Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lalor is pleased to rise to her feet today to talk about some of the challenges that we as a government face and some of our achievements as a government. The first is that we have inflation moderation. The second is we have wages moving. We have the gender pay gap narrowing. We have employment participation higher than it's ever been, with over a million jobs created in the first term of the Labor government. We've delivered two surpluses. We've done all this facing extraordinary economic challenges. I want to pay tribute to our Treasurer, the Assistant Treasurer and the finance minister for the work that they have been doing in this space to ensure that Australians have a job and have a roof over the heads.

We know people are doing it tough. We know there is more to do. We know there is more to do in housing. We know there is more to do in education, and that's why we're moving into that space now. We have lowered energy prices. We are going to take 20 per cent off people's HECS debts if we are elected at the next election. Labor is committed to a fair country and an educated country, a country where everyone is striving forward for fairness and a fair go for all Australians. This Albanese government is committed to ensuring that we have economic stability and wages growth and that we are creating jobs in Australia for Australians and hence manufacturing jobs for Australia.