From Monday, we are delivering even more help with the cost of living for every Australian.
Every single Australian taxpayer will get a tax cut – not just some. The Morrison government’s tax cuts abandoned everyone earning $45,000 or less. Under our government, everyone who pays income tax gets a tax cut. This is about rewarding hardworking Australians and taking the pressure off. After a decade in which the Liberal and Nationals used the power of government to keep wages low, Labor is getting wages moving again.
We’ve supported back-to-back increases in the minimum wage, and we’ve delivered a historic and overdue 15 per cent pay rise for aged-care workers, who were among the heroes of the pandemic. And from Monday, 2.6 million Australians on award wages are getting another pay rise. That’s a core objective of my government: we want people to earn more and keep more of what they earn.
We’re also cutting $300 from the power bill of every household, and $325 for small businesses. We know that these energy interventions – which the Liberals and Nationals deliberately opposed – have also worked to take some of the sting out of inflation.
From Monday, we are also freezing the cost of medicines on the PBS. Labor built Medicare, and just as we are proud of the positive difference it has made in the lives of generations of Australians, we will always work to protect it and strengthen it.
As set out in this year’s budget we are providing $3bn to support pharmacies and to keep the costs of medicines down. We’re freezing the maximum cost of PBS prescriptions for a year. That means no one will pay more than $31.60 for a PBS script.
For Australians with pensioner or concession cards, we’re freezing the price for five years. Those Australians won’t pay more than $7.70 for the medicines they need. We’re also adding more life-changing medicines to the PBS list. And we’re making it easier to get the care you need when you need it with free our Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. We have 58 open already, and our budget funds a further 29 around the country.
We want new parents to have the flexibility, support and choice they need. That’s why we’re delivering the biggest boost to government Paid Parental Leave since Labor created it in 2011. We’ve made childcare cheaper for more than one million Australian families. That’s good for families, good for kids and good for the economy. We’re introducing paid super on government Paid Parental Leave. And we’re moving towards six months of paid leave – with the flexibility to choose how to split it between parents.
That will mean more dads can take time off work, giving parents with young children more freedom in deciding how they share their caring responsibilities.
And it will mean more opportunity for mums, boosting workforce participation across the economy. These actions are not the beginning of our cost-of-living help, and they won’t be the end. Later this year, we’ll increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance – the first back-to-back increases in 30 years.
We’re wiping $3bn from student debt, changing the system to make it fairer and simpler, and boosting the opportunity for Australians to acquire the skills they need to advance themselves, and ultimately advance our nation.
And, crucially, we are holding supermarkets to account with a stronger competition watchdog and a mandatory Grocery Code of Conduct. By increasing competition and accountability in the sector, we’ll make sure families are getting better prices at the checkout and farmers get a fair go. I am working every day to build an Australia that is lifted by opportunity. To build an economy that works for people, not the other way around. A nation where no one is held back, and no one is left behind. A better future, made right here in Australia.
This opinion piece was first published in The Australian on Monday, 1 July 2024.