Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

You have to raise taxes in this case. So what did those opposite do? Not only did they raise taxes but they just kept borrowing and borrowing and borrowing to pay for some of the most ridiculous, wasteful expenditure, which is to their shame.

On this side, we have a highly responsible budget. We are putting money where it needs to be, and it is into reducing the costs of living pressures on Australians. There are many ways in which this budget is doing that. We are easing the pressure by tackling energy prices—again, irresponsible, ideologically-driven Labor state governments are pushing up the price of energy, which is crippling many, many families—so we are putting in measures to, at least, provide some relief.

We have already put in measures to reduce the burden of child care, which, again, is a huge cost-of-living pressure on many Australian families. But the best form of welfare—and, particularly, for the people of Western Australia at the moment—as we always say, is a job. This government continues to create measures for small business so that they can employ more people—for example, in my home state of Queensland, they have just announced $2.3 billion worth of expenditure, most of it from the Commonwealth, for new infrastructure projects, which will be at least 6,000 jobs. The new defence projects, the new shipbuilding projects, again, mean many thousands more job. We are putting money into providing people with the skills that they need—the skills to get jobs, the skills for the future.

Senator Hume talked very eloquently about what we are doing for housing affordability—helping young Australians realise that dream of affording their own home, and providing older Australians who have worked hard all their lives to have equity in their own homes with the opportunity to downsize, sell their home, put money into superannuation and still, hopefully, have money for the things that they would not otherwise be able to afford to do.

On healthcare costs: those opposite deride us for healthcare costs, but we are doing more than they ever did in their time in government towards reducing healthcare costs; making health care more affordable and also making prescriptions— (Time expired)