Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Responsibly managing the budget means the Albanese Labor government can deliver tax cuts for every taxpayer, stronger Medicare in every community, more homes across the country, a better deal for working parents and investment in a future made in Australia.

Let's remember the effect of the measures that were opposed by those opposite: they took half a percentage point off inflation in the year to the March quarter in 2024. In that time, childcare prices fell by 5.6 per cent. Without our policy, they would have jumped 15 per cent. Electricity prices rose by two per cent. Without the government's energy plan, the rise would have been about 15 per cent. All of these measures were cost-of-living relief, which those opposite tried to block.

This budget will deliver for Australians. It will deliver for the future of the country, and it will stand in stark contrast to the sort of approach that we saw from Mr Dutton and his colleagues 10 years ago, when we saw cuts to health, cuts to education, cuts to Medicare and cuts to the ABC. (Time expired)