Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

From 1 July, just five days away, everyone in my community will benefit from the work our government is doing to support them with their cost-of-living pressures. When I think about what this might mean in Jagajaga I think about someone, let's call her Jess, and what it might mean for her. Jess is 37 years old, she lives in Watsonia and she works as a disability support worker. She's got a four-year-old daughter and has another baby on the way. From 1 July, someone like Jess will receive a tax cut of $783. She's one of the 77,000 taxpayers in Jagajaga receiving a tax cut from our government's cost-of-living tax cuts. She will benefit from $300 in power bill relief, and every single household in Jagajaga will get this support.

Jess is one of the 2.6 million workers on award wages who will benefit from a much-needed wage rise on 1 July, backed by our government. And, with her baby on the way, she and her partner will benefit from two more weeks of paid parental leave from our government's reforms which start on 1 July. She and her family will also have access to cheaper medicines from 1 July, as our government is freezing the PBS copayment and adding more medicines to the PBS. This is real cost-of-living relief for people like Jess and for people right across my community. Our government understands that people are doing it tough and we're here to support them.