MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (15:56): When Labor came to office in this place, we didn't inherit a clean slate. We inherited an absolute mess: a trillion dollars of coalition debt, huge deficits, inflation biting and real wages going backwards. That was the coalition's legacy.
And that is what those opposite—a few less are here, actually—left behind. And you know what their response was when we started cleaning it up? They voted against us every single time.
Labor got to work because that is what Labor does. We recognised that people were under real pressure, and we took action. Labor has delivered the most significant tax reforms in more than a quarter of a century.
It's not tinkering, and it's not talking; it's the most substantial overhaul of our taxation system in a generation, and we've done it while managing the budget responsibly, strengthening Medicare and helping with the cost of living at the same time. In health, in housing, in wages and in tax—in every single area that matters to a family who is sitting around a kitchen table—we acted.
We have delivered tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, not just for the top end of town or big donors but for every worker who gets up every single morning and does their job. They are the ones who deserve to earn more and keep more of what they earn. On top of that, we today have passed legislation for the $250 working Australians tax offset as well as the $1,000 instant tax deduction, because workers deserve a fair go in the taxation system.
That is combined with three rounds of tax cuts. The average Australian worker will be $2,800 better off under this Labor government. We have made medicines cheaper.
We have invested in bulk-billing. We have made Medicare urgent care clinics a permanent part of our healthcare system, so, when your kids need care, you can get it without worrying about the cost. We are tackling housing, with over $47 billion in our Homes for Australia Plan, supporting 75,000 more Australians into homeownership and enabling tens of thousands more new homes to be built.
We've halved the fuel excise because we know that, when you fill up at the tank to get to work, every cent counts. And we have backed Australian workers every single Annual Wage Review, five years in a row. That's five years of standing up and saying that workers deserve a real wage increase.
The result is that the minimum wage has gone up 30 per cent since we took office. For the first time in this country's history, the national minimum wage will be above $1,000 a week. Let's be honest about who's fighting us every single step of the way: those opposite, the same people who left us with a trillion dollars of debt, the same people who at the last election wanted to increase taxes on ordinary working Australians.
I mean, you can't make this stuff up. And what was that to pay for? It was to pay for taxpayer-funded lunches for bosses and nuclear reactors that would push power prices up, not down.
They have opposed our tax cuts, they have opposed our wage rises and they have opposed the very cost-of-living measures that are putting money back in people's pockets right now. You have to ask yourself why. Why would they do this?
And the answer is so simple: they will never, ever be on the side of hardworking Australians. They never will be, because they are more interested in their politics than in your family. They are more focused on themselves than on cost of living.
They are divided, they are dangerous, and it will be everyday Australians who pay for their dysfunction. We are a government that is on the side of working Australians. This government was elected to make life better for ordinary working people, and not one day has passed when we haven't been doing exactly that.
We are focused on cost of living and delivering for them. Those opposite are focused only on themselves.