Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We don't need those opposite to tell us that inflation is hitting Australians hard right now, today. That's why it is pleasing that we are seeing inflation starting to moderate down from the highs of last December. We know that inflation remains too high and that inflation hurts lower-income Australians the most. That's why it was also important that, in the last round of Senate estimates, both the RBA governor and the Treasury secretary acknowledged our energy plans are taking 0.75 per cent off inflation.

There are the energy plans that those opposite voted against. So it really does take some gall for the opposition to come into the chamber today and ask about our fiscal strategy and ask about the cost of living when you voted against measures which would have cut inflation and cut the cost of living, when you on the opposition benches voted against building 30,000 social and affordable homes in the next five years. You sided with the Greens to do that; you sided with the Greens to block homes for the people who need them the most—30,000 social and affordable homes, including for women and children who are fleeing violence.

Our fiscal strategy has been to bank the majority of the surplus exactly so that fiscal policy is working hand in glove with monetary policy. Having done that, we are able to direct $14.6 billion into our cost-of-living package—targeted, measured, effective relief for those who need it the most. We are providing help with power bills. We are bringing down out-of-pocket health costs. We are making early learning more affordable. We're investing in free TAFE, which is absolutely transformative for those people who want to upskill and get back into the workforce and earn a better wage. We are boosting wages, funding a historic pay rise for hundreds of thousands of aged-care workers, including women doing it tough, who need it the most. As Senator Gallagher said today in the chamber, we are making medicines cheaper. She outlined our plans today, and I think she said that in just seven months Australians have saved $118 million on cheaper prescriptions. This is what Labor governments can do. She talked about 60-day prescriptions and how that will assist six million Australians, giving them two months of medicine for the price of one month and delivering much-needed cost-of-living relief. Again, this is what Labor governments do. Those opposite chose to ignore the advice to make these changes and make medicines cheaper. As a result, people have been paying more for medicines for longer.

We really have to ask what exactly the opposition can point to that they think they delivered to Australian families in their 10 years of government. What did they deliver to help Australians in any way with their daily life? Was it the lower wages as a deliberate design feature of the economy? Was it more people than ever piecing together two or three jobs to make ends meet? Was it skyrocketing childcare costs, with no plan to bring them down? Was it a plan to simply hide rising energy costs before the election, after a decade of failure to invest in cheap renewable energy? What can you on the opposition benches point to that you delivered to help Australian families? Was it a broken Medicare system with rising out-of-pocket costs? Was it a system where you have to turn up with your credit card to get in the door, not just your Medicare card? Was it a trillion dollars of debt and nothing to show for it? The Morrison government delivered nothing but a decade of delay, a decade of waste, a decade of rorts and a decade of division, with no plan but to divide the country and no plans for the matters that affect Australians the most—their jobs and their homes.