MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr GREGG (Deakin) (15:53): At a time when Australians are really under pressure, it is on the government to deliver real change. And that is what we've been focusing on. It's about delivering economic reforms that are about making Australia stronger and fairer for working Australians, making health care more affordable, making housing more accessible and making our tax system more equitable.
The solution to the struggles and challenges faced by the Australian people is not a return to distortionary tax settings that made housing a faraway dream for generations of Australians—distortions that privileged investors over people looking for a roof over their head. Now, we've taken on the difficult task not for political ease—we can all attest to that.
We've done it because it's the right thing to do, because we have to think for the long-term: 'What is right for working Australians? What is right for the country?' It's certainly not to divert investment from productive assets, from productive businesses, into existing housing—a situation that has seen the price of those houses quadruple over only a couple of decades, making the great Australian dream a nightmare for young people, who knew it just wasn't for them anymore, because we had a coalition government that spent 10 years finding every single excuse to kick the can down the road on every single challenge facing our economy and society.
On energy, it's a whole lot of do nothing—a bunch of pamphlets. Then we've got the challenge of housing affordability. Nothing about that either—'Let's keep those 1990s distortions that have made the system even worse.' On energy, on productivity, on wages, they could not do anything to address the challenges.
Why? Because they were afraid of showing a little bit of political courage and they were afraid of telling their backers that things had to change, because it's all too hard and because they were too busy fighting themselves rather than fighting on behalf of the Australian people to make a real difference. So we inherited a declining energy system where we had less reliable coal-fired power plants being increasingly relied upon and no real pathway for a 21st century energy grid that would provide businesses and housing with the affordable energy they need.
Then they have the gumption to come into this chamber and propose more of the same—more kicking the can down the road. They say, 'Sweat the coal assets.' That's code for keeping prices high while we then go and adopt the single most expensive form of energy to ensure that high power prices are entrenched for the long term. It is absolutely outrageous.
This government is about making a real difference to people's lives, and I see it in my own electorate of Deakin. We've seen the number of 100 per cent bulk-billing practices double. We've seen cheaper medicines save just people in my electorate about $20 million.
We've seen 1,000 people in Deakin being able to get into their first home because of the support through the five per cent deposit scheme. We saw 20 per cent of student debt cut for about 20,000 residents in my electorate of Deakin. That is real cost-of-living relief.
Whenever we talk about cost-of-living relief, you'll never find a group more keen to oppose it than the Liberal Party. They'll come here and express outrage, but they'll never back real cost-of-living relief. They've never met a wage increase that they agree with, because we know that wage suppression, keeping wages low, was a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture for nine years.
They oppose cost-of-living relief. They oppose higher wages, which means that Australians are paying more and earning less, every single time. Those structural challenges simply continue to go unaddressed because it was all too hard.
This is just a repeat of history. I remember the last time the coalition started holding up blue pamphlets with slogans in them. They said, 'Oh, we'll get rid of the debt.' They got into office and doubled it before COVID.
They had the little action contract they signed, saying, 'We're going to end the waste and we're going to pay back the debt.' They did neither, because they're not willing to do the hard work. They're not willing to bring about the real change that our society and our economy need to actually change Australian people's lives for the better. That is a tough job.
We're also making sure that Australians are set up for success in the future, assisting small business with loss carry-back, with about $3.8 billion of tax improvements for small business. We're cutting red tape as well, cutting compliance costs by about $540 million a year, making sure that productivity rises, because we know that is the key to success. It's the way we get inflation down, and it's how we ensure that Australians continue to improve living standards.
But this is tough, long-term work. It's not slogans. It's not simple alliteration.
It's not making a speech that sounds like a really dull version of a Dr Seuss book. You have to more than rhyme your way into prosperity. It takes real work.
It takes real work and real change. And it means grasping the nettle, doing the hard stuff and really keeping an eye and the focus on making sure that the lives of Australian people continue to improve over time, taking on the challenges of our day and setting ourselves up for success.