Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Certainly. What do we know about the plan that the Leader of the Opposition has presented to us? We do know that it will cost more. All the experts tell us that, for Australia, nuclear is the most expensive option. Where will that extra cost end up? It will end up in the power bills of Australian households. The member for Cook talked about the need to rein in spending in the speech he just gave. That is a conversation he probably does need to have with his leader, because, if we were talking about reining in spending, the absolute worst thing that we could do would be to sign a blank cheque from the government for the most expensive form of power there could be for our country—nuclear energy—and to have that end up in Australians' power bills.

Of course, on this side of the House, we are taking a very different approach. We know that times are difficult for so many Australians at the moment, so that is why we have been focused on providing very real cost-of-living relief in the areas where we know that Australians are feeling it, with tax cuts for every single Australian taxpayer and power bill rebates—$300 for every household and $325 for one million small businesses. I know when I've been talking about this measure in my community people have really welcomed it. They have also asked me, 'How do we get it?' I want to let you all know you don't have to do anything to get it. It will be applied directly to your power bill.

We are putting a freeze on the cost of PBS medicines for every Australian. We've put in place a third consecutive pay rise for 2.6 million workers, more funding to build homes in every part of the country and an additional two weeks of paid parental leave. Of course, this builds on reforms we've already delivered: cheaper child care; free-fee TAFE; our biggest ever investment in expanding bulk-billing; an increase in Commonwealth rent assistance; and the wiping of almost $3 billion in student debt. This is real, tangible cost-of-living relief for every person in Jagajaga and for every person in Australia, who we know is doing it tough.

Australians deserve better than what they were served up from the Leader of the Opposition today. They deserve better than a wafer-thin proposal masquerading as a plan. They deserve better than a leader of the opposition who is so deep in climate denial that he is ready to tell Australians that the only option, the only way forward, is the most expensive and the most unviable—that the only way that this country can meet its energy needs of the future is to go nuclear and for Australians to pay more for their power. Australian people deserve a government that understands that times are tough and that is delivering real, tangible cost-of-living relief. That is what this government is doing.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The time for the debate has now concluded.

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