Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is an honour to speak on this motion. The member's motion talks about the decade of challenges. I was looking for where it acknowledges the COVID crisis which we all lived through for three years and which obviously impacted a lot of these challenges that we faced as a nation. But there was no acknowledgement of that in the motion, so I'll take that as a comment from the member for Hawke.

In detailing the activity during the 10 months of this government, the member for Hawke talks about the minimum wage increase. There is a very interesting part of the wages discussion that he has not spoken about. During the campaign, the then opposition leader and the then shadow treasurer, who are now the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, spoke a lot about real wages, but we find that, after the election, we're not getting anything from this government or from this motion about real wages. It makes you wonder why they're choosing not to talk about real wages, and the answer is that real wages are falling. In fact, the fall in real wages is the deepest fall in real wages on record. The then opposition leader, who is now the Prime Minister, talked a lot prior to the election about how he was going to get real wages moving. They don't talk about that now because they don't like the fact that real wages are going backwards.

We then move on to the second point, about cheaper child care and cheaper medicines. Again, the devil is always in the detail. They talk a lot about cheaper child care, which had bipartisan support. Everyone across the House supported this policy. But the government didn't move when, late last year, there were calls from those in the industry, from across the country, to bring forward to 1 January the rebates, to give genuine relief to Australians who were struggling then. They didn't move to bring them forward to 1 January. In fact, we had the Prime Minister in question time last week crowing about how, in a hundred days time, people would get relief. We've been in this parliament for 10 months and we've listened repeatedly to this government talking about the amazing things it's doing in child care, which have bipartisan support. But when the opportunity came to bring it forward to make a difference to Australians today—they need relief and help today, not in a hundred days time—this government wasn't there for the Australian people who needed it.

They talk about the amazing work they've done on cheaper medicines. They're happy to talk about that. But they're not prepared to talk about the mental health sessions that they have cut. Mental health sessions were at 20, and they've moved them to 10. They're very quick to go, 'That was a decision of the former government.' Guess what? You're in government. You have the ability to change that. There are plenty of things you've changed. This government were very happy to rip $100 million out of my electorate—when there was a written contract to seal roads, which had bipartisan support. They were happy to make that change. So it's pretty galling when they stand here and talk about what they're doing for health when they've ripped money out of mental health sessions.

The motion moves on to energy. Ironically, they're talking about cheaper energy, but there won't be. There's that number that the Prime Minister does not like to talk about, the $275 reduction in power bills. That promise, again, was made prior to the election. Twenty-eight times after the invasion of Ukraine, the Prime Minister, then the opposition leader, continued to make that promise. He knew he was using modelling based on December numbers. A key input was the Russian war on Ukraine, which he has acknowledged changed that. Yet he still made those changes and did not look to change his language until after the election.

We then go down to talking about responsible budgets. This is one of my favourites. Forty-five billion dollars—that's an important number. It's the amount of off-budget spending this government has committed to so that the Treasurer can stand up and talk about the responsible budget that he's delivering. It is all about spin and optics, because every dollar that they're spending is driving inflation. And there are question marks against whether any of that off-budget spending is actually going to deliver a commercial return. That's the sting in the tail for them. It has to deliver a commercial return.

So it's a great motion moved by the member for Hawke that lacks the complete details. It's all politics and spin, which is all we get from the Albanese Labor government.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hawke for bringing this motion to this place because it really outlines what this government has done in 10 short months—not only putting into practice the promises that we took to the election but dealing with the challenges that we've faced since we came to government.

For too long, hardworking Australians have been struggling to make ends meet as their wages have gone backwards, as their bills have grown and as the cost of essential goods and services have risen. From energy bills to child care, housing and healthcare costs, the daily cost of living has become a massive burden for many Australians. And last year the Australian people knew that they needed a government that was not afraid to take these issues head-on. They wanted a government with a plan, not one that was focused on themselves and not one that ignored their concerns. That's why they put their faith in a new government to take on the important responsibility of repairing our economy after a decade of neglect and indifference by those opposite.

This government has a plan to address the complex economic challenges that our country faces, and we now know what a terrible job those opposite did in managing our economy. We heard today in question time minister after minister identifying program after program that was not funded in the budget. They were empty announcements with no funding, leaving the budget booby trapped for the incoming government. They also had no plan to deal with inflation. They hid energy price rises instead of being honest with our community, and they left us with a trillion dollars worth of Liberal debt and with nothing to show for it.

The Liberals and Nationals had no plan to fix the economy that they trashed. So the nation elected a new government to deal with it. We have delivered and we will continue to deliver not just short-term measures to help address this problem but also a comprehensive and multifaceted approach to address the root causes of these issues and to provide Australians with long-term solutions and economic stability.

We are providing genuine relief to household budgets through a large range of measures that we have already delivered. Because of Labor, child care will be cheaper. For nearly 10,000 families in Bennelong, child care will be cheaper from 1 July, putting money back into household budgets. Because of Labor, medicines are already cheaper. There's been the first reduction in the cost of medicines on the PBS from $42.50 down to $30, delivering millions of dollars back to families across the country. And because of Labor, there are more university places available. There are 180,000 fee-free TAFE positions that are already in the system, helping workers retrain for the jobs of the future. And we know that, because of this government, we have got wages moving again.

We also know that we'll deliver more renewable energy and build 400 community batteries, which will add gigawatts and gigawatts of the cheapest form of power available to the grid today. By prioritising the development of renewable energy sources, we'll provide not only affordable power but also long-term sustainable energy supply for all Australians. And, of course, we brought back parliament to implement a price cap on gas and coal, to shield households, industry and manufacturers from energy price spikes, to ensure that they keep their jobs and that they can deal with the hidden cost increases of the former government but also have a buffer against shocks in the future.

We're also working hard to deal with the housing crisis. We know it's tough for lots of Australians to afford a home, especially if they're trying to buy or to rent for the first time, and we know the importance of secure and affordable housing. So we have legislation, which has passed the House and is awaiting approval in the Senate, to get hundreds of millions of dollars in investment into affordable housing, to make it easier for people to rent and own a home but also easier for institutional investors to invest in social housing. We've passed the National Reconstruction Fund, which will help deal with our supply chain issues and create jobs, stimulate economic growth and benefit all Australians.

The coalition will continue to ignore all of these achievements. In 10 short months we've delivered a lot for the Australian people, but there is so much more to do. The coalition will continue to feign care for those impacted by the cost of living. They'll come up here and ask questions and put up matters of public importance. But they'll never present any solutions.

As a responsible and new government, we'll continue to work with and be honest with the Australian people, to deliver restraint and repair of the budget—as we know, it definitely needs repair. By focusing on the economy and putting in policies and initiatives, we'll work hard for all Australians.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made in order of the day for the next sitting.

Federation Chamber a djourned at 19:13