MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Senator WHITEAKER (Western Australia) (17:21): It's a load of absolute hypocrisy by those opposite to hear them talk about cost of living and wages. If I give them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they've been a little preoccupied in recent weeks and months, arguing amongst themselves about energy policy, net zero and figuring out who's in the shadow cabinet and who's not in shadow cabinet.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they've forgotten about the great work that our government has done on the cost of living, getting wages moving again and bringing inflation down. I also want to remind those opposite of the mess that they left us and their record on cost of living and living standards. When we came to government, living standards were in freefall.

Real incomes per person had dropped almost four per cent, twice as fast as the OECD average. We know that people are doing it tough. That's why we have made tackling cost of living our No. 1 priority.

Since coming to government in 2022, we've been fixing the mess that we were left by those opposite when they were in government. Since the election in May, we have turned the record of those opposite around. I'm going to give those opposite some updated numbers.

Real incomes per person have grown 2.4 per cent this year through to June—the strongest growth in almost four years. When we came to government, inflation had a 'six' in front of it. Now, it's almost half that.

And, after a decade of wage stagnation, we've got wages moving again. Real wages have grown 1.3 per cent through the year to June—the strongest growth in five years. I'll just remind those opposite: it fell by more than three per cent when they were on this side of the chamber.

We have seen seven consecutive quarters of wage growth under this government. It's not happened by accident. It's happened because our government has backed wage rises for workers.

We have backed wage rises for some of the most important workers in our nation, such as workers in hospitality, retail and community support. We've delivered record wage increases for aged-care workers and early childhood educators. Much of that—again, I remind those opposite—they have opposed.

I know that Senator Hume is quite fond of good coffee, and I'm glad the senator mentioned coffee in her contribution earlier. Thanks to Labor's cost-of-living relief, she'll be able to enjoy a little bit more coffee. Our tax cuts are putting more money in people's pockets—tax cuts, I remind those opposite, that you opposed in the lead-up to the last election.

Taxpayers, hardworking Australians, would have been worse off in terms of the money in their pocket at the end of the working week if those opposite had won the election. We have rolled out these tax cuts for every taxpayer in the country, and we have two further rounds of tax cuts to come in 2026 and 2027. We are also delivering on our promise to tackle cost of living.

We are delivering another $150 off power bills. Households across the country will see that credit on their bills very, very shortly. We have provided more support to parents, extending paid parental leave to six months.

We have expanded access to the single parent payment, helping more than 200,000 families. We've made free TAFE permanent. We've cut HECS debts, student debts.

We're paying prac for students studying to be teachers, social workers, nurses and midwives, and we're supporting the next generation of tradies, with $10,000 payments to help them finish their course. My friend Senator Mulholland talked about our investment in Medicare urgent care clinics so that you can see a doctor for free when you need it, and, from Saturday, there will be increasing rates of bulk-billing with our new bulk-billing expenses.

It is only this government that is committed to tackling the cost of living, and we will not be lectured by those opposite, who simply do not have the record to have any credibility on this issue.