Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. This week marks the six-month anniversary of the Albanese Labor government. What has the government achieved in that time?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyons for that insightful question. I do say that, six months ago this week, I stood at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL and promised that, after a wasted decade, this government wouldn't waste a day, and we haven't. From day one, we've got on with the job of building a better future for Australians, the better future that Australians voted for.

One of the first things we did was to put in a submission to the Fair Work Commission that led to the increase in the minimum wage. To keep up with a 5.1 per cent inflation rate, the Fair Work Commission granted 5.2 per cent, and we welcome that. We put in a submission for a pay rise for aged-care workers, something that those opposite failed to do during their decade in office. We've already passed legislation to make child care cheaper, this week, making a difference for over a million Australian families. We've passed legislation to make medicines cheaper—the first time in 75 years of the PBS that medicines have actually been made cheaper. We've created 180,000 new fee-free TAFE places, which will be in place from 1 January next year. We've established 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave, something those opposite, when they were in government, said would create a 'perverse disincentive' to employ women. That was the attitude of those opposite. We have got it done.

We've convened a jobs and skills summit, which brought together business and unions and civil society to engage constructively. We've established the Housing Accord, again bringing together business, including the MBA, with unions and with state and territory governments to deliver more affordable housing and to boost construction. We've ended the cashless debit card. We've expanded the Commonwealth seniors health card. We've established a royal commission into robodebt. We've delivered the regional first home buyers guarantee. We've passed our Climate Change Bill and rejoined the world effort to tackle climate change. We're advancing a voice to parliament and constitutional recognition. We've set about repairing our international relations that have been trashed by those opposite. And, in these final weeks, there's more to do.

Today I'm very hopeful that we will pass through this House the legislation to establish a national anticorruption commission. I can understand why it didn't happen under the previous decade of the former government. And we are making sure that we put in place measures to get wages moving so that we take pressure off people who are doing it tough. This is just in our first six months. I look forward to the next six months and well beyond.