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

As I have said repeatedly this week, we understand that Australians are doing it tough. We understand the pressures on families and on so many parts of our community, and that is why this government has been so focused on seeking to deliver and delivering the tax cuts. That is why this government has been focused on ensuring that every household gets an energy rebate, along with a million small businesses. That is why this government has been so focused on ensuring that low-paid workers get pay rises, and 2.6 million low-paid workers have received their third consecutive pay rise backed by this government—not by those opposite but by this government. We understand the extent to which people are finding making ends meet difficult. That is why the budget delivered the cost-of-living measures that it did. That is why the government reframed the stage 3 tax cuts in the way that we did so that we ensured that every Australian got a tax cut, unlike those opposite who wanted the weight of the tax cuts to be for much higher income levels in Australia.

So I would say to the senator that we all care about the cost-of-living pressures Australians face. Some of us actually work at delivering change. Some of us actually work at delivering tax cuts to everybody. Some of us work to deliver energy rebates, cheaper child care and cheaper medicines, and some of us work to ensure wages are fair and decent. Those people who do so are members of the Albanese Labor government. Those who oppose it are those opposite.