Treasury Laws Amendment (More Cost of Living Relief) Bill 2025

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (10:02): We've seen a rare occurrence: the Treasurer speaking, followed by the shadow Treasurer actually having something to say! He didn't quite get to 30 minutes, but, after I speak, I'm looking forward to the Leader of the Opposition explaining to people why he doesn't support tax cuts for hardworking Australians. Then again, it shouldn't come as a surprise, because this time last year they were in here, firstly, saying they would oppose our tax cuts, then saying they would roll them back and then demanding an election—that was a year ago—just to stop hardworking Australians getting a tax cut.

What last night's budget was about was building on the foundations that we have laid in our first term for a stronger economy in order to deliver even more in our second term. This is a government that came to office in the middle of what have been five difficult years. We had the COVID pandemic with its long tail and the issues with supply chains that arose out of that.

We then had a global inflation crisis, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That saw, around the industrialised world, inflation and unemployment in some countries hit double digits, in either or in both. We have New Zealand, just across the ditch, in a deep recession.

And our task has been to navigate these turbulent seas whilst keeping our eye on the horizon, to navigate the circumstances and bring inflation down whilst providing cost-of-living relief, whilst making sure we didn't follow what some of the pointy-headed economists would say, which is you need unemployment up and you need people to suffer. That is not the Labor way.

The Labor way is to get inflation down whilst supporting working people. That's why what we have done is get inflation down. We've got wages up, we've got taxes down, and we've got employment growing, all of it achieved on this Treasurer's watch with the four budgets that we have produced.

In addition to that, when we came to office—just to go through some of the figures—inflation had a six in front; now it's at 2.4 and falling. Wages had gone backwards five quarters in a row. Now they've gone forwards five quarters in a row.

Living standards were falling. Now we see a per capita increase in living standards, making a difference for Australians. Interest rates had started to rise before the last election.

Now they have started to fall, before the coming election. All of these measures are important, but nothing's more important to the Australian Labor Party than jobs, and we have created 1.1 million jobs on our watch, more than any government in Australian history. Average unemployment is lower than at any time for any government in the last 50 years, and we've done it because we have had a cohesive strategy going forward to strengthen the economy while looking after people, while dealing with the immediate pressures, but with our eye always on the long term.

If you look at the measures, I want to go through three categories: what we've done, what we will do in our second term and what the risk is. On tax cuts, what we've done is make a difficult decision. I went to this place that's foreign to the opposition leader, known as the National Press Club, and I put the case for tax cuts for every taxpayer, not just for some.

That particularly assisted young people. It particularly assisted women. It of course made sure that some people missed out.

It's difficult saying to people: 'You are going to get legislated nine grand, but you're going to get 4½ grand in your pocket. But, do you know what? The country's going to be stronger for it because Middle Australia will benefit.' We did that.

What these tax cuts in this legislation do is build on that, once again having a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer, not just some. Together with the measures that began this financial year, they will benefit average Australians by over $2½ thousand. That's $2½ thousand extra in their pockets.

Then we go to energy bill relief. We intervened in the market. Those opposite have talked a bit about gas and securing gas in the last couple of days.

We intervened at the end of 2022 to make sure that we have security, to make sure that we can direct gas for domestic supply when it's needed and to make sure that we have a mandated code of conduct, not the voluntary thing that those opposite had during their so-called gas led recovery that they announced a decade ago, when nothing happened, which didn't result in anything at all.

We did all that. You know who voted against it? They did.

We brought parliament back, and they voted against it, like they voted against our cap on gas and coal prices. And then they had the hide to say, 'Energy prices—we care about it.' They voted against caps— Mr Ted O'Brien: Because your caps didn't work! Mr ALBANESE: and they voted against the energy bill relief of $300.

And they voted against—they didn't support—our second lot of energy bill relief as well. Mr Ted O'Brien: It's an unmitigated failure! Mr ALBANESE: And the leading advocate for the nuclear reactor industry over there is going off.

There's a meltdown happening! There's a meltdown. This guy wants a plan that will cost $600 billion, that's the most expensive form of new energy possible and that will produce four per cent of Australia's energy needs sometime in the 2040s—sometime in the 2040s!

And it is a plan that the private sector won't have a bar of, which is why it has to be funded by the taxpayer, which is why they will have to cut health, education, services, housing, public servants—everything. The only cut this bloke doesn't want is a cut to peoples' taxes. That is the only cut he doesn't like.

Then we go to health care and bulk-billing. In our first term, in the last budget, the bulk-billing incentive was tripled for 11 million Australians, and last night's budget extends that to 27 million Australians, enabling the bulk-billing rate to be lifted to 90 per cent. We know those opposite supported zero rates of bulk-billing because they tried to introduce a tax for every time people visited the GP or every time they visited an emergency department and they tried to increase the cost of pharmaceuticals as well.

There is one thing that they have said right in the last week: 'If you want to look at what they'll do, have a look at past performance.' We know what their past performance has been. Then we get to urgent care clinics. We promised 50, we delivered 87, and we are going to deliver another 50.

This is the sort of investment that those opposite say is 'waste' that they want to get rid of. When it comes to medicines, they ridiculed our plan for cheaper medicines and they ridiculed our plan for 60-day dispensing, both of which are making a difference to Australians out there. We have frozen the cost of PBS medicines for pensioners to just $7.70, while for other Australians the price for PBS medicines is down to $25, the same price that they were in 2004.

This bloke, last time he was in office, tried to increase it by $5. During our first term, we delivered cheaper child care, benefitting families by $2,700. This time around, we have abolished the activity test, provided three days guaranteed of child care and put a billion dollars into childcare infrastructure.

Then we go to schools. When we came into office in 2007, Julia Gillard, as education minister, implemented the Gonski review, which identified the school resourcing standard, to give every Australian young person the opportunity to succeed in life. We started that process.

Those opposite came into office and, at the same time as ripping $50 billion out of public hospitals, they ripped $30 billion out of public schools. They don't like anything to do with public over there; that is very, very clear. This week, after working with sensible people in the state conservative parties like Premier David Crisafulli, we have included a schools funding agreement, $16.5 billion, in last night's budget.

We have increased investment from the states and territories to make a substantial difference. Then we have TAFE. We have free TAFE; 600,000 Australians have benefited.

The deputy leader came to this dispatch box and said, 'People don't value it, because it's free.' Those opposite don't understand what Australians' values are, so no wonder they don't like Medicare, no wonder they don't like free TAFE and no wonder they don't like public education. We will make our free TAFE permanent. We have already taken $3 billion off people's HECS debts, but we will take a further 20 per cent off the HECS debt that people—young Australians, in particular—have to pay.

Again, those opposite, by saying it's all waste, are holding the line. Mr Pasin: Slap a bit on the credit card, son. Mr ALBANESE: I look forward to your contribution, Mr Pasin.

When it comes to housing, those opposite have opposed all of the initiatives. It doesn't matter where it is, whether it be increased support for public housing or increased support for build-to-rent, for private rentals, or whether it be increased homeownership through the Help to Buy scheme, they have opposed all of that as well. Then they had the hide on this morning's radio—this is a mob that left us with a $78 billion deficit that we turned into a $22 billion surplus.

The following year, they left us with a $56 billion forecast deficit that we turned into a $15 billion surplus. This year, we have almost halved the deficit that they forecast. And those opposite had the hide this morning out there on their TV roundups to speak about a stronger economy and to speak about fiscal policy.

They are delulu with no solulu. They are completely delusional when it comes to that. Opposition members interjecting— Mr ALBANESE: Then they go and sledge young women out there who Australians are listening to.

You just keep sledging away. You just stay in touch with the narrow base that you have, because that is what this bloke has spent three years doing—shifting the Liberal Party further and further to the right. There are four moderates up there—they sit in the second row—the members for Menzies, Flinders and Bass, and the member for Bradfield is on the way out.

And that's it. They get further and further out towards the door as more and more the geniuses from the LNP right occupy the front benches over here. They are more and more conservative, more and more right wing and more and more divisive.

They have no solutions for the Australian people. They come before this parliament and say that they oppose tax cuts yet again for Australians. Mind you, it is what they said last time they would do, just before they rolled over and then supported it and then pretended that none of that ever happened.

Today they will have an opportunity. Today they will have to vote on whether they support Australians earning more and keeping more of what they earn, which is what our agenda is. I look forward to the contributions.