Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the winter break, I spent a lot of time in the amazing electorate of Swan, speaking to people at the farmers markets, chatting to people at the shops and knocking on people's doors, and one thing that is crystal clear is that the cost of living is the No. 1 concern for my community. This is also the No. 1 priority for the Albanese Labor government and the top priority for the WA Cook Labor government. That's why we are working together to provide energy relief for every household. What this means is that, through this partnership between the WA government and the federal government, 84,000 households in Swan will be getting $700 off their electricity bills. People have started seeing $350 off their July bill, and the next instalment will come in December. That's just one part of the big picture.

Labor is working across the board to ease the pressure on workers, families, pensioners and students. Under Labor, real wages have gone up for the third quarter in a row. In the June quarter, we saw wages increase by 0.8 per cent, bringing an annual growth of 4.1 per cent. Nominal wages have consistently grown by at least four per cent over the last four quarters—something that never happened under the coalition—and this is because we are deliberately wanting to help people earn more.

Not only do we want to help people earn more; we also want to make sure that they're keeping more of what they earn. Our July tax cuts have helped 94,000 people in Swan. Eighty-one per cent of taxpayers in Swan are receiving a bigger tax cut than they would have received under the Liberal government. And let's not forget: in WA 1.2 million people will get a bigger tax cut because of Labor, and 600,000 of them are women.

Women are critical workers who make up the majority of the childcare workforce. Thanks to Labor, they are set to receive an overdue, well-earned 15 per cent pay rise over the next two years. I'd like to pay tribute to Senator Bilyk. She is an experienced childhood educator, and she shared that this is something the industry has fought hard for over the last 40 years. As a working mother, I know that the childhood educators at my daughter's childcare centre are worth their weight in gold.

We're also introducing legislation to wipe out $3 million of student debt for over three million Australians. Twenty-two thousand of them are in Swan and many of them are studying at Curtin University, where Labor has delivered extra university places. We're working hard everyday.

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