Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you're worried about the cost-of-living crisis, you're not alone. If you're worried about how you or your kids might be able to afford a home, you are not alone. If you think that, in a wealthy country like ours, everyone should be able to afford the basics, you are not alone. And, if you think it's wrong that one in three big corporations pays no tax—$0 tax—you are not alone.

This budget was a chance to tackle this cost-of-living crisis, but it's been wasted. We want more people to have access to world-class health care; we could have made it free to see the GP now. We want to wipe student debt; we could have passed the government's plan to wipe 20 per cent off the top of student debt now. And we want to include dental in Medicare; we could have done that right now, too. There's so much we could achieve if Labor was prepared to use its numbers and work with the Greens to get outcomes now. But, instead, Labor has delivered a budget that hands four times more in tax handouts to billionaires than it does to low-income earners, and, instead, they slashed billions from the NDIS, left people on income support living below the poverty line and delivered nothing for renters.

It's only because of the Greens' pressure that Labor has put forward a plan to make it free to see a GP and to wipe student debt in part in the first place. Greens' pressure pushed Labor to help make it free to see the GP. The Greens' pressure on Labor pushed them to wipe 20 per cent off student debt. And Greens' pressure on Labor will eventually get them to include dental in Medicare. But, instead of helping now, the government's tiny tax tweak only sees someone get 73c a day, and they have to wait 15 months for that—73c a day in 15 months time, not now. That won't even cover one cup of coffee per week, and it won't help you when your rent has already gone up by hundreds of dollars.

Our time here in parliament is precious; we need to use it wisely. We need to understand that people vote for us and send us here to get things done—to deliver and to actually tackle the problems that people face in their lives. And the biggest problem that many people are facing right now is the soaring cost of living. But this week, instead of making it free to go and see the GP, protecting the environment or wiping student debt, Labor and Liberals have rammed through laws to gut environment protections to protect the profits of a multinational corporation that is putting the existence of threatened species at risk. Labor could act now but it's holding out on people. The problem is, when people see governments failing to act, the likes of Trump and Dutton seize on it. And we know that Dutton will try and bring that Trump-style politics here. We know that he will make things worse. If Labor wants to keep him out, the government should act now.

It is crystal clear after this week that we can't keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. Big corporations have made billions in profits, and billionaires have accumulated obscene wealth, thanks to the policies of Labor and the Liberals. We need to make them pay their fair share. One in three big corporations pay no tax. If we make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax, we can reduce the cost of living and help people now. We shouldn't have to wait until after the election to help people tackle the cost of living.

But, after the election, there will be a minority government, and, with a minority government, we can keep Dutton out and get Labor to act. We will work for genuinely affordable housing to get—

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Melbourne will refer to the Leader of the Opposition by his title.

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We will work for genuinely affordable housing, to get mental and dental health care into Medicare and to fully wipe student debt. And we will tax the excessive profits of the big corporations and the obscene wealth of billionaires to pay for it. It is clearer than ever before that we can't keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. If you want action and you want it now, vote for it.