Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The great Paul Keating once said:

When you change the government, you change the country.

That is very true, and this country is going to face a serious choice later on this year.

This MPI has been set up as an opportunity for those opposite to offer us their manifesto, in a way. The interesting thing about the manifesto is you look at the first three paragraphs, but then you turn the page over and it's blank. There's no 'please turn over'. It's such a threadbare offering from those opposite. When you examine what they're offering versus the demands this nation is facing, and the choice the Australian people face later on this year, the opposition's plan will take this country backwards.

Let's look at a few of the most pressing issues this nation faces. First, the economy. When we came to power this government inherited an economy where inflation was far higher than it is today and was rising. We inherited an economy where, for a long period of time, real wages had been in the doldrums. We had just experienced the worst decade for a very long period of time. Over the course of the past three years, through the hard work of the Australian people, inflation has more than halved and is continuing to track down on all the key measures—headline inflation and core inflation. Importantly, real wages are now growing through the strength of the labour market and because of some of the key reforms we have put in place in relation to industrial relations and workers' rights. But there is still more work to be done.

If we look at and contrast the two parties' policies—let's look at the last three years and the difficult challenges people have faced in relation to the cost of living. We've put in place policies in relation to tax cuts which have improved outcomes for 84 per cent of taxpayers—compared to the plan we inherited. We've provided significantly cheaper energy through rebates. We've provided cheaper medicine. We've provided consecutive significant rental relief assistance. What's telling—and the choice will be offered later this year—is that those opposite voted against every single one of those measures. When they talk about the cost of living, the disingenuousness of that will be tested when the Australian people look at their voting record when it comes to every one of the things that has actually made a difference to people's lives over the last three years. When we look at priorities, they didn't want to vote for any of those measures presumably because they cost too much. Now the centrepiece of their economic management is an up-to-$10-billion plan—the costings of which they haven't released—for free lunches for bosses. It is an economically unjustified tax break and one that shows a shocking sense of prioritisation.

Let's look at health. We have turned around bulk-billing rate declines. We have invested in urgent healthcare clinics, which I can say have made a real difference in my electorate and in so many communities like mine where so many people rely on bulk-billing. We've promised to invest $1.7 billion in hospitals. Compare that to what those opposite are offering in health care and so many other areas of social service provision. They rail against our spending—hundreds of billions of dollars of overspending, they say—but won't tell us where the cuts will come. They like the rhetoric of sharp cuts in government but won't be honest with the Australian people about where the cuts will come. We on this side know that the cuts will have meaningful consequences, particularly for the most vulnerable in our society.

Let's look at housing—another complex, difficult, long-term challenge. We brought the Housing Australia Future Fund to this place; those opposite voted against it. We brought in Rent to Buy, Help to Buy and the First Home Guarantee. We brought in fee-free TAFE, which has provided opportunities and supported tens of thousands of additional workers in a sector of the economy where supply is absolutely critical. What have those opposite offered? Those opposite have offered the early release of super, which not a single macroeconomist or expert in housing says will produce a single extra house; it will only produce upward pressure on housing prices.

This nation will face a choice later this year, and the manifesto which is being provided by those opposite today is simply not good enough. This country faces a number of challenges. It needs a serious plan going forward, not the divisiveness of those opposite.

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