Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian community benefits from an Australian government that works hard to steer our country through tough situations while setting us up for the long term, setting us up to be a fairer, healthier, stronger, more sustainable and more inclusive nation. The Australian community benefits from a government that is clear about its commitments and delivers on those commitments. That's what Australians voted for two years ago, and that's what's being delivered by the Albanese government.

After a decade of coalition incompetence in which wages had fallen to the lowest proportion of national income in our history, we went to the election with a commitment to get stagnant wages moving again, to make life better for working Australians and to help those who face disadvantage. That's why we've supported significant increases in the minimum wage. That's why we've improved bargaining conditions, so that real wages are rising again for the first time in a decade. That's why we've delivered pay increases for workers in aged care and child care—because those workers are in low-paid feminised industries and because the people who provide vital care for the oldest and youngest Australians deserve a decent wage. That's why we've increased support through the Social Safety Net, especially for older unemployed Australians and for single-parent families. That's why in consecutive budgets we've increased Commonwealth rental assistance by 40 per cent, the largest increase in 30 years.

We went to the election with a commitment to make sure that Australia is not left behind as the world undergoes a transformational shift in energy generation, distribution and use, a shift which itself is absolutely necessary as an urgent response to dangerous climate change. That's why, in the first months of the government, we legislated net zero by 2050, we increased Australia's Paris climate agreement emissions reduction pledge by more than 50 per cent and we set an ambitious target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030. That's why we reformed the Safeguard Mechanism, strengthened and expanded the water trigger under the EPBC Act, provided $20 billion for the Rewiring the Nation project, opened the way for Australia to benefit from offshore wind power for the first time and created Australia's first national electrical vehicle strategy. All of those things together have delivered an increase of 25 per cent in renewable energy generation already. That's why as we respond to the impact of climate on our environment, we've delivered, as promised, the legislation to create Australia's first environmental protection agency.

We went to the election with a commitment to once again take up Labor's mantle as the party that built Australia's unique foundation of shared wellbeing—our public health and education systems; the opportunity for everyone in Australia to go to a school or a hospital for free. That's why we have delivered the largest decrease in the maximum price of medicines on the PBS in the history of the PBS. It's why we've tripled the bulk-billing incentive. It's why we've delivered 59 Medicare urgent care clinics so that people can get treatment for urgent non-life-threatening issues on an after-hours basis simply by presenting their Medicare card. It's why we are now adding another 29 clinics to that program. This is a smart, new kind of healthcare option that reduces pressure on our hospital emergency departments.

It's why we're working with the states and territories to get our public schools to 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard. Happily, Western Australia will be the first cab off the rank in that regard thanks to $770 million in federal funding, so that schools which need it most reach the 100 per cent standard in 2025, with all schools to reach the standard in 2026.

Twenty-four months ago, right around the country, Labor asked for the responsibility of forming the Albanese Labor government. We made that pitch to the Australian people with a clear sense of the hard work that would be necessary to deal with urgent problems like inflation and the costs of living, and with a clear sense of the hard work that would be necessary to tackle big picture and longer term challenges in areas such as health, education, climate change and the environment. We made that pitch on the basis of a clear program of priorities, knowing that you can't fix everything at once, yet you mustn't waste a moment in getting things done in the national interest.

In addition to the things I've already mentioned, you can add the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission; you can add 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave; you can add the first consecutive budget surpluses in nearly 20 years; you can add bringing the gender pay gap to its lowest recorded level; you can add delivering the full value of the stage 3 tax cuts as promised but delivered in a form that is fairer and better, with more relief to 84 per cent of low- and middle-income earners at a time when people are doing it tough.

Two years ago, Australians voted for a government that would serve their needs and advance our national interest through hard work, focus, integrity and a responsive day-in day-out application to delivering on the commitments that we made to them. That is precisely the record of the Albanese Labor government.

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese government have presided over a number of failures in the last two years. They failed on their experiment to get the Voice up. They've clearly failed in relation to the management of the immigration portfolio. But to this day the one that is the most staggering—and the one that is actually hurting Australians the most, I would suggest—remains the way that they are mismanaging the economy.

We saw yesterday that the ABS confirmed that economic growth was just 0.1 per cent over the first quarter of the year and that it had slowed to just over one per cent over the last 12 months. The Treasurer confirmed that the economy is barely growing. That's true, Captain Obvious, because even a doctor of spin can work out, based on that data, that things are hardly moving in the right direction. So many people out there in the community have no optimism left. The Albanese Labor government are all out of answers on how they are going to address this cost-of-living crisis.

Australians have seen their take-home pay shredded by homegrown inflation that has been acted on by the Reserve Bank. The Labor government have added an additional $315 billion in spending since coming to power, but I question what we actually have to show for it. What we know is that the average Australian household with a mortgage is more than $35,000 worse off under Labor than they were two years ago. That's right—$35,000. That has a real impact for young families. It means going without fresh fruit and vegetables in favour of cheaper options. Kids might be missing out on sporting events or learning opportunities. People have had to make sacrifices, and its impacting the quality of life that Australians can enjoy.

Labor's inability to address inflation over the last two years has resulted in persistently high interest rates on mortgages. The flow-on effect for those in the rental market has been equally punishing. After a dozen interest rate rises, how is Labor tracking? The national accounts confirmed that inflation actually increased even further in April. We are literally heading in the wrong direction under this government. Whilst the word 'inflation' is thrown around, the Treasurer himself is quite 'deflated', because he knows that things aren't actually getting any better. While the government delivered a lucky surplus on the back of strong royalties from resources they, ironically, are trying to phase out, they will be back to their large deficits in this coming financial year. With budget after budget ahead relying on a big-spending agenda, how can Australians feel optimistic that inflation, interest rates, their mortgages and the cost of living will ever come down?

This cost-of-living crisis that's gripping our nation is one of Labor's own making. The former coalition government presided over the longest stretch of continuous economic growth in the developed world. Meanwhile, interest rates stayed at historic lows, mortgages were manageable, people got ahead. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer simply do not share the priorities or understand the average Australian. They really just don't get it. In just another slap in the face for Aussies doing it tough and paying record high tax—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:45 to 13:02

Just before we were interrupted by that division, I was talking about the economic mismanagement of this government. In another slap in the face for Aussies doing it tough and paying record-high taxes, this week we've had it confirmed that the NDIS and social services minister, Shorten, has not only presided over a $40 billion blowout in his department but hired a speech writer for $610,000 over two years. I think someone did the maths on it, and it actually worked out to be $22,000 per speech, which is an incredible service provision at an incredible cost. Australians don't really understand how that can fly when they themselves are doing it so tough. What it really shows is that the Albanese Labor government are clearly out of touch with what's going on with Australians.