Wednesday, 3 May 2023

Opposition performance

Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (17:16): I rise today to grieve for the people of Victoria and the increased cost-of-living pressures they would face if the Liberal Party were in government. I feel especially for people in casual roles. People in casual roles can feel pressured to work even when they are sick so that they do not miss out on the money they need to support themselves and their families. To address this issue and make sure people do not have to choose between their health and their back pocket, this government introduced the sick pay guarantee. In the first 12 months that it was available it supported 93,000 claims from casual and contract workers, paying 1 million hours of sick and carers pay. When I think about the difference that money has made to families, the hard choices they did not have to make because of this funding and having an income while they were sick, I feel very proud to be part of this government but worried for the people of Victoria if those opposite were to be in government. We have not seen from them the energy, ideas or commitment needed to govern in a way that eases cost-of-living pressures for Victorians.

My daughter is in three-year-old kinder, and this has made a difference to our finances, having the introduction of free kinder. One of the really important parts of this policy is that it applies to kinder programs in day care centres. Sessional kinder hours do not suit everyone, including people who are working jobs with changing rosters, like nurses and casuals, and people who work long days. By including day care centres in free kinder, it means that more people, usually mums, can work more hours if they choose to pick up some more shifts. This helps with the cost of living.

Comparing my day care costs now with this time last year, there is a marked difference, a real difference. This policy is all about supporting kids and supporting families. Families are up to $2500 per child better off under this policy. That money is in the pockets of families, and it is a significant sum of money that families will be able to put to good use. Best Start, Best Life is a $9 billion reform. It is providing our youngest Victorians like my daughter with socialisation and play-based learning at a time when we know the majority of brain development is occurring. We want kids to have the best possible start in life. We all want the best for our kids. That extends beyond kinder and into the school years.

At the root of all our desires for our children is that they remain healthy, but it is not always easy to deal with unexpected costs. I know when my toddler was diagnosed with a vision problem we had to figure out how to pay for the special frames and lenses she needed. I am glad she was diagnosed early, but for some kids vision problems are not picked up until they are in school. That is why the Labor government has invested more than $2.4 million to deliver the Glasses for Kids program, which is removing vision impairment as a barrier to students engaging in their learning. More than 32,400 prep to year 3 students have had their vision screened since the program began, and 5000 students across the state can now see more clearly and concentrate better at school without creating as much difficulty for their parents’ budget.

That is the eyes sorted, but getting my daughters to let me brush their teeth each day is a bit of a struggle. I have bought every type of cartoon and unicorn toothbrush that is available. I am so fastidious about it because I know that good oral health from an early age gives children the best chance of maintaining it into adulthood and I know that many parents do not feel that they can afford to take their child to a private dentist. There are families who feel they have to make the choice between their kids’ teeth and their kids’ dinner. That is not okay. That is why this government has delivered the Smile Squad, providing free annual oral health check-ups and free follow-up care needed for all children attending government primary and secondary schools in Victoria when fully implemented. This is in stark contrast to those opposite, who for the young children who need health in school, cut Fresh Fruit Friday.

The cost of school uniforms can be prohibitive for families. Kids do not want to stand out – certainly not my little preppy. For kids that are from families that are doing it tough, we do not want them to feel uncomfortable at school or that they do not belong. That is why the Victorian government has invested $27.1 million over four years in the affordable school uniforms program, which supports financially disadvantaged students through the provision of necessary school items. These items include uniforms, school shoes, stationery – including STEM calculators – workboots and schoolbags.

Getting kids on their feet running around and being active, learning to be part of a team and learning how to lose gracefully are some of the reasons we want our kids to play sport, but sometimes the cost can put it out of reach for families. That is not okay. The Get Active Kids voucher program was established by Labor in 2020 to reduce cost-of-living pressures for Victorian families and make sure that kids who want to play sport can play sport. The vouchers of up to $200 can be put towards uniforms, equipment and registration. The current round of the program, round 6, has been an absolute success, with around 35,000 vouchers already covered. More than half of voucher recipients in previous rounds said that their child would not have been able to join the netball team, the soccer team or the gymnastics squad if this program did not exist. All those kids would not have had the chance to experience the benefits of playing sport if this government was not around to provide cost-of-living support such as this. So from their eyes all the way down to their toes, the Labor government is supporting children to have the best life possible and making it affordable for families to provide the kind of life for their children that they want to.

Often when we picture the life we want, we see a house and yard. It remains the great Aussie dream. In Yan Yean we have many, many first home buyers who were attracted to the natural beauty and affordable homes of the area. The security of owning your own home can feel out of reach for some people. That is why we are supporting Victorian first home buyers with millions of dollars in grants and concessions to help them realise their dreams. This Labor government is helping first home buyers by providing stamp duty concessions and exemptions and offering first home owner grants of $10,000. We know that Victorians are using this much-needed support. The first home owner grants topped $1 billion, and there were 51,000 stamp duty concessions and exemptions last year. Further to this, this government is supporting Victorians into home ownership through the $1.6 billion shared equity Victorian Homebuyer Fund. This fund has approved investments of more than $400 million, enabling 2500 Victorians, more than half of them first home buyers, to move into their properties. This fund will ultimately support up to 10,000 Victorians into home ownership.

There are costs, though, when you have a home – for owners and renters. We have all felt the pinch of rising power prices. On this, Victorian Labor is addressing the root cause of the problem as well as providing power bill relief for families. A proven way to drive down household bills is with a solar power system. Evidence shows us that households can save over $1000 a year when they install solar panels, but in the past, set-up costs have been a financial barrier for so many Victorians. So our government is making it easier to install them, with a $1400 rebate through the Solar Homes program. Already 4000 people in the electorate of Yan Yean have claimed this rebate and started saving on their bills. Since this program was established, Solar Victoria has estimated that Victorians have already saved over half a billion dollars.

In recent months this government has helped take the pressure off 1 million households, with $250 straight into their pockets through the power saving bonus. I have been out and about in my community helping people claim the new round of the power saving bonus since it opened in March. I am absolutely driven to make sure as many households as possible use the Energy Compare website to make sure they are on the cheapest deal and receive their $250 bonus. Last Thursday morning I got up in the dark really, really early so that I could be down at Mernda train station early enough to see plenty of commuters and raise awareness of the power saving bonus. I probably felt a bit grumbly about it on that cold morning, but any tiredness I felt evaporated when I met a local bus driver who told me that he was not seeing his kids as much as he would like, as he was working longer hours so that he could provide for his family. He had not heard of the power saving bonus. I was so happy to share the information with him, knowing that cheaper power bills and a $250 bonus would make a real difference for that family. He said thank you and left. He had walked probably 20 paces away when he turned around and shouted out, ‘Hey, really, thank you.’ At a Mernda community centre recently an older woman recently came in for help with the power saving bonus. I was very happy to complete her application for her. She was happy too. Once she saw how straightforward it was she phoned her daughter and told her to get down to the community centre so that I could help her as well. The daughter was doing it pretty tough, so I was really glad to help out.

In my electorate of Yan Yean over 11,500 households have claimed the power saving bonus. Across the state since 24 March over 1.2 million Victorian families have applied for the power saving bonus. This support is on top of the support provided to 1.85 million Victorian households in the last round. Together that is $500 of support since last July and two opportunities to get onto a cheap power price. We know that 40 per cent of people are finding a better deal when they claim their power bonus. That is 40 per cent of people who, when their next power bill shows up in their letterbox or their emails, will have real, tangible cost-of-living relief. This is in stark contrast to what people experienced when those opposite were last in government, with retail electricity prices soaring 34 per cent and many, many families – near record levels, in fact – having their power disconnected.

We are helping people in the here and now with cost-of-living pressures, but we are also bringing down power prices in the future through investing in cheaper, more reliable renewables and renewable energy through the SEC. This is while those opposite, when they were last in government, were anti-wind farm legislation proposers. And here we are with the SEC. The State Electricity Commission will initially invest $1 billion towards delivering 4.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy projects by 2035, the equivalent replacement capacity of Loy Yang A. The new SEC will become an energy market proponent under a 10-year plan to deliver cleaner and cheaper energy, with all profits invested back into the system to help drive down power bills. The SEC will help deliver our nation-leading renewable energy and emissions targets of 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035 and net zero by 2045, creating 59,000 jobs and increasing gross state product by about $9.5 billion. We have committed to establishing an SEC centre of training excellence backed by a $424 million energy and training package to help workers upskill and creating 6000 positions for apprentices and trainees, giving families more money in their back pocket through good, decent jobs that create a healthy, happy planet for all Victorians now and in future generations.