Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate all the early childhood educators in this country, who have been campaigning for respect and recognition for their absolutely essential work in the Big Steps campaign: educators who have told their stories over and over again; who've spoken out about how they love their jobs, but just can't stay in them, earning just half the average wage; and who've told us how educators are leaving the sector in droves because love for their work doesn't pay for their bills. I congratulate those educators who've come to Canberra again and again and again, who've taken to the streets and who've stood up and spoken out. They stood up for themselves to advocate for a wage that reflects the skill, complexity and value in the work that they do, and stood up for the children that they are educating, who need to see the exodus of early educators from the sector stop. I congratulate all of you.

On Tuesday night in the budget the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, acknowledged you too. Our government has put the care economy front and centre. We want secure and well-paid jobs in early education and care. So the government has made provision for a well-deserved wage increase for early childhood educators. We know this will help bring more educators back to the sector, giving even more children the best start in life. Congratulations for advocating for yourselves. Congratulations, too, for advocating for the children in your care. You deserve a pay rise. Keep up the great work.

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has declared that domestic violence is a national crisis. A woman is being murdered every four days. Thirty-five women have been murdered so far this year. I think Australians are expecting that the PM will step up and give frontline services the funding they actually need because it is, as he says, a crisis. But this chickenfeed, bandaid budget in most cases doesn't do more than keep the lights on. Community legal centres turned away a thousand people a day last year. The Tasmanian women's legal service are turning a woman away every day because they just do not have enough lawyers because they do not have the funding. The funding announced in the budget only provides for CPI and adjustments to under 20 per cent of their funding base. Like I said, it's chickenfeed.

The Prime Minister has said over and over again that he wants to change attitudes. But there are programs for men, for perpetrators of domestic violence—they want to get help and they want to change, but they are being turned away because the programs don't have the funding so there is no availability. And, if you really want to break the cycle, we need to be working on the next generation. Where was the money in this budget for programs to address the issues coming up for our kids—programs like the veteran mentors who work to put kids back on the right path?

My worry is that this budget isn't about fixing the domestic violence crisis, it isn't about lifting the 3.3 million Australians out of poverty, it isn't about helping our kids get mental health support and it isn't about dealing with youth crime. It isn't about giving our seniors the opportunity to work more hours not just to top up their pensions but also because it's great for their mental health and wellbeing. Do you know what this budget is about, Australians? Do you know what it's about? Same stuff, different day. It's about the Labor Party looking after their donors and putting their own careers before the national interest. It's not a budget for Australians; it's a budget to soften up voters for an early election, and that's all it is.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since the Albanese Labor government was elected, the average Australian household with a mortgage is $35,000 a year worse off. That's the average Australian household with a mortgage. Why? Because of the cost-of-living crisis because of high inflation feeding into higher interest rates. How does the budget that was just brought down this week address it? It doesn't. It doesn't address it. It makes it worse.

You don't have to just listen to me as a senator in this place. Listen to one of Australia's most renowned economists, Mr Chris Richardson. This is what he had to say—an economist, not a politician: 'My key test for the budget was that it not poke the inflationary bear. I don't think it's passed that test. I've consistently been saying for a long time that I didn't see a rate cut until the end of this year, but that's starting to slip into next year. It looks harder to get one ahead of the election.' That's Mr Chris Richardson, one of Australia's most renowned economists. And that's bad news for your average Australian household with a mortgage.

So not only did this budget poke the inflationary bear; it actually gave the inflationary bear a punch on the nose. Tragically, it is going to be Australian households who pay the price for that.