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

I thank the senator for the question. All of those details will be released in the budget—in the normal way, as people would expect. The spending that we have supported, including paying super on PPL, along with our other cost-of-living measures, are about supporting the community, easing cost-of-living pressures where we can and continuing to repair the budget. I would remind those opposite that we were the first government in 15 years to deliver a surplus—not to print the mugs that said you were back in black but to actually deliver the surplus. We have removed waste from the budget. We have sought savings and delivered those savings. We have found room for important priorities like super on paid parental leave, because parents take time out of the workforce.

It is an investment, not a welfare measure, as some opposite have called it. We believe these investments are important. We believe they're investments not only for achieving gender equality; they're also good for the economy. All of the spending that we agree to is measured against our fiscal priorities and our fiscal plan, and we will continue to do that. We're in the thick of the budget session now. We are going through all of those decisions. We're fixing up terminating measures and hidden black holes that we inherited from you when you were in government because you didn't budget with a true picture of the state of the budget. We'll continue to do all that work. We'll continue to repair the budget, to lower the debt burden we inherited and to make room for important spending priorities that alleviate the cost-of-living pressures on Australians.