Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to contribute to this debate in addressing an answer given by Minister Gallagher around what is the government's major priority. The No. 1 thing that we are focused on as a government is the economy and responding to the challenges that we are facing right now.

We are acutely aware, as a government, of the very difficult nature of interest rate rises and the impact that this is having on households and families and small businesses. It is our No. 1 focus, and that is why we are delivering cost-of-living relief for Australian families. I know that those opposite would like to ignore some of these steps—and even, at times, vote against them—but it is clear that we are delivering. We are responding to a very challenging economic situation in a manner that is affordable and responsible but delivers that relief for families.

We have delivered cheaper medicines for Australians. We are delivering cheaper child care. We passed the legislation last year, and it will come into force very soon for Australian families. To ignore this as an economic measure just shows that those opposite have not learnt how important child care and economic participation from women really is to our economy.

We're delivering energy relief. We came back to parliament, and it was a priority, an urgency for our government. That is why we ensured—extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures—that we passed that bill despite the fact that those opposite voted against it. They voted against cost-of-living relief for families and for small businesses for no other reason other than they are ideologically opposed to any—any!—action when it comes to delivering cost-of-living relief. That can be the only explanation as to why they voted against cost-of-living relief on energy bills for Australian families.

We're getting on with the job of delivering these important measures, and we're doing it in a responsible way that seeks to make sure that we don't create any further inflation. We are making sure that we are spending responsibly, and we are tackling our supply chain issues. But it's funny to me that those opposite seem to think, or want to believe, that they left this brand new house for the new government to walk into—with no curtains, no furnishing, nothing. It was supposedly untouched and nothing had happened. This is what we inherited: a house that had had an 18-year-old birthday party in it for two nights. Everything was broken, the budget was in a complete and utter mess and we inherited a trillion dollars in debt. You want to forget about this, but that is the situation that you've left us in.

You had funds for the National Party with colour coded spreadsheets and irresponsible spending, terminating measures of incredibly important programs that just have no funding in the future, and there was absolutely no energy plan. After 22 tries, they couldn't land a single energy policy, and yet they want to come here and vote against energy price relief. They left us with skills shortages across the country, which are impacting our economy. We know that, but we're getting on with the job of dealing with those skills shortages with fee-free TAFE. On top of this absolute mess that we inherited, we have a trillion in debt that those opposite want to completely ignore and pretend does not exist.

We are delivering responsible and affordable budget measures and we're doing it in a way that makes sure that every single Australian family knows that our No. 1 priority is dealing with the economic challenges that we're facing, responding to these cost-of-living pressures and doing it in a way that does not create worse inflation or contribute to the issues. That is what we are—