Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the three years that we've been in government and that we've had the privilege of serving the Australian people in this place, we've taken really seriously the challenges that people have faced. It is really disappointing that on every occasion, including today when those opposite were given the chance to back Australians and to do something meaningful about the cost-of-living pressures people find themselves under, they have voted against those measures. I find that really disappointing. I wish that we would see more empathy, ambition and action from those opposite, rather than the aggressive political games we continually see from them in this chamber.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this MPI and to highlight the ways in which we are acting with empathy, ambition and action for our communities through the investments that we're making across the country, including in my own state and community, to make people's lives easier and better. The budget that was delivered last night by the Treasurer, the fourth budget, is a budget squarely focused on helping people with cost of living and building Australia's future so we have a more prosperous future. Our government is providing relief whilst also investing in the future, and this is happening at the same time that we are delivering the biggest improvement to the bottom line in a single parliamentary term. We are delivering smaller deficits and much lower debt compared to what we inherited three years ago, and that that's happening is good for future generations of Australians too.

We have a really clear choice at this election. We can continue to keep building and have an ambition and vision for this country, or we can go backwards with the Leader of the Opposition, who we know is going to cut everything, but we don't know exactly what those secret cuts will be yet. So we have a choice. We can build, which is what those of us on this side of the House want to do, or we will see terrible, destructive cuts, which is what those on the opposite side of the chamber seek to do. The Leader of the Opposition will make people worse off by cutting the things ordinary Australians need. He's done it before; he'll do it again. To quote Maya Angelou, which is perhaps where the opposition leader got his inspiration from when he said the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, 'When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.' The Leader of the Opposition has absolutely shown us who he is. He will cut Medicare. He will cut education spending. He will make people's lives harder and worse.

Our responsible budget, on the other hand, helps Australians now and builds Australia's future by delivering cost-of-living relief, another tax cut—a top-up tax cut—for every Australian taxpayer, $150 of energy bill relief for every household and cheaper medicines, and, of course, we're backing higher wages. Ours is not a government that has wage suppression at the heart of our economic policy, because that is not what the Australian Labor Party would ever do. Only Labor is committed to delivering cost-of-living relief. Again, we have the proof of that in the voting record of those opposite, including this morning. We're strengthening Medicare with more bulk-billing, urgent care clinics and a record investment in women's health. I will use this opportunity to remind everyone that March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, hence my yellow pin, and our government is investing strongly in women's health, including in endo and pelvic pain clinics. We are growing wages, including a well-deserved wage increase for aged-care nurses, and we are stopping unfair non-compete clauses that are holding back Australian workers from switching to better, higher-paying jobs.

I'm really pleased to see that Victoria will benefit from our fourth budget in particular ways. We learned last night that every taxpayer will receive a top-up tax cut. Combined with our first round of tax cuts, the average benefit for Victorian taxpayers will be $2,530 in 2027-28. It's also good to see that each of the 2.5 million households in Victoria will get an additional $150 to help with their energy bills. This relief will also extend to 223,000 eligible small businesses. There are so many other things that we are delivering to provide cost-of-living relief for different generations for different cohorts. As always, I'm proud to be a part of an Albanese Labor government.

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