PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (10:35): Deputy Speaker, if you want to know what supporting Australians looks like, you can look at what has changed since 1 July. Workers are earning more, Australians are paying less tax, super is being paid on payday, and parents are getting more time with their babies and getting super while they are on paid parental leave. In my community of Bonner, more than 20,000 people have now walked through the doors of not one but two Medicare urgent care clinics, which Labor has now made a permanent part of Medicare.
These are not abstract policy announcements. They are changes that people can actually see in their everyday lives. In Bonner more than 83,000 people are employed.
They are the people getting up early, going to work, raising families, running businesses and keeping our community moving. Labor believes that if you work hard you deserve to be rewarded for it. That is why, from 1 July, award wages increased by 4.75 per cent.
The national minimum wage is now more than $1,000 a week. This is the first time that has ever happened. That matters to the retail worker in my community in Carindale.
It matters to the hospitality worker finishing a late shift down in Mansfield, and it matters to the cleaners, the early childhood educators and the aged-care workers, who get up early every single day to look after someone else's family. These are real workers in my community, and they deserve a government that backs them every single day. Since 1 July, payday super has commenced.
Super is not a gift from your employer; it is your money. You earned it. And now, instead of taking months to be paid into your super account, contributions are being made alongside your pay.
That means your super can start earning for your retirement sooner. It also makes it easier for workers to see what they are actually receiving and what they're entitled to. For a young worker in Bonner, that might seem like a small change today, but over a working life it can make a really big difference.
Then there is tax. From 1 July more than 14 million Australians received another tax cut. That includes millions of working Australians in Queensland.
And we are making tax time simpler, too, with a new $1,000 deduction for eligible work related expenses, without the need to keep receipts for that deduction. These measures are about one simple principle: when you work hard for your money you should be able to earn more and keep more of what you earn. Supporting Australians is also about supporting families.
Bonner is home to more than 45,000 families. Almost 22,000 are couple families with children, and nearly 6,800 are single-parent families. So I know how important it is for families to have support when they need it most.
Since 1 July, paid parental leave has expanded to six months, and, for the first time ever, superannuation is being paid on paid parental leave. That is a really important reform that will make a genuine difference to people in my community, because taking time out of paid work to care for a new baby should not mean taking time out of building your retirement.
And we know that, historically, that penalty has disproportionately fallen on women. Labor is changing that. But perhaps nowhere is the difference more visible in my community than when it comes to Medicare.
Before I was elected, Bonner had no Medicare urgent care clinics providing local services. Now we have not one but two. The Carina-Carindale and the Capalaba Medicare urgent care clinics are open seven days a week with no appointment needed and no out-of-pocket cost.
More than 20,000 people have now walked through their doors in my community. Think about that: more than 20,000 people in my community have been able to get urgent medical care without having to pay one cent. A sick child, a nasty infection, a sprained ankle or what we had in my house last week—a bike fall and a sore wrist—those people can now get care close to home for free.
That is Medicare working, and Labor has made sure that these are not going anywhere. They are now a permanent part of Medicare. This is what supporting Australians looks like.
It is higher pay. It is more urgent-care clinics where we need them most. It's super paid on payday and it's a tax cut for millions of Australians.
We know that there's more to do, but we are delivering for all Australians.