ADJOURNMENT

Ms BYRNES (Cunningham) (16:44): Congratulations, Speaker, on your 10 years in the parliament, which you and the class of 2016 are celebrating today. I want to highlight some of the changes the Albanese Labor government has delivered from 1 July. We are completely focused on helping Australians deal with cost-of-living pressures.

We know that people have been doing it tough, with rising costs from the servo to the supermarket, so we're helping people earn more and keep more of what they earn. From 1 July, every Australian taxpayer received their third tax cut, thanks to the Albanese Labor government. The combined impact of our tax cuts will leave the average working Australian up to $2,800 better off every single year.

At the same time, 1 July saw three million workers receive a well-deserved pay rise, with modern award wages increasing by 4.75 per cent and the national minimum wage going up by six per cent. We have advocated for increases to the minimum wage at every annual wage review since we came to government. As a result, for five years in a row, these workers have seen increases in their pay, with the national minimum wage now $12,000 a year higher and above $1,000 a week for the very first time.

That's more money in the pockets of cleaners, care workers, workers in hospitality and retail, and more. We know that one of the most important foundations for a comfortable and secure retirement is a healthy super balance. At the moment there is about $6 billion a year in unpaid super.

This disproportionately affects younger workers and those in insecure work, who are often lower paid and vulnerable. They are also the people who can least afford to miss out on retirement savings. That's why I am so delighted that, as of 1 July this year, superannuation must be paid within seven business days of pay day instead of every quarter.

This means that workers will start earning returns on their super sooner, reducing the risk of unpaid super and ultimately leaving them better off when in retirement. We're also helping all Australians to get a fairer deal at the checkout, with our ban on supermarket price gouging now law. From 1 July, if supermarkets are doing the wrong thing and are charging prices that are not in line with what it costs to stock their shelves, they will pay the price.

The ACCC has the funding and the power to seek penalties for supermarkets of up to $10 million per breach of our new laws or 10 per cent of their annual turnover in the previous year. It's just one of the ways that we're working to keep supermarkets competitive and fair for customers. We're also making the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory, tackling shrinkflation with stronger unit-pricing rules and funding CHOICE to give shoppers more information on supermarket prices.

Personally, I've always been a big supporter of local fruit and veg shops. Our changes are also backing them in, with $2 million in grants to help fresh produce suppliers to get the skills they need to take on the big supermarkets. More competition strengthens the grocery market.

It keeps prices down and it gives everyone a fairer go at the checkout. Something I am particularly excited about is that, as of 1 July this year, Australia now has a national environment protection agency. It will be a national environmental watchdog with real powers, a clear set of rules, a clear mandate to monitor and enforce those rules, and big consequences for doing the wrong thing.

In my electorate along the beautiful Illawarra coast, we have one of the most beautiful natural environments you will find anywhere in the world, and we're a regional city that is growing, so ensuring that the rules around what you can and can't do are crystal clear actually supports everyone. It protects our precious environment, and it helps us to get on with building the critical infrastructure we need in housing and energy in the right places, in the right settings, and with consistency, transparency and integrity.

The National EPA will be a modern and effective regulator, enforcing the rules we have put in place under the reformed Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. There is a long list of changes that have now come into force, far too many to cover here, but I am so proud that our government is getting on with the job of delivering the change that our communities need.

We're helping people with the cost of living, lifting wages and giving everyone a fair go.