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

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. How does this budget continue to deliver cheaper medicine for all Australians, after a decade of cuts and neglect?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyons. I know that two years ago he promised his community in Tasmania that we would make medicines cheaper, and we have been busy delivering on that promise that the member for Lyons made. In July 2022, within a couple of months of being elected, we slashed the maximum amount that pensioners and concession card holders would pay for their medicines in a given year by 25 per cent—by a full quarter. A few months after that, we cut the price of around 2,000 brands of medicine. A few months after that, on 1 January last year, we delivered the biggest cut to the price of medicines in the 75-year history of the PBS. That measure alone will save general patients around $250 million in medicine payments every single year. A bit after that, we allowed doctors to prescribe around 184 different common medicines for ongoing chronic conditions for 60 days supply rather than just 30, saving patients time and money and freeing up some desperately needed GP consults.

Last night, not to be outdone, the Treasurer delivered $4.3 billion in new initiatives to make medicines cheaper. This includes new and amended listings on the PBS that give Australian patients access to the best treatments available in the world at affordable PBS prices—like Verzenio, listed just this month. This is the first new treatment for common forms of early breast cancer listed on the PBS in 15 years. Even when successfully treated at first, one in three of these patients will see that cancer come back, often in far more deadly forms, but Verzenio dramatically reduces the risk of that cancer returning. It's now available, we think, to around 2,400 patients every single year at no more than $31 a script instead of the going price of $97,000 per patient per course of treatment.

Speaking of co-payments, last night the Treasurer in his budget also froze co-payments for one year for millions of general patients and for up to five years for pensioners, for seniors health card holders and for holders of other concession cards. It is absolutely terrific cost-of-living relief from the Treasurer for life-changing medicines.

This is all obviously a world away from the approach of those opposites. Remember: 10 years ago this week, the Leader of the Opposition, when he was health minister, tried to jack up medicine prices by as much as $5 a script. He tried to make medicines dearer, while we make medicines cheaper. (Time expired)

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Respected economic journalist Alan Kohler has said:

It's the big-picture numbers that confirm this government to be an amazingly and unexpectedly big-spending one.

Why are Australians paying the price for the Prime Minister 's weak economic leadership?

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Minister for the Environment and Water will cease interjecting. The minister for infrastructure and the Minister for Home Affairs won't interject before a minister or the Prime—

The minister for the environment is warned. When I'm saying 'don't interject' and explaining the reasons why, that's definitely not the time to interject. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

I thank the Member for Petrie for his question. The best response to that question is to respond with some facts. In the LNP's last budget, in 2022, prior to the election, spending provisioned for a 27.2 percentage of GDP.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

During COVID.

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

After.

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will pause. Members—

Honourable members interjecting—

The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting. Members on my right will cease interjecting. Everyone's going to cease interjecting. The member was heard in silence and he deserved to be heard in silence. The Prime Minister's going to be given the same courtesy, and he has the call.

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

It's anger overload over there today! In that budget, they predicted—bear in mind that this was the March 2022 budget—that in 2023-24 there would be spending of 27.1 per cent of GDP and, going forward, in 2024-25, 26.6 per cent. On all three years, our spending in the 2023-24 budget shows 24.5 per cent compared with 27.2 per cent, 25.4 per cent under Labor compared with their projections of 27.1 per cent, and 26.4 per cent compared with 26.6 per cent under the coalition. The biggest ever tax take by a federal government in a single year was in 2005-2006 at 24.2 per cent of GDP. And guess who the minister for revenue was? This bloke here. In their last budget, they had not a single saving. Not one. Nothing whatsoever. Our budgets have delivered $77 billion in total savings, including $27.9 billion in the budget that was handed down last night.

Last night, in terms of revenue, we banked almost all of the revenue upgrades in 2023-24. The former government averaged just 40 per cent of revenue upgrades. Those opposites promised to deliver a surplus in their first year and every year and delivered a big duck egg—nothing; zero out of nine. We've been in government for two years, and last night the Treasurer announced a projected surplus of $9.3 billion.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to help more young people from the outer suburbs and regions get the opportunity to go to university after a decade of coalition cuts to education?

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the sensational member for Newcastle for her question. I'm really glad that she asked me this question because, for 50 years, Newcastle Uni has been running fee-free uni-ready courses, and she has been a champion for all her time in the parliament and a defender of these courses. These are courses that have changed the lives of about 70,000 people in Newcastle and the Hunter. Today, one in five people who get a degree from Newcastle Uni start doing one of these fee-free courses. One of those is Jennifer Baker. Jennifer is from Maitland. She was a mum at the age of 19. She worked in hospitality for 10 years. One day, she saw an ad for one of these courses in the local paper. Now, she has got a science degree and an honours degree and a PhD. She's a Fulbright scholar. She's now a computational medicinal chemist. That's what these courses do. They're a bridge between school and uni, giving you the skills to get to uni and succeed when you get there.

Fee-free TAFE has been incredibly successful, and what we announced last night in the budget is that we are essentially going to uncap these fee-free uni-ready courses, like you see at Newcastle, right across the country. They're expected to increase the number of people doing these fee-free uni-ready courses by about 40 per cent by the end of the decade and double the number doing them by the end of the decade after that.

Last night, we also announced that we're going to uncap places at uni for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who get the marks to go to uni. On top of that, we also announced a new needs based funding system so that students from disadvantaged backgrounds and students who study in regional Australia get the extra support that they need to succeed when they get there. We know that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to finish their degree than other students, and this is all about fixing that, giving them extra academic support and extra wraparound support.

Bob Hawke and Paul Keating saw an increase in the number of kids finishing high school from 40 per cent to almost 80 per cent. That was nation-changing stuff. This is the next step. In the budget, we've set a target that, by 2050, 80 per cent of our workforce will have not just finished school but gone to TAFE or university as well. To hit that target, we've got to help more young people from the outer suburbs and the regions to get to uni and to succeed when they get there. That's what these reforms are about: fee-free, uni-ready courses; uncapping places; and needs-based funding—more spots and more support, opening the door of opportunity for more Australians. This is the sort of change, the sort of reform, that helps to make sure that no-one is held back and no-one is left behind.

Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Treasurer. The budget papers project a structural deficit across the medium term and into the 2030s. This is unsustainable. What is the Treasurer's plan to return to a structural budget balance, and when will this be?

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

Thanks to the member for Wentworth for her question, which reflects her longstanding interest in budget policy, particularly tax reform. One of the most important reasons why the progress we've made so far in the budget, in budget repair, is so important—if you look at the two fastest-growing areas of government spending, which are feeding the structural deficit to which the member rightly refers, the first one is the interest on the debt that we inherited from those opposite and the second one has been the NDIS.

We have taken considered, methodical action to address both of those areas—two of the big drivers. I pay tribute to the minister, Minister Shorten, for the work that we do together on the NDIS, which recognises that we need to ensure that the NDIS continues to deliver for the people it was designed to help, and we need to do that not by cutting back spending but by managing the growth of that spending. So I pay tribute to him. When it comes to the contribution of debt interest to the structural deficit, that has been considerable as well. One of the reasons why it's so important that we've been able to shave that $150 billion of debt this year is that it saves us something like $80 billion in debt interest over the course of the next 10 years, and you can see that $80 billion makes a meaningful difference to the structural position of the budget in the medium term. So those are two things that we are doing.

As I think the member for Wentworth would acknowledge, even if she may have a different combination of proposals, there is a role for tax reform in that too. Before the parliament we have changes to the PRRT. We have changes to high-balance superannuation—that's why it's so ironic that those opposite are asking about billionaires when they are voting against some of these fairness measures in the tax system in the other place. Tax reform has a role to play as well, and in last night's budget there was more tax reform. I acknowledge that the member for Wentworth would like us to go further and faster on tax reform, but that doesn't mean that it has been absent. We've been working through a really comprehensive tax reform agenda in a methodical and considered way.

In the changes last night there were some compliance changes. There's obviously a tax cut for every taxpayer, to return bracket creep in the best possible way. There are also small-business tax incentives. There are tax incentives to make ourselves a renewable energy superpower. There are also other important changes, like the changes to capital gains taxes for foreign property owners. That's another change that's in the budget.

All of this together—the very responsible approach that the Prime Minister, the cabinet and the government take to managing the budget—is about improving the structural position over time. We've done a whole heap of that. We've made some good progress, but we know that there is more to do.

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business. How will small businesses benefit from the targeted support in last night's budget, and what could be standing in its way?

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the wonderful member for Macquarie. The member for Macquarie has been a longstanding supporter of small business because, of course, she's been a small-business owner herself. She understands how important it is that we put downward pressure on inflation because of the input costs of small businesses.

We know that Australia's 2.5 million small businesses have been doing it tough, which is why we are providing targeted support in this year's budget. We know that they employ over five million Australians and, importantly, contribute half a trillion dollars to our economy each and every year. It's critical that they get the support that they need when we have those cost-of-living pressures. Indeed, it's laid out in our small-business statement, which is part of the budget. It's $640 million in targeted support for small businesses. It starts, of course, with a 12-month extension to the $20,000 instant asset write-off that hopefully those across the other side there will be supporting.

Oh, you want to spend more now? Is that what I've just heard from the shadow Treasurer over there? He wants to spend more! We're providing $290 million in cash flow support through this instant asset write-off, and, indeed, they'll be able to write off each asset, up to $20,000, in those businesses with an annual turnover of less than $10 million. So it is targeted because we do need to put downward pressure on inflation.

Of course we also have, as the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has said, energy bill relief for small businesses. Around a million small businesses will be getting additional energy bill relief, and, last time we had energy bill relief and support for small businesses, those opposite voted against it. It's another measure that small businesses can benefit from and that this time I hope those opposite are going to support, when small businesses need this targeted support. Around one million businesses will be getting an additional $325 to help them with their energy costs.

We also, very importantly, have extended for two years the financial counselling, mental health and wellbeing support for small businesses because we do know that they're doing it tough. That is $10 million for an extension of those services, including the Small Business Debt Helpline. Again, I would encourage small businesses who are in trouble and need support to contact them and to contact them early, and for those businesses that are having interactions with the Australian Taxation Office to do that.

What this shows is that we are supporting small businesses. There's also support for franchising and, importantly, to make sure that small businesses are paid on time. I want to see those opposite support all of these measures that the government is proposing for small business. (Time expired)

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. A gym in my electorate of Lindsay have seen their energy costs go from $13,000 to $27,500. The $325 energy bill credit will barely cover a fraction of the increase. How are Western Sydney small businesses meant to survive under Labor's reckless energy policies that are causing such high costs?

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my left and my right will cease interjecting. The Prime Minister will be heard in silence.

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

I thank the member for Lindsay for her question. Of course she, along with other members of the coalition, voted against our energy price relief plan, which assisted not just members in her electorate but small businesses in her electorate as well. They voted against it, like they didn't support any of the cost-of-living measures that we've put in place. Now we've made further announcements last night about cost-of-living relief, and they've walked away from that and have been opposing that as well.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You didn't announce your policies until after the election.

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

The member raises energy policy. Well, there's an opportunity tomorrow night for the Leader of the Opposition to actually tell us their energy policy, to bring it out from wherever it's hidden. He gave a commitment that it would be announced and he gave notice of two weeks. When was that?

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Nine weeks ago.

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

That was nine weeks ago, and we've been waiting and waiting. Then he said it was going to be before the budget. We were going to know where the nuclear reactors were going to be. I assume tomorrow night we'll hear who's going to pay for them, how they're going to be financed, whether they will be subsidised or whether they will be able to stand on their own two feet, as the shadow Treasurer on Insiders, on Sunday, said they had to.

The hypocrisy, when it comes to those opposite, is just extraordinary. On Sunday, the shadow Treasurer said: 'You shouldn't have subsidies. They should be able to stack up.' But the Leader of the Opposition, when asked whether they would subsidise nuclear, said very clearly, 'If it provides a base load to renewables, then yes.' And the shadow minister, when asked, 'Isn't it part of the problem that it's so incredibly expensive that you'd need government subsidies to get a nuclear industry up?' said, 'Look, there's no doubt that you'd need government involved.' So they're against any government engagement to support private sector investment.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will pause. The deputy leader has the right to raise a point of order.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance, her question was about the government's budget. It offered no request for compare or contrast. How can it be in order for the Prime Minister to continually just talk about the opposition, not his own budget?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has had some—

Order! The member for Hume will cease interjecting. I'm just going to ask the Prime Minister to return to the question and not simply—

I'm trying to deal with the point of order.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm just trying to help, Mr Speaker.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm so lucky for your help, but this time I have this one. I'm just going to ask the Prime Minister—

Opposition members interjecting—

Order, members on my left! The Prime Minister needs to return back to the question.

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

There he is, projecting again, because he knows that tomorrow night is his third budget reply, and he's yet to break his ducking-an-answer policy about anything. He's yet to have any costings. He's yet to have any detail whatsoever.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister needs to return to the question.

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

What we did was prepare for that, just like last night. Last night we announced an energy policy to deliver support to every household, and I wait to see whether the member for Lindsay actually supports her constituents in supporting that policy. (Time expired)