Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. With many people in regional communities impacted by the cost of living, how is the Albanese Labor government easing the burden and ensuring that Australian families can keep more of what they earn? Is anyone standing in the way of that relief?

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hunter and wish him all the best on his Olympic qualifying journey this Saturday. Like all regional members on this side of the House, I know the member for Hunter and the members who represent regional communities are out and about all the time at shows and community events listening to people in our community. We are very much a part of those communities, and it is why we are all so focused on ensuring that regional Australians can earn more and keep more of what they earn. From 1 July, every single Australian taxpayer will receive a tax cut, including those who live in our regions. After 1 July, when any Australian worker pulls out their pay check, what they'll see there is more money in their pocket and less being paid in tax. An apprentice on $53,000 a year will receive a tax cut of $1,000, and a truckie earning $77,000 a year will get a tax cut of $1,604. A nurse on $73,000 a year will get a tax cut of $1,504, which is $804 more than what they were going to receive under the Liberals and the Nationals' plan. Nurses, teachers, retail assistants, casual workers, labourers, truckies and agricultural workers—the backbone of our regions—are all receiving a tax cut. All of them will do better and keep more of their money under our changes from 1 July.

That is all good news for Australians, and who on earth could possibly want to stand in the way of that? We know that those opposite were not really keen to support any tax cuts at all. We had, of course, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition out there saying she was keen for it to be rolled back. We've had Senator Hume out there, just in the last few days, saying, 'It's back to the drawing board.' Well, read between the lines that what that actually means is that their first instinct was to oppose Labor's tax cuts, and ever since they've made it clear that really what they'd like to do is take them away. They simply couldn't help themselves; it's in their DNA. They want to see less money in Australians' pockets. They want to see Australians working more and earning less—absolutely working more and earning less. Under Labor, what we've seen is wages growth double from what it averaged under the Liberals and Nationals. Our tax cuts will help every single regional Australian to keep more of the money that they earn, and to earn more money as they go along.

What we've seen from those opposite is that there isn't a cost-of-living measure that they don't oppose—whether it's cheaper child care, whether it's cheaper medicines or whether it's energy bill relief. The decisions that you make in this place matter. You might go and say one thing out there in your electorates when it comes to Help to Buy or things like that, but what actually matters is what you do in this place to support regional Australians. All those opposite do is say 'No, no, no, no.'