Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the outstanding member for Holt for her great question. I wanted to acknowledge more broadly that, as the government puts together its cost-of-living agenda, it is wonderful local members like member for Holt helped us put together, because on this side of the House we understand the cost-of-living pressures that people are under, even as we make really encouraging progress in the fight against inflation. We saw more progress yesterday in the inflation figures, which came down in a headline sense but also an underlying sense, and what that means is as a government we were getting inflation down. Real wages are up. Unemployment is low. We are getting the debt down. Interest rates are coming down and growth is rebounding solidly in our economy as well, so we have made a lot of progress together as Australians, but we know people are still under pressure and that is why there is more work to do.

The cost-of-living pressures that Australians feel despite the progress we have made together on inflation is the primary motivation for the cost-of-living package which was in Tuesday night's budget. We know that the cost of living is front of mind for a lot of Australians and that is why it was front and centre in Tuesday night's budget as well. That budget contained a coherent and comprehensive package of cost-of-living assistance—energy bill relief, cheaper medicines. We are cutting student debt. We are strengthening Medicare because we know that more bulk-billing means less pressure on families around Australia, and we have those two new tax cuts to top up the tax relief that is already flowing despite the opposition of those opposite.

Now, the shadow Treasurer's brain snap today makes it really clear that they would legislate higher taxes for every single Australian taxpayer. Under those opposite, as we have said, Australians would earn less and keep less of what they earn, and that is because they want to cut everything except taxes for workers. So whatever the opposition leader says tonight, it is already very, very clear that they are about three things: higher taxes for workers, secret cuts to pay for nuclear reactors and no ongoing help with the cost of living. So this does set up a very simple choice at the election: this Labor Prime Minister and his Labor government cutting taxes and helping people with the cost of living or that opposition leader and that coalition jacking up income taxes and making people worse off.

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