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

It's hardly worth responding to the nonsense that was put on the record just then, and I had my chance to critique some of the nonsense that we've heard. Those who are in the gallery and people who are perhaps listening around the country deserve a better conversation of hope. That is what happened when a Labor government was elected.

What we did in the budget that has just passed through the Senate is going to really radically improve the lives of all Australians. For people sitting here—whether you are under the roof of a rental property tonight, an Airbnb or a local motel—the comfort of having your own home and being safe is a really important thing. Trying to keep the lights on is a big challenge. Labor sees that. We didn't ignore it. We didn't come in here and create a litany of miseries about the way the world is. We see what it's like and, instead of leaving Australians hanging, despairing that they're not going to be able to make their payments, we are going to help every single household get $300 off their electricity bill. That will be what happens in Australia on 1 July. We all get bills. It's going to be $75 off each quarter. That's the Australian government—your Australian government—saying: 'I see the challenges that you have in meeting your bills. We won't leave you hanging; we're going to help you.'

I want to address an issue that was raised about housing. Once upon a time I used to be an English teacher. English teachers are not always the favourite teachers of kids who go on to be construction workers. Sometimes those kids just serve out their time at school, make a few friends and are busting to get out and make things and build things—to be plumbers, carpenters or electricians. Young men and young women know that there are really good wages to be had, if they can do that, and that they can make a great contribution to their community.

So many young Australians' lives were interrupted because of the government of the day, the Liberal-National Party government under Mr Morrison, Mr Turnbull and Mr Abbott. They were unable to get any education to help them fulfil their dreams. They couldn't afford to go to TAFE. They wanted to be the workforce for Australia. They wanted to be ready to handle the supply challenges that we face. But they were cut off by a miserly Liberal-National Party government that didn't see talent and just saw cost.

Let me tell you: one of the changes we've made is that 355,000 Australians—young, middle-aged and older—are retraining for free, right now, to build the workforces we need and to make sure we have the teachers we need. We've delivered support for those who are experiencing prac poverty, where they have to go out and train, and they can't afford it. They're going to get $319 a week.

Not too far from here is the seat of Hume, if you head to Goulburn and then up to the southern parts of the city. In Hume there are 79,000 people. This is just one seat. It is the shadow Treasurer's seat. And he's whingeing and moaning. I don't know what makes him so unhappy that 79,000 people who live in the electorate he's supposed to represent are going to get tax cuts of the kind that Senator Wong outlined in her response to questions from government senators today; 13.6 million Australians across the country are going to get a tax cut come 1 July—just a few sleeps away—79,000 of them in the shadow Treasurer's seat. And those opposite are very unhappy.

Why are they unhappy? They are unhappy because, the way they had it concocted, most of these people—teachers, hospitality workers, chefs, sales assistants, receptionists, truck drivers, electricians, cleaners and nurses—were not going to get a tax cut, because people from the opposition do not believe in making sure hardworking, ordinary Australians who have aspiration should get the help they need from this government. They wanted to give it all to the upper end.

Those opposite don't understand that aspiration starts in a fibro house in Blacktown and that people on the lowest wages deserve a tax cut even more than those on the highest ones. If we believe in the opportunity of this country, that is what we have to do, and that is what Labor has done. That is why 13.6 million people will be very happy on Monday that it's an Albanese government here in the Lodge.