PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms COMER (Petrie) (12:51): When I talk to people around Petrie, the cost of living comes up almost every single time. Whether I'm at the shops in Deception Bay, chatting to someone in Rothwell or talking to the parents at the school pick up in North Lakes, the message is the same—the weekly budget is tight. I don't dismiss that, and I don't think anyone should.
Inflation is still too high, and global pressures are making things harder, particularly rising fuel prices because of the conflict in the Middle East. That doesn't make everyone's mortgage repayments smaller, but it is important to recognise. I've read the member for McPherson's motion, and I think there's something missing.
What are we actually doing to help families with their bills? That's what people in my community want to know. They don't want another argument about who's to blame.
They want to know what is being done to make their life a little bit easier right now. One way to help is to make sure that people can keep more of what they earn. We've delivered tax cuts for Australian workers, with further relief flowing through, including the new working Australians tax offset and a simpler $1,000 instant tax deduction.
We've also backed increases to minimum and award wages, because people deserve to be paid properly for their work. It's also about bringing bills down. Medicare is a good example.
In Petrie, the number of fully bulk-billed GP clinics has more than doubled because of our record investment into Medicare. More families can now visit a GP without paying a cent. Our Medicare urgent care clinic in Deception Bay is open seven days a week, fully bulk-billed and with no appointment required.
We've recently expanded the Redcliffe Medicare Mental Health Centre—something that I have fought hard for because I know how much demand there is for it in my community. When someone needs mental health support, there shouldn't be worry about the cost. With PBS medicines now also capped at $25 for general patients, we're helping people afford that essential medication.
Health care is a cost-of-living issue. Every dollar saved at the doctor or pharmacy can go towards groceries, electricity or rent. It's the same principle behind what we're doing for families with young children.
More than 1,600 early childhood educators in Petrie are benefiting from Labor's 15 per cent wage increase. These are hardworking people who look after our kids, and they deserve decent wages. We're also making child care cheaper so parents can go to work without so much of their pay disappearing into the fees.
That's real relief for working families who are already juggling enough. Housing keeps coming up constantly also, particularly for the younger locals. I've met people who've been saving for years and still cannot scrape together enough for a deposit.
Some of them have really good jobs. They're doing everything right, but the house prices just keep moving further and further out of reach. Our expanded five per cent deposit scheme is helping to change that.
More than 1,300 people in Petrie have benefited, helping them buy their first home without needing a 20 per cent deposit or paying lenders mortgage insurance. For those people, getting a foot in their own door is a pretty big deal. We're also taking on excessive supermarket pricing, because families deserve a fair deal on essentials, and we're helping people get ahead through education and training.
Fee-free TAFE, the Australian apprentice training support payment and paid prac for eligible university students all help ease the financial pressures on getting qualified. Getting the skills for a better paid job shouldn't mean putting yourself under financial strain. We have also delivered this relief responsibly.
That's why we've found almost $180 million in savings and worked to improve the budget position. We can support households and manage a budget responsibly. That's what we're doing.
Now, I know things are expensive, and I'm not here to stand here and pretend otherwise. Here's what I want families in Petrie to know. We know things are expensive and we're not pretending otherwise.
We're making changes that are actually going to help: tax cuts so you can keep more of your pay, cheaper medicines and more bulk-billed doctors, free urgent care clinics in Deception Bay and Murrumba Downs, expanded mental health care support in Redcliffe, better pay for our early childhood educators and a five per cent deposit for helping locals get into their own home and pay off their own mortgage rather than paying off someone else's.
We're stopping supermarket price gouging. We're making TAFE apprenticeships and student placements more affordable. None of that makes a weekly budget magically easy, but every bit of it is taking some of the pressure off, right here, right now.