Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hasluck understands that a good government, as both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have stated, deals with the challenges facing it in the present while also planning for the future. With the Albanese government's cost-of-living tax cuts, every one of the 84,000 taxpayers in Hasluck has received a tax cut. A teacher in Guildford on $96,000 will have a tax cut of around $2,079. A nurse midwife at Midland hospital on $88,000 will receive a tax cut of about $1,880. A young electrician in Brabham, just starting out on $55,000, will see a tax cut of over $1,000—$1,054, to be precise. Australian taxpayers can go to the tax cut calculator and see what they will have back in their pocket, and the benefits of the Albanese government's tax cuts will be felt not just by the taxpayers but by their families and children as well. It's the right thing to do. Having a tax cut not just for the few but for everyone—this is only something that could have happened under an Albanese Labor government. We know this because the coalition government voted it down.

Hasluck is better off, and Hasluck is healthier. Under the Albanese Labor government, we've now opened urgent care clinics across the country. In Midland, at North Street Medical Centre, we now have a bulk-billing urgent care clinic operating seven days a week, which takes the pressure off our nearby hospital emergency department. There have been over 400,000 presentations across the country to urgent care clinics.

We've also introduced 60-day scripts. There have been over 47,000 scripts issued now on a 60-day script basis. This is money saved, and also energy saved and time saved for the people with a range of chronic conditions. The coalition were advised to do this in 2018, but they chose not to act. Only an Albanese Labor government will act to save people money. Equally, we're looking out for doctors, who now have seen a tripling of their bulk-billing incentive for medical bulk-billing. In Hasluck, this has risen to 72 per cent in six months. The cap on the cost of scripts has seen over 240,000 reduced scripts in Hasluck, meaning people there are sharing in the savings of around $3 million.

In the education space in Hasluck, public schools, principals and teachers are giving me fantastic feedback for the historic agreement for the Albanese government together with the Cook Labor government to now fund all public schools 100 per cent of the resourcing standard by 2026. The focus will first be on the needy schools, who'll get the extra funding in 2025. This means more supports for teachers and more help for the students who need it.

Then there is our fee-free TAFE policy. We believe in everybody who wants to pursue further education. We back you in. To this end, we've committed $1.5 billion for 500,000 fee-free TAFE places and vocational education across Australia from 2023 to 2026. For my North Metropolitan TAFE in Midland, it has been transformative, as student enrolments have increased many times over. Hasluck students in the areas of teaching, nursing, midwifery, early childhood education and social work will also now begin to be able to access paid prac support. Being able to access this from next year will assist them in completing their education and joining the workforce in these areas of need.

Every resident in Hasluck will save on their energy bills this year, with a total of $700 off energy bills thanks to the coordinated efforts of both the Albanese government and the state Cook Labor government. This, of course, is expected to have the added benefit of reducing inflationary pressures. The cost-of-living relief really builds on what we already delivered with the energy bill relief in December 2022. At that time, the government capped gas prices on the east coast, a measure which the coalition again voted against. This government's timely actions had the effect of shielding Australian families and businesses, who also receive the benefit of this energy bill relief, from global energy price shocks.

The Albanese government's Future Made in Australia Bill was introduced to parliament this week. This is the absolute pinnacle, I think; it will be a legacy for this government well into the future. It will deliver jobs and a sustainable future for all.