Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Addressing the cost of living is the federal Labor government's No. 1 priority. The 2024-25 federal budget demonstrates this. Our budget is about helping to ease the cost of living for every Australian no matter where they live, no matter who they are, no matter how much they earn. We understand that many Australians are under pressure up and down the income scale, and that is why the most recent budget is delivering cost-of-living measures that will make a real difference to every Australian.

A signature component of our budget is Labor's tax cuts. Every Australian taxpayer will receive a tax cut from 1 July, including the 66,000 taxpayers in the electorate of Robertson who will receive this tax cut. On average this represents $1,580 per year, which will significantly help Australians on the Central Coast with the cost of living. In addition the Treasurer also announced energy bill rebates for every household and eligible small businesses. The government understands energy costs can be considerable on households and small businesses. That is why, come 1 July, every household will receive a $300 energy rebate and eligible small businesses will receive a $325 energy rebate. On the Central Coast this relief will assist the 12,810 small businesses within the electorate of Robertson. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and play a tremendous role in employing hundreds of thousands of Australians across the country, and the Central Coast is no exception to this. We have a thriving small-business community, and I am pleased that our government is helping eligible small businesses with their overheads.

For several months, constituents in my electorate have been corresponding with my office about the unfair rate of indexation in relation to HECS debts. In 2023 the rate of indexation rose with inflation and saw HECS debts increase markedly. This issue continues to be a considerable concern in my community. I welcome the news that our government will change the way indexation is applied to HECS debts and will backdate this change to 1 June 2023, wiping $3 billion in HECS debts for hundreds of thousands of Australians across the country. This measure will make HECS fairer and ensure the large indexation increases that were recorded last year do not occur again. Across my community, that's just over 15,000 people who will see their HECS debts slashed, and there is a similar number in Dobell. So, in the Central Coast region, we're talking upwards of 30,000 people who will benefit from Labor's HECS changes.

On the topic of education, and speaking as a health professional, I'm very excited about the government's announcement in the budget that will create the Commonwealth prac payment for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students. This essentially means that students undertaking a degree in nursing, for example, will be paid to complete their mandatory prac placements, helping with living costs during quite a challenging period of their studies. This support will help assist more students complete their degrees, which will ensure that there are more workers in critical care sectors like health care, education and the care economy—sectors that are experiencing skills shortages and require more workers.

A component of the budget that has not received as much reporting recently is our government's commitment to delivering a better future for our defence personnel, our veterans, and their families. After a decade of neglect by those in the Liberal and National parties, it has taken a Labor government to address the inadequate funding of the Department of Veterans' Affairs. I'm pleased that we will invest an additional $477 million to increase our support to the more than 340,000 veterans and dependants accessing services through DVA across Australia. Following our successful employment of an additional 500 frontline staff at DVA to eliminate veterans' compensation backlogs, we will employ an extra 141 staff to ensure backlogs like those that accumulated under the coalition do not re-emerge and make claims processes faster. This is historic. It's an investment that increases funding for veterans' services to its highest level in over three decades. This support will also directly assist the 3,480 veterans and their families living in my electorate of Robertson.

We are a government that is working every day to help every Australian reach their full potential, and we are a government that is delivering a better future.

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