Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a pleasure to join my colleagues today for this matter of public importance because the cost of living is a critical issue across the country, a critical issue in my community and a critical issue in the electorate of Lalor. I appreciate following the Chief Opposition Whip, who spent his first two minutes on a list of how much things had increased in cost—none of which I'm in a position to refute. But I ask the question, after seeing this big long list from those opposite about increases to costs for households: why did they vote against every cost-of-living measure introduced by this government to support families across the nation? That's the question. Why do they know how much everything has gone up by but choose not to act and support people so they can pay those bills? That's the ultimate question.

We know that we've worked hard on this side. We know there's still work to be done. We know people are still hurting. But we've made substantial progress on inflation. Wages are growing again, unemployment is low and we've seen the creation of 1.1 million jobs in one term of government, four out of five of which are in the private sector. These are things that Australians need to understand. They need to understand the hard work that's happened and some of the positive results from that. Average unemployment, under this Albanese government, is lower than under any other government of the past 50 years. We have unemployment at four per cent. Some would argue that that's full employment. It's the first time in 50 years that Australia has had unemployment at four per cent or better at the same time as inflation has been below three per cent. This is the soft landing that we would hope for and that economists would hope for. This is a Labor soft landing, because it is being done without driving unemployment. Inflation has come down without people across the country losing their jobs. Inflation has come down while we've grown jobs. Inflation has come down while we've grown people's pay packets, with increases to the minimum wage and with a 15 per cent pay rise for care economy workers.

These are important things. They're really important in my community. And those opposite have voted against them. They've voted against supporting students. They voted against tax cuts for all Australians. Can you believe that? They voted against it. They voted against the energy rebate. They voted against cheaper child care. They voted against cheaper medicines. Let's face it—I heard it said today that perhaps they don't want to see interest rate cuts happen. Perhaps that's not what they want, because they seem to like that Australians are in pain.

Let me tell you that we've heard a lot today too, and a lot across this week, about the $600 billion nuclear fantasy that they want to fund through taxpayer dollars. They're not talking about private investment here; they're talking about money from the Australian public's pockets. We've heard about the $350 billion of cuts they're going to find—their conjecture, not mine. They've said they're going to cut $350 billion. The latest thought bubble is the $10 billion for bosses' lunches, paid for by the taxpayer. There is no such thing as a free lunch—everybody in the world knows that—but those opposite think that the Australian taxpayer, on top of the pain they're in, should pay for these things. Not only are they pretty much a policy-free vacuum; they're certainly a costings-free vacuum, given how long it took them to tell us how much the nuclear fantasy was going to cost.

I came in in 2013. I remember former prime minister Tony Abbott preaching, the night before the election—no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to the SBS or ABC, no cuts to pensions. I was here while they endeavoured to cut them all. Every single measure was on the chopping block in that cruel 2014 budget. So those opposite have form and Australians are awake to them. They know they will undo funding to schools and funding to hospitals just like they've done in the past.

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