QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Mr MARLES (Corio—Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence) (14:21): I thank the member for her question and congratulate her on her wonderful speech last night. At the election we promised to increase paid parental leave and, as of 1 July this year, we've increased paid parental leave by two weeks and will increase it by another two weeks next year. At the 2022 election we promised a real increase in the minimum wage.
Just a few weeks later, one of the very first actions of our government was to do just that, and we did it again the next year and the next and again this year. Indeed, the 3½ per cent wage increase for award workers this year has benefited 2.9 million Australian workers, and those on the minimum wage itself will receive an annual wage increase of $1,669. That is at the heart of why we've got wages going again in this country after the lost decade of wage stagnation from those opposite.
And at this election campaign we promised the biggest boost in Medicare since its creation, leading to nine out of 10 GP consults being bulk-billed, and all of that begins next week, on 1 November—because, with the Albanese government, we do what we say. When we promise, we deliver, and we are producing strong, unified, adult government. That stands in stark contrast with what we are seeing from those opposite.
We have a former leader of the National Party and deputy prime minister of this country now openly wondering whether he's going to leave the coalition and become a foot soldier in Pauline Hanson's One Nation. We've got the member for Canning sulking there on the backbench and sharpening his claws because of his shock discovery that industry policy isn't a part of Home Affairs!
We are watching an existential battle as those opposite wonder whether or not the coalition are going to join the world in producing a low-carbon economy or whether they are going to follow the National Party in simply declaring that climate change is one big hoax. They no longer speak with one voice. They are not a coherent political movement.
They are just a bin fire, and that fire is burning so out of control that if they are not careful it is liable to melt the bin. Well, on this side of the House we are all about the Australian people. Our only care is for their safety, for their prosperity and for their interests.