Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Holt for her question, and I thank the member for hosting me at JD Propagation, in Pearcedale—a nursery in which 14 million seedlings are done every year. We were right there. It is about the same number of Australians who got tax cuts on Monday, just perchance! The workers who we met at that nursery are some of the 83,000 taxpayers who got a tax cut this week in Holt. That's 83,000 in just one electorate. In addition to that, of course, many of those workers that we discussed will get a pay rise in their next pay packet, because we want Australians to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. In addition to that, every single household will receive $300 in power bill relief. The freezing of the cost of PBS medicines will make a difference as well. In addition, some—certainly not all of the constituents of Holt, but some—will benefit from the two weeks extra paid parental leave that will make a difference for families there. All of these measures are designed to help people under pressure and take pressure off inflation.

What we know is that real wages have actually grown more in the last year than grew under the entire length in which they were in office over there. That's more in one year under us than in 10 years under them. That is the common thread of what we've been doing—providing that assistance while taking pressure off inflation. Cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, fee-free TAFE—it's all of those measures. The other thing that all of these cost-of-living measures have in common is that they were opposed by those opposite. Not only do those opposite barrack for the worst outcomes for Australia; they vote for it. We want to see growth up, productivity up and wages up. They're only interested in cutting wages and talking the country down. We want to create jobs in manufacturing powered by cheaper, cleaner energy. They want to wreck investment and then charge taxpayers for the most expensive form of new energy that's available with their nuclear reactionary plan. We're building more homes and making super stronger; they want to wreck super by making people raid their super. We are getting bulk-billing back in business. The Leader of the Opposition wants a second crack at destroying Medicare after the attempts that were there in the 2014 budget. (Time expired)

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