MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr MONCRIEFF (Hughes) (16:09): I welcome the opportunity to speak to the impact of this government's efforts to assist Australian families at the supermarkets, where Australians need our support, but not just at the supermarket—at the pharmacy, at the doctor, at services upon which Australians rely right across the country, including my electorate of Hughes, from Maianbar to Macquarie Fields, from Moorebank to Menai.
We're doing this to combat cost-of-living pressures, because we know Australians are feeling it at the supermarket. The most significant combatant to the cost of living is wages. Wages are what Australians are using to pay their rent, their bills and their groceries.
Under this government, the national minimum wage and award wages have continued to increase. From July 2024, minimum and award wages increased by 3.75 per cent. From July 2026, the national minimum wage increased again to $26.44 an hour, while award wages increased by 4.75 per cent.
This is a government that backs increases to wages, because we want Australians earning more and having that flow through to what they can get at the check-out. But we don't just want Australians earning more. We want them keeping more of what they earn.
That's why on this side we voted to cut income taxes for working Australians last year and again this year. What did the Liberals and Nationals do? They voted against it, both times.
The Leader of the Opposition called it a cruel hoax when he was shadow treasurer, and senior Liberals said it was a handout. On this side, we don't believe that keeping more of the money that Australians have earned is a handout. These wage increases and income tax cuts matter because the people most exposed to cost-of-living pressures are those on the lowest incomes.
A government that ensures workers receive higher wages is making sure that people have more capacity to meet rising costs, not making families poorer. Under those opposite, inflation was out of control. In 2022, when this government came to office, inflation got as high as 7.9 per cent.
We've been disciplined. There is more work to do on inflation, but we are acting responsibly, and now inflation has a three in front of it. I want to focus on one word that the member has used in bringing this MPI, and that's 'deliberate'.
This government has deliberately supported wage rises for our lowest-paid workers. This government has deliberately cut income taxes for working Australians. This government has deliberately helped with cost-of-living pressures, with measures like cheaper medicines and greater access to seeing a doctor for free through Medicare bulk-billing.
There are now 23 bulk-billing clinics in Hughes—53 per cent of total practices. That's because this government is delivering on the single largest investment into Medicare in its history. That is deliberate.
We slashed the cost of PBS medicines to $25, saving Australians over $99 million as of today—millions of Australians with multiple conditions or prescriptions across their family saving thousands on essential medicines. That's a deliberate design feature of the Albanese Labor government's health policy. And this government is cracking down on supermarket price gouging.
We're banning large supermarkets from charging excessive prices compared to their cost of supply and normal margin, with $10 million in penalties for breaches. But what did those opposite do deliberately when they were in office? When those opposite were in office, they identified low wages as a deliberate design feature of the economy that they ran.
When those opposite brought in a GP tax, that was a deliberate policy to introduce price signals in health care and make families think twice before accessing the care that they need. When our government proposed tough price-gouging penalties for big supermarkets, those opposite floated thought bubbles about divestiture powers not supported by a single review of competition in the sector.
When Australians rejected those opposite at the polls in the last election, they sent a message about the kind of government they want leading this country—one that backs them at work, cuts their taxes, reduces the cost of their scripts, makes it easier for them to see a GP and gives them a fairer go at the check-out. The adage is true: empty vessels make the most noise.
Despite all the noise, the composition of the benches opposite is no accident. It's a deliberate design feature of their policies. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): This discussion has now concluded.