Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I could tell from that contribution that Senator McGrath is very upset—very upset that Australians are going to get a $300 rebate to help them with the cost of electricity. I can't understand why he'd want to hurt all those people in those towns that he's just mentioned. I'm going out to Broken Hill next week, on my rounds of the seat of Parkes, and I'm pretty sure everybody out there is going to be happy about the $300 rebate that will assist them with their electricity costs.

I know that yesterday—and I do want to wish him a happy birthday—was Senator McGrath's birthday. Clearly, he didn't get the budget he wanted, which was one to heap more pressure on Australian families. And we have to find out what they're going to say tomorrow night. Are they going to support the $300 energy rebate that every Australian household will get under Labor or are they going to oppose it? I ask because they're whingeing about how much everything costs, and they seem to be completely out of touch.

But I do want to thank the senator for bringing to the Senate's attention our recent budget. It's a fair budget. It's a balanced budget. It's a fundamentally good budget to assist people now, in their time of struggle, and also to create a future, an opportunity, for every Australian going forward.

Now, the fact is that Senator McGrath was elected to parliament in 2013 and hadn't seen a budget surplus since then, until Labor came in. It's a Labor budget surplus. No wonder he's a bit upset today. These consecutive budget surpluses are a feat of economic responsibility and prudence which were absolutely missing, very sadly, from the previous coalition government. So any claim that they might make about 'good economic management' has gone right out the window. They failed when they were in government, and now, in opposition, they're whingeing that Australia has a surplus and that we should dare to assist Australians by giving them some relief from their energy bills right now, in 2024. They had many treasurers when they were in government—sometimes they even had two blokes doing the one job!—but they never had the economic pedigree to achieve a surplus.

Inflation is a scourge that impacts all Australians, particularly those on low and fixed incomes. To those doing it tough right now: Labor sees you, we hear you, we understand the struggle that you face, and that is why this budget is responding to you in your time of need.

The budget provides tax relief to every working Australian, energy bill relief to all Australian households and targeted support to those on rental assistance and those who use the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We'll also be giving rebates to those small businesses that are eligible, who have had the benefit of this assistance before.

The energy assistance that we gave was mentioned in estimates by Steven Kennedy, the head of Treasury, who made it very clear that Labor's investment in energy relief on the previous occasion drove down inflation by 0.5 per cent. Now there's a fact—on the public record—that is absolutely missing in the alternative universe in which the Liberal Party and National Party reside.

Inflation has halved since the Albanese government came into office and it's because of the policies in this budget that the inflation rate will lower by an additional 0.75 per cent. Treasury is now forecasting that Australia could now get back to the inflation rate target sooner—maybe even by the end of this year.

These numbers obviously mean a lot to politicians and the economists and financial types that talk about all this stuff and watch with great interest. Most Australians don't pay attention to a whole lot of that, but they are busy counting every dollar that they earn. They will benefit from the tax cuts that every taxpayer in Australia will get, which was not going be the case under those opposite. Australians are working hard to ensure they can feed and clothe their families.

I just want to put on the record that I was born in Western Sydney to young working-class Irish immigrants. My first home was in a caravan. My parents worked really hard and got a house, sold the house and had a period of renting—rent assistance would have been pretty handy—and I can tell you: the investment by the government of Gough Whitlam was responsible for putting in a sewer instead of a pan in the backyard of the house that we rented at Leumeah in one part of that journey. I was involved in the family business from the age of 11, doing the books and the typing. I know the relief this budget is going to bring to families, to working families, to small businesses and immigrant Australians. (Time expired)