Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

What a wander through some of the pathways of the shadow Treasurer's mind that was! Certainly, in our 2½ years in office, our government has been laser focused on supporting Australians. We do know that times are difficult in Australian households—that people are under the pump from cost-of-living pressures and from higher interest rates.

It is important to look at the facts, because, when we came to office, inflation had a six in front of it and it was rising. It now has a two in front of it. That is not an accident. It is a result of very deliberate policies that our government has crafted, to support Australian households with cost-of-living relief without adding to inflation; to ease cost-of-living pressures; to help people earn more and keep more of what they earn.

And, while times are difficult, we are seeing progress. Real wages are now growing again, and they have grown for four consecutive quarters. The gender pay gap is at its lowest level on record, and that is a result of deliberate government policies: the pay rises that we have provided to aged-care workers, the pay rises that we will provide to those in the early education sectors—highly feminised workplaces where women, for too long, have been underpaid and underappreciated.

Our government has provided cost-of-living relief: a tax cut for every taxpayer—everyone, not just the wealthy; energy bill relief for every household; cheaper medicines and cheaper child care. We're cutting student debt. We are introducing fee-free TAFE as a permanent measure. And of course—unlike the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, who, when opposing this policy, said: 'You don't value things if you don't pay for them'—on this side of the House, we see education as a pathway to prosperity, and we want everyone to be able to benefit from it.

We've been rebuilding our health system—and didn't it need rebuilding after the almost-decade of those opposite! Once again, as we know, this is their track record when they get into government: they try and rip out the heart of Medicare.

We have been doing the work to rebuild our health system to make sure Medicare is strengthened and sustainable into the future. We have opened 75 new Medicare urgent care clinics around the nation, including one in Heidelberg, in the heart of my community. We have been boosting bulk-billing so more people can see a doctor for free when they need to. We have made sure our health system is based on having your Medicare card, not based on having your credit card, which was the policy under those opposite.

We do know that without the tax cuts, without the investments we were putting into our health system, without all of the ways that we are supporting Australians with cost-of-living help, Australian households would be much worse off. Every single one of these cost-of-living measures that we have brought to this place has been opposed by those opposite. They even suggested we go to an election over our plans to deliver tax cuts. That is why it is such a risk for Australian families, for Australian households, to look to those opposite to get us through these difficult times. They are not the people who will support households, who will support these pressures. We have seen their record—falling real wages, much higher inflation, huge deficits and much more debt—and that is what makes them risky. We will continue to do the responsible work to support Australians with cost-of-living measures and we will do it in a way where we are not adding to inflation so as to make Australians' lives easier not harder.

It has been a bit of a slog for our government because those opposite have opposed us at every step of the way. They opposed the tax cuts; they said they would reverse them. In fact, they threatened an election over tax cuts for every taxpayer. If I look at the impacts in my electorate, there are 77,000 taxpayers just in Jagajaga with an average tax cut of $1,762 who stand to lose under those opposite. Those opposite voted against cheaper medicines. There have been 601,528 prescriptions in Jagajaga so far as a result of that policy. Those opposite voted against cheaper child care, which is providing savings for 6,600 families in my community of Jagajaga. They voted against increasing the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance, which is benefitting 3,285 households in Jagajaga. They voted against debt relief for students, which is benefitting 22,263 people with a HELP debt in my community. They voted against power bill relief and of course they are voting against our fee-free TAFE measures. They voted against a Future Made in Australia. They voted against the HAFF; they don't want Australians to have houses.

Every step of the way those opposite have tried to block our government's efforts to make life easier for Australians. And while they have done this, they haven't really given us much of a sense of what they would actually do in government. We haven't seen their positive vision for how they would support Australians at this difficult time. One small piece we have, I suppose, is the fascination with nuclear energy, the plan to install nuclear plants in communities that don't seem to have been consulted at a cost of $600 billion to produce just four per cent of Australia's energy by 2050. This is pretty much just climate denial wrapped up in yellow cake. This is not policy. This is not something that is going to support Australians with the cost of electricity. This is a folly and that is pretty much it when it comes to policies that aren't just saying no.

Their track record of the Liberals and Nationals is to block and cut. They want to cut what is helping; they want to punish people who are struggling. They want to claw back the tax cuts we have delivered, close the Medicare urgent clinics we have opened. They want to stop the housing projects we have started, push up the price of medicines, and take away the increases to rent assistance we have provided to Australian renters. Today we have again had confirmation from the shadow minister that they will remove the Help to Buy scheme, the scheme that will help 40,000 Australians into homeownership. At this time, after all they failed to do when they were in government to solve the housing crisis, after the work they failed to do to make sure that we have the housing supply this country needs, they are looking to rip away that support from 40,000 Australians and to rip away the pay rises and improved conditions of Australian workers.

In the absence of them putting positive policies on the table, I suppose we have to look to those opposite's track record from when they were in government over that very long nearly a decade. If we look at the 2014 budget, I am not sure if we would call it the golden years. In fact, it's widely regarded as the worst budget this country has ever seen. After then prime minister Tony Abbott promised Australians no cuts to education, health and other areas on the eve of the 2013 federal election, what did he then want to deliver? An $80 billion cut to health and education spending and a $7 co-payment for visiting the doctor, a special straight from the then Minister for Health and now the Leader of the Opposition.

Particularly, at that time those opposite went after older Australians. They went after older Australians and those who rely on the pension. They wanted to increase the pension age to 70. They wanted to cut $1 billion from pensioner concessions. They tried to cut pension indexation. They axed the $900 seniors supplement to self-funded retirees receiving the Commonwealth seniors health card. They reset deeming rates thresholds, a cut which would have seen half a million part-pensioners made worse off. Then, just a year later, the Liberals and Nationals shamefully did a deal with the Greens to cut the pension to around 370,000 pensioners by as much as $12,000 a year by changing the pension assets test.

Older Australians have not forgotten that record. They have not forgotten that those opposite looked to cut the pension and that older Australians would be worse off under those opposite. They would not be supported with the cost-of-living relief they need and which this government is delivering. This government will continue to do the important work to support Australian households. We know that Australians cannot rely on those opposite, who just continue to block, to oppose and to fail to put any positive proposals on the table when it comes to delivering for Australians and our future.

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