Welcome back, friends.
And tomorrow’s Budget, of course, will be a big night.
And for Jim and Katy and all the team, all the Ministers who’ve put this together, congratulations.
This will be a night of which you can all be very, very proud.
There will be, of course, two main things that have driven our government for the last two years that we’ll celebrate next week.
But tomorrow night – help with the cost of living, the number one priority we have had.
And secondly, though, always having our eye on the future and making our future here in Australia.
It is a Labor budget through and through, because it’s a budget for every Australian, not just some.
New investments in Medicare and the health system.
More help for households doing it tough.
More homes in every state and territory.
Importantly, cost of living relief that doesn’t add to inflation, indeed, that reduces inflation.
And a tax cut for every single taxpayer, not just some.
This is a true Labor budget because it helps people who are under pressure right now.
But it’s also about investment.
Investment in our future, in jobs, in skills, in infrastructure, in housing, in social care, be it health or education.
And that’s what Labor governments always do – deal with the urgent necessities that we have to deal with, things that we’re confronted with, but always with our eye on a better future.
Always how we can create and, indeed, after anticipating that better future.
Now, that means, as I said two years ago on election night, opening those doors of opportunity for people.
And that’s what our extension of Fee-Free TAFE, the measures that you’ll see tomorrow night about universities arising from the Universities Accord and the other work that Jason Clare has done.
The support that we have to make sure, as we committed to, that no one be left behind and no one held back.
No one left behind is why we are making sure that we take these cost of living measures in order to provide assistance for people who need it.
But no one held back, which is about what does our economy look like in five, ten, twenty years’ time?
The decisions that we make this decade will set Australia up for the decades ahead.
And that is what a Future Made in Australia is about.
Making sure that we seize the opportunities that are there.
We’ve been very fortunate to now be positioned with comparative advantages located, as we are, in the fastest growing region of the world in human history, with the resources under the ground and in the sky that are the best in the world.
The resources that the world needs to power this century going forward.
And our most important resource, of course, is our people.
And we’ll be investing in them to make sure that they can seize these opportunities.
Creating secure, well paid jobs in our suburbs and our regions.
Making sure that we are well positioned to take advantage of where we are in 2024.
We live in uncertain economic times, but what we’ve ensured is that we deal with some of those pressures whilst, of course, making sure we have our eye on the future.
Last year’s Budget, of course, was the first surplus that has been produced in this country for fifteen years – responsible economic policy.
So, we await later this week, there’ll be the third reply.
We’re yet to see a fully costed policy on anything. Maybe third time lucky.
If not, it will be strike three in their credibility as an alternative government.
Because whilst they are quite capable of saying ‘no’ to everything, eventually at some stage, they have to say what they’re in favour of.
Where their nuclear reactors will be, what cuts they will make, to do what they say they want to do when they opposed our tax cuts for every Australian.
So I’m really proud to be a member of this caucus and to have the great privilege of being Prime Minister, but I’m so proud of the team that we have.
And Jim, as Treasurer, will hand down his third speech, his third budget, tomorrow night.
It’s a great speech. I’ve had a chance to have a squiz, it’s been put to bed.
And tomorrow night when that happens, I’m sure that each and every one of you will be very glad that we’re in this end of the corridor, because this means that we can make a difference for the people that we want to represent.
And our tax cuts for every Australian is a reminder that we want to represent, and indeed we will in tomorrow night’s budget, every single Australian.
Thanks very much.
