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

It seems that the opposition wants us to ignore the High Court. It wants us to ignore the advice of our agencies. But on this side of the chamber we have confidence in the agencies that are working hard to keep Australians safe. We have confidence in them. What we don't have confidence in is the ability of the opposition to rise above the politics of fear and division in this nation. What we don't have confidence in is the ability of Mr Dutton to rise above rank political opportunism when he sees it. On this side of the chamber, we do have confidence in our law enforcement agencies and our security agencies. We have confidence that the Australian people know what is important to them today and every day, even if the opposition don't know that. And what the Australian people can have confidence in is how our economic security is tracking in this country right now, and how our plans are delivering for them today.

Just think about the state of this country when we took office. Wages had been flat for a decade under those opposite. Inflation was on the march. Interest rates were already rising. Real wages were falling off a cliff under those opposite. And the Morrison government was hiding increases to the benchmark electricity price that we've been talking about today. At the same time there were eye-watering deficits of $80 billion and $50 billion as far as the eye could see, year on year on year. This is what the Australian people were concerned about when we came into office.

What a difference 18 months of a Labor government makes. What a difference it makes to put some people in charge who are actually focused on the issues that Australians care about. What a difference it makes to put some decent and strong economic managers back in charge—because today we have the fastest wage growth in 20 years in this country. Today inflation is moderating, and we know that from the RBA decision and their commentary yesterday. Interest rates have now been on hold for four months, with the RBA recognising that inflation is moderating and that downward pressure on electricity prices is important to that as well. Today we are seeing real wages growing again. Today the budget is back in shape, with the first surplus in 15 years. And, in just a few months, every single one of 13.6 million Australian taxpayers will get a tax cut. These are the things that Australians care about. These are the issues that matter to them.

What also matters to them is that energy prices are going down too. The default market offer, which you had to hide from the Australian people as you were leaving office, is now trending in the right direction: it is trending down. We have lower electricity prices, and that is so welcome. There is so much more work to do, and we will continue to do that difficult work.

I know that the opposition wanted to come in here today and ask questions that distract from all of that good work that we have been doing to get our economic security back on track. They have come in here today and asked questions about state issues, like gas in Victoria. Do we want to talk about the Victorian government? I'm happy to talk about my home state, if you think it's appropriate to ask about the Victorian government in question time. We know that the Victorian government is focused on energy security, and we know that they are focused on jobs in renewable energy—in generation, in transmission and in manufacturing. There have been 59,000 jobs created in renewable energy in Victoria. Prices are going down in Victoria by six to seven per cent. That is all part of their plan, supported by our plan, to actually bring electricity prices down and improve our energy security in this country.

We can listen to those opposite talking about fear and division, we can listen to their questions about state issues that they bring into this chamber of the parliament or we can listen to what the Australian people are concerned about. What they are concerned about is having a good job and the money that they're going to get back from our tax cuts on 1 July. What they are concerned about is earning more and keeping more of what they earn under the Albanese Labor government.