currently retire with 25 per cent less superannuation than men.

This budget lays a strong foundation for a future made in Australia, ensuring that our nation remains resilient, innovative and self-sufficient. We will invest heavily in the manufacturing sector, allocating $2 billion to the National Reconstruction Fund designed to support the development of critical technologies and industries which will create jobs and foster innovation. Instead of chasing out manufacturers like the Liberals did, we will invest in them. We are prioritising sectors such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and critical minerals processing, which are not only essential for our transitional to a low-carbon economy but also essential to the world's transition to a low-carbon economy.

This budget lays a strong foundation for addressing the key issues facing our community and our nation by focusing on immediate relief through tax cuts and energy rebates, and by adding a significant investments in housing and infrastructure, essential services and health care. By looking towards the future, a future made in Australia, we are taking concrete steps to improve the lives of our residents. This is a budget I endorse and it's a big and good budget for Bennelong.

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