THE ALBANESE LABOR GOVERNMENT

 

So far in office we have delivered

Cost of Living Relief:

  • Tax cuts for all Australians
  • Two years of energy bill relief for every household and small business
  • We’ve increased Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 45%
  • We’ve introduced 60 day scripts and delivered cheaper medicines – saving Australians $1 billion and Sydney residents nearly $9 million
  • We’ve funded a 15% pay rise for early childhood educators and aged care workers while requiring childcare centres to cap fees to support affordability and fairness
  • We’ve wiped $3 billion from student debt for more than 3 million Australians, and we’ll wipe another $20 billion if re-elected

 
The Economy:

  • Delivered the largest back-to-back surpluses in history, halved inflation from 6.1% to 2.8%, and returned 82% of revenue upgrades ($285 billion) to reduce debt, saving $80 billion in interest
  • Created more than 1 million jobs, the most of any first term government!
  • Unemployment is at 4.1%, the lowest average unemployment rate in over 50 years
  • Our 2024-25 budget invests $22.7 billion over the next decade to build a Future Made in Australia. This includes a new front door to make it easier to invest in Australia, production tax incentives and programs to support solar and battery manufacturing

 
Labor Priorities:

  • Real wages are up 3.8% (almost double the 2.2% under the Coalition) – we’ve achieved the fastest turnaround in real wage growth on record
  • Same Job Same Pay is now law, minimum wage earners are up $7000, the gender pay gap is the lowest it’s ever been with women $1900 per year better off
  • We’ve building 1.2 million new homes across Australia, plus the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a decade
  • Making home ownership possible through Help to Buy schemes so that you can buy a home with a deposit as little as 2%
  • We’ve strengthened Medicare by tripling bulk billing incentives and opened 84 Urgent Care Clinics, delivering 1 million free GP consultations so far, with 3 more clinics set to launch this financial year
  • We’re working in partnership with states and territories to establish Medicare Mental Health Centres: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/medicare-mental-health-centres  
  • We’ve introduced landmark legislation to lift Federal Government funding to public schools above the 20% cap introduced by Malcolm Turnbull
  • We’ve also made $16 billion of additional investment for public schools available to help fill the gap
  • We’ve funded 500,000+ Fee-Free TAFE and training places across key areas of national priority and legislated 100,000 free TAFE training places each year from 2027
  • 99% of nursing homes are now staffed with a registered nurse on-site 24/7, legislated bipartisanship reforms for certainty within the sector and an additional 3.9 million minutes of direct care every day, including 1.7 million minutes of care from registered nurses in residential aged care
  • We’ve created the National Anti-Corruption Commission. After just 12 months of operation it has 29 corruption investigations afoot and five matters before the court

 
Renewable Energy and Towards Net Zero:

  • In just two years, I’ve ticked off 65 renewable projects – enough to power more than seven million homes; by the end of 2024 our grid will be powered by 42% renewables and we’re on track to achieve our 82% target by 2030
  • We’re electrifying everything that can be electrified, powering it with renewables, and building large-scale storage through batteries, pumped hydro, and hydrogen—creating thousands of jobs across our regions
  • Through the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund and the Buy Australian Plan, we’re modernising and diversifying our industrial base, unlocking the capability to manufacture these cutting-edge technologies right here in Australia

 
Top Environment Portfolio Wins:

  • investing $550 million to protect our threatened species
  • We’re increasing recycling by more than 1.3 million tonnes a year & stopping paper, soft and difficult to recycle plastics from going to landfill
  • I’m the first Environment Minister to block a coal mine
  • I saved Toondah Harbour from destruction. The Labor Government is protecting internationally important wetlands
  • We now protect 52% of our oceans, more than any other country on earth!
  • We’ve protected 70 million hectares of land and sea – an area bigger than Germany and Italy combined!
  • I’ve set up new Indigenous protected areas and expanded the Indigenous ranger program
  • We’ve doubled funding to national parks
  • We’ve stopped Jabiluka from being mined for uranium – and will add it to the Kakadu National Park World Heritage instead
  • We hosted the world’s first Global Nature Positive Summit (which got a shout out from The King on his recent visit) to drive collective action and private investment in nature protection and repair

 
Locally we are supporting a bid to include the original 1978 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade Route on the National Heritage List.

We’ve also introduced world-leading legislation to enforce a minimum age of 16 years for social media.

And we're just getting started.

We promised to build a better future for all Australians, and that's exactly what we're doing. 

 

Environment and Water

The achievements in my portfolio are here.

 

as at December 2024

Authorised by T. Plibersek, ALP, 1A Great Buckingham Street, Redfern 2016.