Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In taking note of answers given by ministers today, I want to return to the question asked by Nationals senator Senator Davey to the Minister for Finance. She framed Labor's most recent budget as 'big spending' and asked a question about whether this so-called cost-of-living relief would have an impact on interest rates. What is telling about this question from the opposition is that they don't believe in the cost-of-living relief that we delivered in our budget.

In calling our budget 'big spending', what they are really saying is that we should not have spent money on providing cost-of-living relief to Australians. What they are really saying is that they would not have provided a tax cut for every single Australian taxpayer—only for some. What they are really saying by asking these questions about our budget is that they would not have provided power bill relief for millions of Australian households at a time when they also failed to do anything for 10 years to reduce power bills. What they are really saying is that they would not have provided $300 to every household to reduce their power bill. We know that; we don't need to look at the questions asked today. They voted against energy bill relief in this country. They voted against it in this chamber.

What they are saying by calling this relief 'so-called relief' is that they don't believe in the measures that we have delivered in our budget. They don't support fee-free TAFE. They don't support extending paid parental leave. Is that what the coalition considers 'so-called relief'? I think extending paid parental leave is a very good economic measure that will provide cost-of-living relief for Australians. They say that we failed to tell them that the budget contained putting superannuation on paid parental leave. Are these the measures that the coalition say go too far? Are these the measures that they say Australians don't deserve?

We on this side of the house, the Albanese Labor government, believe that Australians do deserve cost-of-living relief, and that's why we've delivered a tax cut for every single tax-paying Australian. That started on 1 July and will flow through to every single taxpayer, not just some. Our budget is delivering cost-of-living relief in the form of energy bill relief because we know it's important to every single household. It's why we're delivering cheaper child care and, importantly, the cheaper medicines that those opposite opposed on a number of occasions in this chamber. This is the type of measure in the budget that those opposite call big spending; I call it important relief for Australian households.

Finally, I want to address the question that Senator Cash put to Senator Wong about legislation we passed yesterday in this house to allow workers to have a say about what happens in their workplaces. It is galling that those opposite come in here and claim that they are a friend of working people, because we know that time and time again they have voted against measures to improve working conditions in workplaces and to improve the way that pay rises are given to workers. They had an economic policy of driving down minimum wages in this country to ensure that people were paid less, particularly low-paid workers. Under our policies, we have seen minimum wages go up. On 1 July, 2.8 million low-paid workers in Australia received a pay rise because of our government. We have also seen, finally, a decision from the Fair Work Commission to ensure that, if you work the same job, you get the same pay.

When the coalition come in here and ask questions about workplace relations or how we interact with workers and unions in this country, they would do well to consider voting for more legislation to support workers. The next time a bill to support working people comes in here, I hope that they vote for that as well. This government is keenly focused on ensuring that you keep more of what you earn, that you get a tax cut and that you get a pay rise. That is what our government is working for.