Ms BYRNES (Cunningham) (16:54): Here we go again—another MPI and another lie by those opposite. Whilst concern about cost-of-living relief has underpinned every step our government has taken, the 'no-alition' has run in the opposite direction at a rate of knots. They have opposed every single cost-of-living measure on this floor, and that's an absolute shame for the Australian people. When we came into government, we saw portfolio after portfolio decimated under a decade of neglect by those opposite. It was an absolute bin fire.
But we rolled up our sleeves and we started cleaning up their mess. Australian families were faced with the rising cost of living, stagnant wages and increasing prices for essentials like housing, child care and energy, and they weren't doing anything to address it for 10 long years. Under the Leader of the Opposition—who, don't forget, holds the title of the worst health minister in 40 years as voted by Australian doctors—we saw bulk-billing rates absolutely plummet. With our government's record investments into Medicare, we have seen an additional six million bulk-billed visits between November 2023 and December 2024.
In Cunningham, we have seen a 4.5 per cent increase to the bulk billing rate for the same period, equating to 63,356 bulk-billed appointments. The Albanese Labor government has also made medicines cheaper, saving Cunningham residents over $8 million by cutting the cost of medicines, lowering the safety net threshold and legislating 60-day prescriptions. On Sunday, the Minister for Health and Aged Care announced that we are investing a further $573.3 million to deliver more choice, lower costs and better health care for women. This includes things like better access to long-term contraceptives, larger Medicare payments and more bulk-billing for IUDs and birth control implants, saving around 300,000 women a year up to $400 in out-of-pocket costs.
The good news in health just keeps on coming. Last week, the Prime Minister and health minister announced an additional $1.7 billion to fund public hospitals and health services next year. This is an extra $407 million for New South Wales to help cut waiting lists, reducing wait times in emergency rooms and managing ramping. We're also funding and opening 87 Medicare urgent care clinics, including in Corrimal and Dapto in the Illawarra, so Australians can walk in and get urgent, bulk-billed care seven days a week without their credit card. This is in stark contrast to the opposition leader, who cut more than $50 billion from public hospitals. That's not all. He's already slated massive cuts to our Public Service and institutions, people that are there to help the public get the services that they need. But he will not tell us exactly where he's going to cut those jobs until after the election. If he were a hairdresser, he'd work at Just Cuts.
On this side of the House, we are focused on helping Australians with the cost of living, providing much-needed relief, and there is a lot more to do. History shows that when Labor is in government, we invest in people and we build for the future. We have built things like the NDIS, the NBN, superannuation, paid parental leave, Medicare and the list goes on. Under Prime Minister Albanese, we are continuing this tradition of investing in the future for all Australians. From 1 July 2024, every Australian received a tax cut to put more money back in their pockets, and for the third year in a row, wages are rising, with over 2.6 million Australians receiving a pay increase. We are providing $300 in energy bill relief for every household and $325 for eligible small businesses.
To support students and our future workforce, we have made significant reforms to the HECS system and, if re-elected, we will include a 20 per cent reduction in student debt. This is massive—raising the repayment threshold from $54,000 up to $67,000, and lowering repayment rates. We've introduced a Commonwealth Prac Payment to support students undertaking mandatory prac placements in essential fields, such as teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work, because we know that students have been doing it tough for too long. We've also committed to making fee-free TAFE permanent, creating 100,000 fee-free TAFE places every year if re-elected. In Cunningham alone, we have seen over 5,000 Illawarra students enrolling in fee-free TAFE courses.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Chesters ): The discussion has concluded.
