Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor's budget keeps people in poverty. It's a big win for the big corporations and the very wealthy, but it's a betrayal of renters, students, jobseekers, young people and everyone doing it tough. At the election, the Prime Minister said no-one would be left behind. Well, Labor's budget leaves millions behind, leaving people in poverty while billionaires get tax cuts.

Tonight, as the cold starts to bite, people are going to sleep freezing in their cars. Tomorrow there will be people who wake up hungry and wonder what they're going to eat. Right now, there are students wondering how they are going to cope with the next rent rise. But Labor's budget spends a quarter of a trillion dollars on tax cuts for the wealthy, with $9,000 a year for billionaires and politicians. It has $16.7 billion of handouts for wealthy property moguls and $368 billion for nuclear submarines.

Labor say they want to be the superior economic manager, but for who? It's not for young people, for students, for renters, for first-time homebuyers. It's not for those on income support or for disabled people; it's for their big corporate donors. 'No corporation left behind' is Labor's new motto. Labor is managing the economy for CEOs, for billionaires and for property moguls. If you own dozens of homes, this budget is for you. If you run a coal and gas cooperation, this budget is for you. If you own a private jet, this budget is for you. If you are rich, Labor's got your back.

But if you are on income support you get $2.85 extra a day. That's barely enough to buy a loaf of bread. If you receive rent assistance, you will get an extra $1.12 a day. That's not going to cover the rent increases that are rising ten times faster than that in capital cities. It's a $1.12 a day to cover skyrocketing rents, while billions go to wealthy property moguls. For 5½ million renters who don't get rent assistance, there is nothing at all in the budget.

Meanwhile, the government is collecting more from Labor's increase in student debt than from the changes to the tax on big gas corporations. Labor boasts that they are in surplus, but you can't use a surplus to pay the rent or buy food. Every dollar of surplus is a dollar not spent lifting people out of poverty, including the single mothers and single parents that Labor excluded from undoing the damage of their attack on single parents over a decade ago. Disabled people are facing $74 billion in cuts to the NDIS. These aren't tough choices, as the Prime Minister likes to say; they are just bad choices. They're making everyone else make the tough choices.

Despite the Treasurer failing to mention climate change once in his speech, the Greens have secured more than a third of the new climate spending, with a $2 billion package to help households, businesses and public housing get off of gas. However, Labor's still spending $41.4 billion on fossil fuel subsidies, more than the $29½ billion dollar climate spend.

When the budget legislation hits parliament, the Greens will fight to make the big corporations and billionaires pay more tax and will fight for more support for people who need it now—right now. The Greens will be fighting for renters and against the billions in handouts to property moguls. We will be fighting for the climate and the environment and against handouts for coal and gas corporations. The government has the power to tackle inequality and the cost-of-living crisis, but instead they're making it worse. They say no-one left behind, then they betray young people and those in poverty. They say they're ending the climate wars and then hand out billions in fossil fuel subsidies. They say they want to tackle housing, but they give nothing to 5½ million renters and refuse to directly invest in building more public housing.

Labor could work with the Greens to tackle the crisis that we face. Instead, Labor is betraying people and leaving them behind. Voters elected this parliament to act on climate, the environment and the cost-of-living crises. If Labor work together with the Greens, we could immediately stop new coal and gas mines, lift people out of poverty, freeze rent increases and wipe student debt. That's what the Greens will fight for when this budget legislation hits the parliament.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am incredibly proud to stand in this House, as part of this government, speaking on the budget handed down just 24 hours ago. I'm proud of this budget because it is a budget in the best of Labor traditions: it tackles today's challenges while it builds for tomorrow. As the member for Lalor, representing communities in the outer west of Melbourne, I will outline what is in this budget for the people I represent in this place.

I'm most proud of this budget because it backs in, supports and helps our community and our people so much. The budget provides cost-of-living relief, gives more opportunities to more Australians and creates a secure economy into the future. We're building for the long term and we're helping Australians who need support now. Our plan will grow the economy, creating new jobs in our outer suburbs; boost renewable energy; and invest in TAFE and training so Australians can make the most of the opportunities that are in front of us.

We're making responsible and disciplined choices that put our economy and our society on a stronger footing. That means that this government will deliver the first budget surplus in 15 years, something the Liberals promised to deliver each and every year but never delivered. But that is not how we measure this achievement. It's not what we measure it against.

This budget predicts a surplus in 2022-23, against a backdrop that demanded careful, responsible decision-making. This hasn't been an easy budget. It hasn't been easy work. But I'm lucky that I have developed a close friendship with the Treasurer since we both arrived here for the first time after the 2013 election. While we share so much in common, in terms of our life stories and our values, the thing we've really bonded over is the fact that the communities of Logan and Wyndham—of Rankin and Lalor—are so similar. In fact, on his first visit to my community, some years ago now, the Treasurer got out of the car and said, 'Jeez, Jo, this is just like being at home'—

An honourable member: Except for the weather!

Except for the weather!—something I'm sure you too, Mr Speaker, could attest to. With that in mind, I knew that at the forefront of the Treasurer's mind would be the people like those we both represent.

In fact, the Treasurer today stated communities like his—and therefore ours—provided the inspiration for this budget. You only have to look at the response to this budget to see our growing suburbs are at the forefront of this government's thinking. Peri Urban Councils Victoria has said that they 'greatly appreciate the positive direction from the Albanese government to support our expanding community need for improved public infrastructure and services', as well as 'welcoming the relief for those in our communities struggling with cost-of-living pressures'. This budget is a win for our community and those like it around the nation.

Just over 12 months ago, I sat around a Wyndham Vale family's kitchen table. It was the start of the election campaign, and we were there to talk about community batteries. Families like the one I was speaking to that day are who the Labor Party presented this budget for. And I'm pleased with all we have delivered for them: 5,000 people into work since we took office; federal infrastructure investment in our community for the first time in a decade; school upgrades; delivering a greener, cleaner future; helping over 1,200 locals buy their first homes with the Home Guarantee Scheme; and 11,000 premises provided with access to higher internet speeds to work, learn and relax, with our investment in the NBN since coming to government.

But we're not done yet. Our budget will see so many households benefit from a $500 rebate, and 34,000 locals will save $180 a year on their medicines. We're boosting wages for our aged-care workers, there's a record investment in Medicare and we're boosting payments for over 15,000 of our most vulnerable locals. We're supporting 9,000 eligible renters with the largest ever increase to rental assistance. Thank you, Deputy Speaker.