Cost of Living Tax Cuts Bill

Cost of Living Tax Cuts Bill

Ms WELLS (Lilley-Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Sport) (16:50): The guiding principle of the Albanese government is: no-one held back and no-one left behind; to use the power entrusted to us by our constituents to make a positive difference in their lives; and to make the right decisions, not the easy decisions, to create a better, fairer future. And that is exactly what Labor's tax cuts will deliver. Labor's tax cuts are about making sure you can keep more of what you earn by putting cash back into people's pockets when they need it most.

From 1 July this year, every single Lilley taxpayer will receive Labor's tax cut. That's 82,000 people living on the Northside of Brisbane who will receive an average of an extra 75,000 a year will get a tax cut of 81,000 a year will get a tax cut of 61,000 a year will get a tax cut of 110,000 at Stafford will get a tax cut of 117,000. By the lowering of the patient co-payment for PBS medicines from 30, 143,000 locals have saved more than 1,649 from 1 July. On that date, the Albanese government will deliver a tax cut for all women who pay tax in Australia-a bigger tax cut for 90 per cent of Australian women taxpayers, who will receive an additional 11.3 billion to lift wages for workers in aged care. It's a sector where more than 80 per cent of the staff are women.

Australian taxpayers don't want the coalition's cost-of-living confusion. They want stronger, fairer wages for their hard work. Almost three years ago to the day, I stood in this place on the other side of the chamber, fighting for Lilley workers who were being smashed by nine years of insecure work and low wages. Their aspirations were being smashed by an economy that was built to work against them, not for them. When they reached out for help, they were told, 'It is what it is,' by a coalition government which was phoning it in. I'm here today as a member of the Albanese Labor government, continuing my fight to support the aspirations of Northsiders so that every single Lilley taxpayer can keep more of their hard-earned income, because that's what addressing cost of living concerns looks like.