MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Ms JORDAN-BAIRD (Gorton) (16:00): I'm really excited to contribute to this afternoon's debate. We've seen some really odd references to Reagan and Thatcher, but ultimately what we've heard from the other side today has been pretty outlandish. With this motion, the shadow treasurer is trying to sell Australians yet another outlandish story about our current cost-of-living pressures.
The coalition can dish it out, but they can't take it. With this motion, they're asking a lot of Australians. They're asking Australians to forget about their own record in government—to forget about the debt, inflation and cost-of-living pressures Australians faced for more than a decade under the coalition.
The coalition spent a long nine years in government. When they left office, they left our country with almost $900 billion in gross debt, as well as inflation above six per cent and rising. Australians deserve to have the challenges they faced under almost a decade of coalition government recognised.
Instead, the coalition wants to sell them a narrative that their current cost-of-living challenges started the day Australians elected a Labor government in 2022. Australians deserve better, and, given their record, it's no surprise that the coalition's carelessness with money has followed them to the opposition benches. The shadow treasurer demands that the government further reduce spending while making more than $110 billion in unfunded commitments.
He demands that we reduce debt faster while the opposition opposes the difficult choices needed to save money. As Josh Frydenberg so eloquently pointed out for us, the Liberal Party has to change. Yet the coalition is still trying to convince Australians that, if they were in government, debt, inflation and cost-of-living pressures would magically disappear.
Australians aren't buying it. Unlike the coalition, we would never dismiss the cost-of-living pressures faced by Australians. We know that Australians continue to face these cost-of-living pressures and we know there is more work to be done on debt and inflation, but our government has been working tirelessly on both of these measures.
Even with international conflict throwing a wrench in the works, the work we've done has seen Australians much better off than they were four years ago. We've provided cost-of-living relief while still ensuring real government spending growth has averaged just two per cent. That's half the average of the previous government and well below the 30-year average.
We've found savings in every budget and every budget update, which is no easy feat. We're doing the hard thing, taking responsibility for our part of the fight against inflation, and that means continuing to manage the budget responsibly. It's why we've made savings and reprioritisations, reducing gross debt by $198 billion compared to what we inherited.
We're one of only nine countries with a AAA credit rating from all three major rating agencies. Australians deserve an economic debate that recognises the pressures households are facing and measures governments by what they deliver. We are a government that is doing exactly that: delivering.
I'm proud to represent the incredible western suburbs of Melbourne, and every day I talk to working families who are feeling the pressures of living in our community. On this side of the House, we recognise that people are under pressure. That's one of the reasons why we're looking for savings in the budget.
It's so we have space to do things like tripling the bulk-billing incentive, which is enabling more Australians to see a GP for free; like making medicines cheaper and making the bulk-billing urgent care clinics a permanent part of Medicare; like cutting income taxes five times in five different ways, putting nearly $3,000 a year into the pockets of a worker on an average income by 2028; like backing higher wages for nearly three million of Australia's lowest paid workers every year, which has seen the national minimum wage rise by over $12,078 per year.
It's why I can stand here proudly and say that 94 per cent of clinics in my electorate are now fully bulk-billed. At the end of the day, Australians deserve more than outlandish stories and empty promises. They deserve a government that takes responsibility, makes the tough decisions and delivers real relief.
While the coalition wants Australians to forget their record, Labor is focused on their future, because, ultimately, Australians don't need more political blame games; they need results. And that's exactly what our government is delivering.