PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Ms JARRETT (Brisbane) (18:59): We know that, for many, the cost of living is a weekly calculation. It's the groceries, it's the rent or the mortgage, it's the prescriptions and it's that unexpected bill that comes in before pay day. Labor understand this, which is why we are responding with practical help.

It's why the priority for the 2026 budget was to continue to roll out cost-of-living measures. At the same time, though, we are trying to make the economy more resilient by introducing some big reforms that start to address intergenerational inequalities. This Labor government is cutting taxes five times for 13 million workers, so the average Australian will be $2,800 better off every year across all our taxes; the latest was in July this year.

We've also taken $250 off Australians' tax bills permanently, and there's the $1,000 instant tax deduction without receipts. On top of this, don't forget that we provided fuel tax relief earlier this year to help people as they fill up at the bowser. We're also making health care more affordable.

A sudden fever or an unexpected injury can turn your bills into something you weren't ready for. That's why we're making free urgent care clinics a permanent part of our Medicare system. We're delivering a record boost to public hospitals and we're making life-changing medicines cheaper.

Don't forget—25 bucks a script under Labor. Young people are telling us that they feel that the dream of owning their own home is disappearing for them. When you work hard and save hard, you should be able to buy that home of your own.

We've already delivered the five per cent deposit scheme for first home buyers, and we're building 100,000 homes specifically for them. In fact, around Brisbane, 32,000 people are now in homes of their own as a result of the five per cent deposit. We've also got Help to Buy, which is a joint equity scheme to support homeownership.

The reality is that first home buyers were being priced out of the market by property investors backed by tax breaks like negative gearing. So what have we done? We've made the tax system fairer so that that doesn't happen.

Making housing more affordable also means building more homes, which is why we've put billions of dollars into building the necessary infrastructure—water, electricity, power, roads. Those opposite need to let the facts speak for themselves. Labor is doing so much hard work to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to get ahead.

That's why we've delivered a pay rise for all minimum and award wage workers, taking the total increase under Labor to $9,000. Paid parental leave is now 24 weeks, and there is now super being paid on top of that. There's a $10,000 bonus for housing apprentices to top up their wages.

There's 30 per cent off home batteries to help permanently cut power bills. There's paid prac for nurses, teachers, social workers, occupational therapists and more. We're boosting Medicare with $1.8 billion in extra hospital funding.

There's more choice, lower cost and high-quality health care for Australian women with our record spending in women's health. We've expanded the five per cent deposit to all first home buyers, with more than 280,000 first home buyers now accessing the scheme. There is another pay rise to aged-care nurses following the first instalment in March.

I'm going to keep going, because we are doing a lot to help people with the cost of living. We've expanded bulk-billing so more people can see a GP for free. There's a freeze on the draft beer excise indexation for two years.

There's a 20 per cent cut to student debt, with an average saving of $5½ thousand. Fifty more urgent care clinics have opened—including one in the heart of the Brisbane electorate which I was so proud to deliver—providing more than two million Australians with free urgent health care. From 1 January we delivered the next stage in our plan to make the biggest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS: all PBS medicines are $25 or less.

This will make medicines the cheapest in over two decades. Labor always has been and always will be the government of fairness in Australia. We understand the importance of addressing disadvantage, promoting economic inclusion and supporting the most vulnerable in our community, which includes those on low and fixed incomes.

This government is doing everything it can to support Australians with the cost of living. Just imagine how much harder it would have been under those opposite; they voted against every one of the measures we've introduced. It would have been difficult for people to get even further ahead.

While the LNP and, frankly, One Nation continue to focus on themselves and vote against Labor's cost of living, let's not forget that it's Labor that is delivering for the people in my electorate, the people of Brisbane and across Australia.