Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the Albanese Labor government was elected in May last year, we had one simple objective: to create a better future for all Australians. As long as we have the privilege to hold government, Labor will work to achieve just that.

In this place, those opposite have been aptly named the 'no-alition', and I'll give you a few examples of how they've earned that name. Those opposite opposed our cheaper medicines policy which has saved Australians $100 million in the last nine months. They opposed our 'secure jobs, better pay' workplace relations legislation, which has delivered the fastest wage growth on record and secured a range of measures for workers across the country. They opposed the cheaper child care which is taking pressure off household budgets for 1.2 Australian families. They opposed our energy price relief grant which is saving households up to 18 per cent on retail energy costs. Now they are grumbling that a minister for agriculture is calling on Coles and Woolies to freeze the price of ham before Christmas.

Time and time again, the 'noalition' have shown they stand for nothing and oppose everything. It's no wonder Australians gave them the boot at the last election, especially in my home state of Victoria. You'd need a magnifying glass to find a Liberal in Victoria because they are almost extinct. We had nine years of a rotten Liberal-National government that did nothing but neglect, mismanage and cut what matters most to Australian families. They stood for nothing when they were in power and they stand for nothing now in opposition. In nine years they racked up $1 trillion of debt but couldn't deliver a budget surplus—not one. We did it in our first year of government. But they did manage to have some mugs, of course!

Australians know that Labor is here to help. The Albanese Labor government know that Australians are doing it tough right now and we will continue to stand up and deliver for them. Australian families know that we are on their side.