Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Payman for the question. Senator Payman is right: in these challenging times, what Australians needed from their government was a budget that was responsible, that was right for the times and that readied us for the future. The primary focus of the budget, aside from delivering on our commitments to the Australian people, is managing the inflationary pressures that Australians are experiencing right now. That's why at the heart of the budget is our five-point plan for cost-of-living relief to provide some support which delivers an economic dividend but doesn't put extra pressure on inflation. The hard reality is that, after nearly a decade of division, denial and delay, our economy isn't as strong or resilient as we need it to be for the challenges we face.

But our budget begins to turn that around by investing in the capabilities of our people and the capacity of the economy, with fee-free TAFE and more university places; the National Reconstruction Fund for new, well-paid jobs in new industries; and by investing in cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy to deal with the extraordinary energy market mess that we inherited. And the budget pays for things that Australians value the most: better health care, better Medicare and better aged care.

Above all, the budget marked the end of a wasted decade—a decade where we saw energy chaos, an aged-care crisis, a skills shortage, stagnant wages and a trillion dollars of debt with nothing to show for it. That's the mess that we inherited and the mess we're cleaning up in this budget with those key measures which will go to investing in the productive side of our economy by training people in the skills they need for the future, by creating opportunities, by supporting new industries where they need an extra hand and by getting the transformation to a decarbonised economy on the right foot.