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

I thank Senator Walsh for her question. We understand that high inflation and high interest rates are putting pressure on the budgets of Australian households. That's why central to our economic plan is our package around cost-of-living relief. That support is directed to those who need help the most and is timed in terms of how that relief is rolling out.

Our measures include: the largest investment in bulk-billing incentives ever; helping 11.6 million eligible Australians access a GP with no out-of-pocket costs; reducing the cost of medicines by up to half for at least six million people, saving Australians $1.6 billion in out-of-pocket costs over the next four years; increasing the base rate for payments like JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and Austudy; and delivering the biggest increase in Commonwealth rent assistance, by 15 per cent, in over three decades.

We've got up to $3 billion in electricity bill relief through the Energy Bill Relief Fund that will benefit more than five million eligible households and one million eligible small businesses. We are supporting housing supply and homeownership and delivering cheaper child care and paid parental leave. We've seen the disastrous alternative to our responsible approach from those opposite, voting against energy bill relief for millions of households, opposing cheaper housing through the HAFF—