Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to be speaking today about our cost-of-living measures and how important they are for all Australians. I want to start by talking about the situation when we came into government. We knew then, when we came into government, that inflation was high and rising, real wages were falling, living standards were declining and people were going backwards. That was the reality. But, under our responsible economic management over these past few years, we now see inflation is almost a third of what it was at the election and is falling, real wages are growing again, living standards are rising again and we've recorded the lowest average unemployment rate for any government in 50 years. We've also overseen the creation of more than 1.1 million jobs—the most jobs created on record in any parliamentary term. So our economic plan is all about helping Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn and addressing many of those cost-of-living pressures. Now, there are a whole range of them, and I'd like to run through them.

Certainly when I'm out in my electorate, door-knocking at listening posts, people raise how a lot of these measures have assisted them. Our tax cuts for every taxpayer—in my electorate that's over 70,000 people—have made a huge difference. As I said, we know people are doing it tough. That's why these measures are important. The energy bill relief for every household of $300 helps so many, particularly a lot of older Australians in my area on the New South Wales North Coast. Of course, our cheaper child care is so vitally important for families. Cheaper medicines are, again, so important for everyone, particularly older Australians. And what a game changer fee-free TAFE has been across the nation, as is reducing HECS debts. All of those measures are so vitally important. There are the wage increases for aged-care workers and childcare workers as well. I'm hearing every day from people in my area about what a difference they make.

Now, of course, all of these measures were opposed by the Liberals and Nationals, which is just appalling. I don't know how they, or their candidates, face people in their electorates when they're talking about the cost of living. Are they honest, and do they tell them that they actually opposed every one of our cost-of-living measures that are helping Australians every single day? What we do know about the Liberals and Nationals is that they have a lot of secret cuts and secret costs as well. We certainly hoped that we might hear about some of those today, but I don't know that we will. They don't seem to want to reveal too much of it. We know that the biggest threat to household budgets is indeed the cuts the Liberals and Nationals would make—about $7,200 for each household. It would be devastating.

What we do know is a little bit about the expenditure they want to have—the $600 billion on their nuclear power madness, which is just going to result in massive increases to power prices. I can tell you: people in my electorate are not interested in the Liberals and Nationals plan. We hear many times, and we heard today, about the $10 billion they want to spend on the long lunches for bosses. That's their absolute priority. What we don't hear about are the secret cuts.

We know there is that $350 billion they say they want to make in cuts. Well, what I'd like to know, and what people in my electorate and throughout the nation would like to know, is: Where are they coming from? Where are those cuts going to be? Will they be in age pensions? Will they be in Medicare? Will they be in veterans pensions? We'd all like to know. People are very concerned. Will there be further cuts to education? Will they be to fee-free TAFE? We know they've got form across the board for a lot of these cuts, and there's a real concern in the community when it comes to that—that that's exactly what they would see again with the Liberals and Nationals in government. As I said, in my electorate, it comes up all the time: Where will those cuts be? Will they be right across the board?

I mean, tax cuts are so vitally important. As I said, more than 70,000 people in my electorate have benefited from them. I know that across the country at least 600,000 people have been able to access fee-free TAFE—and, importantly, access to all of that education and access to jobs. It's so important to be training our workforce for the future. In my region 5,000 people will benefit. In a regional area, that is huge. Every day people tell me the difference that fee-free TAFE has made in their lives as well. Again, this was all opposed by the Liberals and Nationals.

The other issue that people raise with me are their concerns about when the opposition leader was the health minister. This is something that comes up all the time, because it's a pretty shambolic record when we have a look at it. We know that when the opposition leader was the health minister he froze Medicare rebates for years. It was incredibly damaging. Of course, he wanted to put that GP tax in place. I was here when he was talking about how important it was. My community certainly fought back in relation to that. Of course, he cut $50 billion from public hospitals. That was just horrendous right across the board. On top of all of that he said that there were too many free Medicare services. That's what he thinks. That's what the Liberals and Nationals think. They've got form when it comes to cutting Medicare and cutting health services.

Our government has worked extremely hard in rebuilding Medicare in terms of tripling the bulk-billing rate and putting a lot more funding into our public hospitals. It takes a long time. Ten years of cuts and neglect of our health system have been really devastating. But people remember that. People remember when the opposition leader was health minister. So there is going to be a very clear choice at the next election—a choice between building Australia's future with the Labor government and taking us backwards with the Liberals and Nationals. It's only going to be a vote for Labor that will stop the opposition leader from becoming prime minister and stop the Liberals and Nationals from getting into power. They will take us backwards and people will be worse off. We certainly know that that's the case.

When I'm out and about, talking and listening to the community, all these cost-of-living measures make such a big difference. We're also very proud, as a government and as MPs, of listening to our community about the concerns they have.

I would like to add this on one of my local issues that has been a very, very big concern and that we addressed last week. The Prime Minister was up in my electorate on the Friday, and we made a really important announcement—that the re-election of an Albanese Labor government would deliver $3 million for our North Coast crime prevention infrastructure action plan. It's really good to have that plan in place. Again, this is about listening to the community and about Labor governments addressing these concerns. We've seen increasing youth crime in our area, and of course the community are very, very concerned about that, as am I. As a former police officer, community safety is my top priority. Right across the area, people raise those concerns. I do note, of course, that the New South Wales government has been very proactive. We've had 17 new police recruits to our region. That government has recently brought in stronger youth offender bail laws, and also Jack's law, in terms of tackling knife crime. We always need to have a whole suite of measures. In this announcement that we made, there's a million dollars for each council—the Tweed, Ballina and Byron councils—to be able to install crime prevention infrastructure measures, whether it's CCTV, lighting or landscaping; the councils can make that decision.

I really want to thank all the community that advocated for this—particularly the Ballina mayor, Sharon Cadwallader. I also want to acknowledge Alison Vickery, who led the community group, and all those people who filled out my crime survey. I was very pleased to be announcing this commitment from a re-elected Albanese Labor government. It's about listening to the community and the concerns they have. We've done that, as we do every day in terms of listening to people in our region about addressing those cost-of-living measures.

Of course, on Sunday, we did see an incredibly good announcement in terms of our investment in women's health. That is such an important investment. It's really good work that's being done. There's the absolute strengthening of Medicare, with more than $570 million to deliver more choice, lower cost and better health care for women, and there's been a really positive response in my area. Look what it includes: the first PBS listing for new oral contraceptive pills in more than 30 years; more choice, lower costs and better access to long-term contraceptives; larger Medicare payments and more bulk-billing for IUDs and birth-control implants, saving around 300,000 women a year up to $400 in out-of-pocket costs; more Medicare support for women experiencing menopause; and the first PBS listing for new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years. This has been incredibly important for women right across the nation.

As part of that package, too, there'll be more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics treating more conditions, and also contraceptives and treatment for uncomplicated UTIs directly from pharmacies—another great initiative. Again, this is about Labor listening to the community, acting on the concerns that the community have and delivering real reforms. This one is certainly needed, and I know there's been a really positive response right across the country in terms of our investment in women's health.

We're really proud to keep delivering all of our cost-of-living relief. It has made a huge difference. Certainly, it is only Labor that will take Australia forwards. Voting for the Liberals and Nationals just takes us backwards, and we know that that's exactly what they would do, because they opposed every single one of our cost-of-living measures that are so vitally important at this time.

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