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

I thank Senator Payman for that question. I appreciate it. The budget the Treasurer delivered last night does many things. It responds to the immediate challenges and sets Australia up for the future as well as forecasting a surplus and providing relief for the most vulnerable. Helping the vulnerable and delivering a forecasted surplus aren't really experiences familiar to the coalition, are they? They never managed it during their nine whole years in government. They got the mugs printed, but they didn't actually deliver it. We remember all the photos. It was nine years of financial mismanagement, nine years of bad budgeting, gaps in the budget, fiscal cliffs and booby traps that have taken us two budgets to uncover. We've inherited it all, and we've dug the budget out of that hole in order to deliver a forecasted surplus. We've cleaned up the mess left behind. We've managed to deliver for Australians, particularly those who need it the most and those who had been left behind under the former government.

The budget builds stronger foundations for a better future by delivering cost-of-living relief that doesn't drive up inflation: a historic $5.7 billion investment to strengthen Medicare and investing in a strong and more secure economy through significant investments in renewable energy, in skills, and in modernising and growing Australia's industrial capabilities and of course broadening opportunity, including advancing women's economic opportunity. We don't see women as an add-on, as something you look at once you've finalised the budget. Women have been front and centre of our decision-making, and we are absolutely determined to ensure that we seize the economic opportunities that come from a country that treats women equally.