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

Thanks to Senator Hume for the question. She would know that the government doesn't require a Senate committee to understand the extent of the cost-of-living challenges facing Australians. In fact, the Minister for Finance, the Treasurer, the Minister for Health and Aged Care, all cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister, first and foremost, have been focused on what it is that we could do as a government to assist Australians when it comes to the cost of living. That's why you have seen, under this government, more people in jobs—more people earning more and keeping more of what they earn with our tax plan. I would remind those opposite that we have seen more than a million jobs created. We have seen a near-record number of women in jobs and women working full time. We have seen real wages grow more in the past 12 months alone than they did in the entire decade of the former coalition government.

We have the smallest gender pay gap on record and, of course, the cost-of-living measures that the government has put in place in order to make a contribution to the challenges Australian families are facing: bigger tax cuts for every working Australian, cheaper child care, energy rebates, student debt relief, free TAFE, more bulk-billed GP appointments, cheaper medicines, the largest increase to rent assistance in 30 years and the largest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade, as well as a fair go at the checkout and a crackdown on dodgy deals and tackling excessive surcharges on cards.

And, of course, what I'd be interested in is whether Senator Hume brought forward to that committee the evidence of what it would be like if she and her colleagues had had it their way, because we know that Australians would be paying higher taxes. We know— (Time expired)