Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The fundamental feature of the Australian economy under the Albanese Labor government is that there are more Australians in work, and they are earning higher wages than ever before. Over 840,000 new jobs have been created on our watch. Wages are moving again—in fact, wages are moving at a faster rate now than at any stage over the last decade. The good news is that, because of our tax cuts, Australians are earning more and they will keep more of what they will earn. We're also managing to repair the budget by delivering not one but two budget surpluses. We are paying down the debt that we inherited from this mob over here. Because of that, we are paying less interest on the debt that we inherited from the coalition.

Now, I listened carefully to the case that was going to be put against the government by the shadow Treasurer, and it boils down to two things. The first is that the Treasurer doesn't have a Rhodes scholarship, and the second thing is that it's taken more than two years for us to clean up the diabolical mess that they left us. Well, well we concede on both issues. If it takes a university degree from Oxford to deliver, then obviously we're not going to make the cut, but I put the record of Dr Chalmers, the Treasurer, against anything they have been able to deliver the 10 years they were in government, every single day. They promised budget surpluses each and every year and delivered nothing but coffee cups.

It is true that we haven't fixed the diabolical mess that they left us: a decade of waste and mismanagement, stagnant wages—not an accident but a deliberate design feature of their economic policies—and inflation with a 6 in front of it. We heard the member for Hume just now talk about the cost-of-living crisis. We have managed to halve the inflation that we inherited from those opposite. It is still too high, and there is more work to be done, but, if inflation with a 3 in front of it is a problem, can you imagine what they would have been thinking when they had inflation with a 6 in front of it, which is what it was when they left office?

The entry price to a discussion on cost of living is not what you say but what you do, and we know what they did on their watch. They delivered real wage cuts as a deliberate wage policy; a deliberate economic policy was wage suppression. They had the opportunity to vote in favour of energy price caps. They had the opportunity to vote in favour of energy bill relief and they opposed it. They voted against it. They had the opportunity to support cheaper medicines and they opposed it. They had the opportunity support higher wages and more secure jobs. Not only did they vote against it, but they have promised that they will reverse those policies if they have the opportunity after the next election.

Well, we've got a different plan. It's a plan that sees Australians earning more and keeping more of what they earn. It's a plan that sees a record number of Australians in work, and we intend to keep it that way.

Towards the end of his closing remarks, I was listening very carefully to what he had to say, and it was quite clear that the coalition intends to oppose our Future Made in Australia plans. When I talk to people throughout Australia, they yearn for a time when Australia can be a country that makes things again. I know that your electorate of Newcastle, Deputy Speaker, a proud manufacturing region, a region that has a proud history of mining and manufacturing and that has built on top of that a world-class university, has transformed itself over the years, just like my region in the Illawarra. But we want to ensure that Australia will continue to be a country that makes things again, and our Future Made in Australia plan will deliver exactly that, starting with a plan to deliver energy—the sorts of energy sources that are going to drive economic development not for last century but over the next century.

I hear the members opposite talk about the importance of gas, and I agree; gas will be an important energy source as a transition and a feedstock for many industries. But gas alone is not going to get us there. We need to ensure that we are generating from energy sources that are going to drive industry over the decades to come—that's renewables and hydrogen. We are going to back our capacity to develop a world-class hydrogen industry. We were looking forward to bipartisan support on this issue, but it is quite clear that the coalition don't support a future made in Australia. That begs the question, if they do not support a future made in Australia, what country do they support our future being made in?

We are backing the ingenuity and capacity of Australians. It's why we are investing in skills. It's why we are investing in more tradespeople in traditional and new trades. It's why we're investing to ensure we have the workforce that is able to rebuild the energy network that we are going to need for the century ahead. It's why we're investing in traditional trades and new trades. It's why we're investing in universities and university students as well. It's why we have wiped $3 billion off the university debts of hundreds of thousands of Australian university students. We're encouraging more kids that come from backgrounds like mine and towns like mine to go to university so they'll have the capacity to earn and to take their place in the labour market of the future.

This is what a government plan, which I support, leading into the future looks like. This is what a government plan which is dedicated to a future made in Australia looks like. We know we need to support Australians through the difficult medium term ahead. That is what our tax cut for every taxpayer is going to deliver on 1 July. Eighty-seven per cent of workers in my electorate are going to be better off. It will be 84 per cent nationally. It will be 90 per cent of women. Ninety per cent of women are going to be better off. They talk about bracket creep as if it's something that affects only higher wage earners. We know it's not. They talk about aspirations as if they are something that only high wage earners have, but we believe in the aspiration of every single Australian worker, whether they're a tradie, nurse, teacher, policeman or ambulance worker. Every single Australian worker has aspiration, and we believe that our tax cuts are going to deliver a better deal for them.

There will be energy relief for every household as we build the new energy system which will drive household power and industry over the future. There's cheaper child care. I see the shadow spokesperson is at the table. They're opposing it. We have a plan to ensure that we are getting more teachers and early childhood educators into child care, but we're also ensuring that child care is more affordable. It is sensible economic policy. It means that families can make a decision about whether they go back to work for an extra day because they can afford to, earn more money and have their kids in high-quality early childhood education.

There's stronger Medicare for every community, including getting bulk-billing rates up again after we inherited a system that was on life support under the mob opposite. They strangled Medicare to within an inch of its life. It is true. We concede that we have not been able to fix in two years every single problem we inherited from that mob, but we are focused on the task. Bulk-billing rates are coming up again. There are urgent care clinics in every region across the country. We are ensuring that we are providing support through cheaper medicines for those people who are relying on our medicines to live a standard of living and a quality of life well into their old age.

We've been able to manage all of these things through responsible management of our budget. The national account figures today put a spotlight on the fact that we have adopted the right economic policies. If we had adopted the policies of those opposite, their slash-and-burn strategies, we would have an economy going backwards and households doing it even harder than they are today. So we are going to stay the course. We can't fix every problem we inherited from them in two years, but we are on a path. More Australians are in work than ever before, earning more and keeping more of what they've earned.

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