Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Anyone listening to this at home would be wondering when the last chance was that those opposite had in government. It wasn't that long ago. They spent the better part of the last decade in government—a low-ambition government with short memories. None of this stuff started on 19 May in 2022. The issues they're referring to around cost of living started well before that. The inflationary pressures started well before that. Many of the challenges in our economy started well before that, and they started under their watch.

So they have short memories, for sure, and also not good listening skills, because I just sat here through Senator Green's contribution, where she very delicately acknowledged the great difficulties facing Australians at the moment when it comes to cost of living. These issues are biting. They're really stinging, I know they're stinging in South Australia. They're stinging in the costs of rents, which are soaring in many parts of Adelaide and around our state. Supply issues in the housing market are causing these challenges, something we're seeking to address through our housing policies in government and something which has been neglected for the better part of a decade. And, yes, interest rates are creating significant challenges for Australians with mortgages. These pressures are real, and they're hurting people in my state. That's why our government is acting.

But let's not pretend you can act in this way without some degree of delicacy. You need to be careful, you need to be responsible and you need to show restraint in the budget. That's exactly what our Treasurer and our government have done. We have been working to deliver cost-of-living relief for Australians in a way which won't add further pressure to inflation, through things like our policy to lower the cost of medicines, a significant reform which will make a real difference to many, many Australians and some of our most vulnerable Australians who are reliant on regular medicines. This will make a very significant difference.

For people of my generation, the costs of child care are absolutely enormous. They eat into a huge part of a family's budget each week. They are a necessary expense to participate in the economy and to maintain your connection with the workforce—and, of course, to give children access to that amazing and incredible thing that we call play based learning, which sets them up for a great start in life. But these costs are significant, which is why we've introduced a significant package to lower the cost of child care and increase access to early learning.

And, we have responsibly supported wage growth. We've supported an increase to the minimum wage, a significant measure which makes a big difference in the lives of Australians, our lowest paid Australians, with cost-of-living pressures. But we are doing these things responsibly. We are doing them in the context of restraint.

Alongside these measures, we are addressing challenges on the supply side—challenges like the skills gaps in our economy. These are skills challenges which sat ignored and untouched by the previous government for the better part of a decade. We are doing this through measures like our fee-free TAFE positions. We are investing in cleaner and cheaper energy, after almost a decade of failed energy policy after failed energy policy—that failure to give the market and businesses the investment guidelines they needed to stimulate that part of our economy and grow jobs. We've made those decisions. We've legislated those targets to provide that certainty and to provide that growth.

Of course, we didn't come to government to a perfect economy. We came to government and inherited a trillion dollars of their debt—a trillion dollars of debt with very little economic dividend to show for it. We came to government with a time of falling real wages. We came to government at a time of increasing energy prices and insecurity and instability in the energy market, because of their failure to legislate and because of their failure to choose a policy and stick to it. We came to government at a time of significant skills shortages. All of these are things that we are working on.

We understand that cost of living is biting at the moment. It's biting people in my state. It's biting people in Adelaide. That's why we are working to address it. I'm sure, and I have great confidence, that our May budget will take even further measures to help support Australians with these cost-of-living pressures. Let's lose the dodgy listening skills and stretch back a bit further in your memory, because we are doing— (Time expired)