Inflation

3/08/2023 Item MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE – Inflation

This government was elected to get things done, and we have continued to deliver and get things done despite the fact that we have faced huge opposition from those opposite. They said no when it came to energy price relief, no when it came to cheaper medicines, no when it came to the Housing Australia Future Fund—in fact, they oppose it so much that they're going to come up and say no on the Housing Australia Future Fund twice—no on the National Reconstruction Fund, no to fee-free TAFE, no to Startup Year loans and no to so much more.

I don't think it will surprise anyone in this place that I'm not going to take priorities advice from the shadow Treasurer and those opposite. While we were elected to get things done, we were also elected because the Australian people saw an absolute mess in the former government and we were elected to clean up that mess—a cabinet so bad that they gave us secret energy price rises and secret ministries. They left $1 trillion of debt as they were walking out the door. But we've been reminded this week once again of their very public support for robodebt. We've just had a 10-minute lecture from the shadow Treasurer about what the government's priorities should be. The lecture is one thing; I look at the actions that we've seen from the coalition this week in terms of what their priorities are.

They started the week with a big splash in the papers, telling us that their priority coming back to parliament was to oppose additional payments for 1.1 million Australians. They wanted to block payments for single parents. They wanted to block payments for the unemployed. They wanted to block additional rent assistance. Then, by the end of that Monday, we found out that their other big priority was actually to defend their legacy when it came to robodebt—again, attacking single parents and attacking people who are relying on benefits from Centrelink. That tells us so much about the priorities of the opposition and what comes to form the basis of their political offering to the Australian people.

When it comes to policy development, from what we're seeing from those opposite, there's one big missing pieces of the puzzle, which I think many in this place are waiting to see the answer on. I calculated it: it's been 424 days that the member for Hume has been the shadow Treasurer. I thought: 'That's a substantial piece of time. How many policies has he put the costings out for?' I thought: 'Maybe he would have costed one policy a week.' That would be 60 policies costed by the opposition—by the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is available to every member of the opposition. So I thought there would maybe be 60, which is maybe one a week. But, no, maybe that's too many. I thought: 'Maybe I'll be more generous. Maybe they might have costed one policy a month.' That would be 13 policies. But, no, it wasn't 13. I thought: 'Maybe they've costed one policy a year. That would give them one costed policy.' Nope, we haven't seen one costed policy.

There has been a big fat zero costed policies from those opposite after more than 400 days in opposition. I was actually amused, and I think even those opposite will be amused, that the Greens party have costed more policies than those on the opposition benches. So we are seeing a huge gap in policy development. There were big long lectures but no actual policy development by those opposite.

Then we get to the things that they still defend. We heard the member for Hume in his speech of defending the 10 years during which they sat in government arguing for lower wages as a deliberate design feature of their policy agenda. As the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations highlighted in question time, they presided over the slowest wage growth since the Second World War. It was both welfare recipients and wage-earners who were under attack from the previous coalition government.

I look at some of the things that have changed for the Australian people. We're asked why we come to this place. It's because we want to change people's lives for the better, to implement and deliver policy that improves the lives of all Australians. Here are some of the things that have happened to the people of Australia only because they chose to elect the Albanese Labor government. We've seen the minimum wage increase by nearly $3 an hour since the change of government. We've seen 250,000 aged-care workers get a 15 per cent pay rise, changing their lives. That means that nurses who are on the award can earn an extra $10,000 a year if they're working full time. That changes people's lives, and it happened only because the Australian people chose a different government last year. There are also half a million more Australians in work since Labor came to office.

Things have changed in local electorates. There's been a lot of discussion about the big changes—for example, the 1.2 million families who benefit from cheaper child care. For the electorate of Cunningham that means 5,700 families are better off. Our cheaper medicines policy means that people in Cunningham have saved $597,000 as a community. If you look at the great electorate of Lyons, in Tasmania, you'll learn that 1,700 families are better off because the Australian people chose to elect a government that is committed to cheaper child care. The community of Lyons have saved $249,000 in total in cheaper medicines, and there is more to come. If you look at Swan, my neighbouring electorate, represented by the member for Swan, cheaper child care means 6,900 families are better off.

Mr McCormack: Give us a stat about Macnamara!

Mr GORMAN: I'm asked for a statistic about the great electorate of Macnamara.

Mr McCormack: It's so well represented!

Mr GORMAN: It is so well represented. I commend the member for Macnamara for being part of the government and for his vote for cheaper medicines—$702,000 was saved in the electorate of Macnamara and 6,100 families are better off because of cheaper child care because the people of Macnamara know good policy, they know good representation and they sent the member for Macnamara here to stand up for those families and to deliver for all of those people who wanted to see a government that wants to get things done, not those opposite, who constantly say no.

Let's talk about what's in the future for the electorate of Corangamite and all over Australia. We want to deliver more social housing, and that's the question in front of this parliament right now. Both chambers of this parliament have in front of them housing legislation to deliver 30,000 new social and affordable homes. I know that the member for Corangamite is 100 per cent committed to delivering more affordable homes for more Australians and proudly does not stand part of the Greens-Liberal-Nationals coalition. What we see when it comes to housing is a big fat no from those opposite. When it came to action on climate change they came in here and said no. We saw that today, when it came to whether they could commit to truly supporting an increase in wages. Do you actually believe in stronger wages? We've put legislation into this parliament to give people more secure jobs and more wages in their pockets so that they can actually pay for things they need. Again, it was opposed by those opposite. We get to this point where, while there are all these things that are opposed by those opposite, we still have the big lie from the Leader of the Opposition. When he marked his own homework his self-assessment was: 'I think we've been a constructive opposition.' I don't think even his backbench wants him to be a constructive opposition. I'm not even sure if that's still the plan to be a constructive opposition, but that was his own mark of his homework.

I end with this. Those on this side of the House came here to fight for cheaper medicine. Those opposite opposed it before they even knew the details. We came here to fight for cheaper child care. Those opposite said it was not the policy they would have introduced. We came here to fight for an increase in the minimum wage. Those opposite told us it would wreck the economy. We came here for 30,000 new affordable homes. They told us that our priorities were all wrong. We came here to raise the standards of the Australian government, and those opposite defend the member for Cook week after week.