Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, what a contribution, in trying to blame everyone else and take no responsibility for being in government for almost a decade, where you did absolutely nothing except to triple the country's debt. That's what you did. Our deficit tripled over your time. You took no economic action to ensure that we were protected from any global economic shocks. You did nothing about that at all.

We had the contribution from the previous speaker, who was critical because, they said, we're spending too much money. On the one hand, they say we're spending too much money; on the other hand, they say we're not spending enough. Then they criticise us by saying—it's their new mantra this week—the government are full of broken promises. We just got criticised for not delivering on our election commitments. We in the Labor government, under Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister, have actually delivered on the election commitments we made to the Australian people, and we're not going to apologise for that—not today, not ever—because we believe in delivering on our commitments.

We've got to remember that they had nine years. What did they do to protect the Australian economy? Did they invest in skills? No. Did they invest in manufacturing? No. What have they done since they've been in opposition? They've opposed every strategy and piece of legislation to help Australian families. We know and understand, because we're out there talking to Australians, that they're doing it tough out there. Do we wish that inflation was lower and coming down? Yes, we do. But what we also know is that we have got the right policies in place.

Those opposite talk about mortgages and mortgage interest rates going up. Yes, they have. No-one is denying that. Why are interest rates going up? Because of the Reserve Bank of Australia, who are independent. Let's not forget that while the Liberals, who are now here moaning in the background, were in government interest rates had already started to go up. We are not responsible for international events, things which are happening globally, and inflation has impacted globally. But all of a sudden they think that we can just wave our magic wand and everything is going to be A-OK because we want it to be.

We are taking sensible decisions based on the best interests of Australians. We are delivering on our commitments. And we are mocked because we have actually reduced the cost of medication. We're mocked because we've actually delivered on child care. We've supported childcare workers to get an increase in their pay. We've supported aged-care workers to get an increase in their pay because of the work that they're doing. We have a policy of wanting to see Australian workers getting paid more. At the same time, it was a deliberate policy of the former Liberal governments to keep wages down. But they want to come in here now and try and rewrite history. What they won't tell you is that last week the international rating agency Fitch reaffirmed Australia's AAA credit rating, describing our fiscal stance as 'supportive of reducing inflation'. That's not us saying that; that is the international rating agency who are saying that.

We know inflation is moderating in our economy, and we would like to see it moderate more quickly and go down. We welcome that progress, but we have to be realistic that that is not going to change overnight. But, if they were still in government, it would be no better. In fact it would be worse, because they have never supported wage growth in this country for Australian workers.

This month we have tripled the bulk-billing incentives, giving support to 11.6 million eligible Australians—including children, pensioners and concession card holders—to access a GP with no out-of-pocket expense. At the same time, we've introduced our urgent care clinics. Over 60,000 people have already accessed those clinics. (Time expired)