Tony Zappia
Makin · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Based on the most recent polling, cost of living remains the most pressing issue for Australians, with around 75 per cent of people putting it at the top of the list of issues that matter to them. Another survey has 3.7 million Australians living in poverty, whilst 122,000 are homeless.”
“However, two issues that I believe directly contribute to Australian poverty are gambling and illicit drug use. According to the most recent figures, $32 billion is spent annually on gambling in Australia, with Australians rated as the biggest gamblers in the world per capita.”
“Some 3.9 million Australians recently used an illicit drug, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Both gambling losses and illicit drug use are increasing. In particular, online gambling has increased by over 60 per cent in recent years and cocaine use has surged by 69 per cent in a single 12-month period.”
“Gambling and drug addiction are both, and often together, directly the cause of poverty, homelessness, suicide, divorce, financial stress, crime and other social problems. I welcome the Albanese government's latest gambling reforms, which I believe will make a difference to Australian gambling rates.”
“Every day there is new technology out there—and, yes, sometimes it's expensive—that allows for much more efficient procedures. As a result of that, you would think that perhaps the costs of those procedures would come down. But that hasn't always necessarily been the case.”
“The referral is to a specialist that they don't question, and they have no idea whether they could possibly get the same treatment at a much better rate using another surgeon. It's not often that people shop around when it comes to medical treatment.”
The complete record
Every one of 329 lines we hold for Tony Zappia, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 7.
“My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering the largest reforms to defence in over 50 years? Why is this important for protecting our national interest and keeping us safe?”
“Gambling and drug addiction are both, and often together, directly the cause of poverty, homelessness, suicide, divorce, financial stress, crime and other social problems. I welcome the Albanese government's latest gambling reforms, which I believe will make a difference to Australian gambling rates. However, if we are to address poverty we must also reverse the continuing rise of gambling and illicit drug use, which, in addition to adding to the burdens of government, have devastating impacts on individuals, families and communities.”
“Some 3.9 million Australians recently used an illicit drug, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Both gambling losses and illicit drug use are increasing. In particular, online gambling has increased by over 60 per cent in recent years and cocaine use has surged by 69 per cent in a single 12-month period. Illicit drug use and problem gambling are both having devastating effects on Australian families. We cannot continue to respond to these issues in the way we have to date if we are to overcome the financial stresses facing too many Australian families and the demands on the federal budget. Additionally, much of the gambling and drug expenditure ends up overseas, so the money doesn't even circulate within the Australian economy.”
“However, two issues that I believe directly contribute to Australian poverty are gambling and illicit drug use. According to the most recent figures, $32 billion is spent annually on gambling in Australia, with Australians rated as the biggest gamblers in the world per capita. That figure equates to $1,500 per adult each year, while over 70 per cent of Australians reportedly participate in some form of gambling. It is also estimated that 10 per cent of the income of low-income households is spent on gambling, and, according to one analysis, three million Australians experience some form of gambling harm. With illicit drugs, it is estimated that one in 20 Australians has an addiction or substance misuse problem and that around $11.5 billion is spent annually on illicit drugs.”
“Based on the most recent polling, cost of living remains the most pressing issue for Australians, with around 75 per cent of people putting it at the top of the list of issues that matter to them. Another survey has 3.7 million Australians living in poverty, whilst 122,000 are homeless. Between 35 and 70 per cent of Australians are reportedly under financial stress. Welfare groups face increasing requests for food assistance, and every day governments come under increased pressure from people who are struggling with housing, health, aged-care needs, energy costs and other general living expenses. In the relatively wealthy country that Australia is—a land of opportunity to which so many people from overseas wish to come—why are so many people struggling? There are multiple views on that.”
“It provides information out there in the marketplace that people will access, and ultimately that will reduce the cost of health services for people who need them throughout this country. I commend the legislation to the House.”
“I particularly feel for the people who have chronic conditions—conditions whereby not only is their own lifestyle changed and affected each and every day because of the chronic condition they have, but in most cases a person with a chronic condition will also be someone who probably has to regularly see a specialist of some sort or another. So they not only have to deal with other increased costs in their lives because of their condition, but the constant treatment that they need from the specialist must surely be a burden that many of them would find difficult to face. I know, from speaking to people in my electorate, that has often been the case. People are really struggling to pay for the treatment they need if it means going to see a specialist. In wrapping up, this legislation is good legislation.”
“This is where they drop a particular type of cover, pretending that it is no longer available, but then reintroduce it in a different format and charge a lot more money for doing so. That is going to be outlawed. I welcome the practice because it is stopping people from accessing health insurance, or it is at least increasing the premiums for people unnecessarily. It's interesting to note that in 2024-25 there was $31.1 billion paid in private health insurance premiums. That is a lot of money that is being paid by families across the country in order to get the health cover they need. Sadly, for many of them, on top of that, when they do need some kind of medical support or treatment, they usually find themselves being out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of dollars if not thousands of dollars. That is a terribly sad thing.”
“Every day there is new technology out there—and, yes, sometimes it's expensive—that allows for much more efficient procedures. As a result of that, you would think that perhaps the costs of those procedures would come down. But that hasn't always necessarily been the case. People just get used to charging a certain fee, and then they continue to do so even though they might be able to deliver the same treatment at a much reduced fee because of the new technology that is around. Again, this is all about bringing down prices and costs for consumers. In my view, that is a good thing. It is a good thing because people will be able to not only save money but perhaps afford to pay for treatment that they need to get. The other matter relating to all of this is obviously the issue of some private health insurers using the practice of phoenixing.”
“The referral is to a specialist that they don't question, and they have no idea whether they could possibly get the same treatment at a much better rate using another surgeon. It's not often that people shop around when it comes to medical treatment. They usually rely on the advice of their GP, and I think that's going to change as a result of this legislation and change for the better. What it will also hopefully do—this is clearly one of the intentions—in ensuring that people have access to the list of costs for what specialists are charging, is bring some of those fees down a little. As I pointed out earlier, when quoting those costs from the press release that I referred to, some of the fees, in the minds of most people, are unrealistic and, quite frankly, it is time that some of them did come down—even in the medical field.”
“I suspect that, as a result of this legislation, some people who are already on elective surgery waiting lists—by the way, in some cases, people are waiting for a year or more for the surgery or the treatment that they need. But as a result of this legislation, it is my view that, when people are able to shop around, when people know that there perhaps is a cheaper alternative, even if it means that they have to pay for it themselves, they may well come off the elective surgery waiting list in the public hospital and choose to go to a private specialist because they can now find a private specialist that they can afford to provide the treatment that they need. Whereas, right now, most people usually get a referral from their GP.”
“That in turn means that, when they finally do need the treatment, it will be much, much more expensive for them. If they don't go to a medical specialist, then their choice is to go to a public hospital. Again, if they go to a public hospital, the problem is that, firstly, the public hospitals are already under pressure right around the country, as we know. But, secondly, they will very likely have to be put on a waiting list, which again means that they're not only suffering for a long period of time but, by the time they come to getting the treatment they need, the costs might have gone up as well. So it's a lose-lose situation for everybody if we can't get those people who need medical attention treated at the time they are first diagnosed with the treatment that they need.”
“I quote these figures only to highlight how, by providing information and additional support, people are able to get their medical needs looked at without being out of pocket in the way they would have been previously. That is a good thing, because if people can afford to see their doctors at the right time, it ensures that they perhaps don't develop further and more expensive complications down the track. So we need to try and ensure that people get to their doctors when they need to, and that includes their specialists. As I said and quoted from that press release earlier on, when nearly a million Australians are choosing to defer their appointment with their specialist, ultimately it will mean that their medical condition will deteriorate.”
“As a result of the government's increasing of the bulk-billing incentive for doctors, we've now seen nationally that 81.9 per cent of people are getting bulk-billed, and that's a 4.6 per cent increase. It is higher than at the same time last year. In South Australia, the figure is 80.4 per cent. That is almost six per cent higher than it was, again, this time last year. In my own electorate of Makin, we are now seeing bulk-billing rates of 85.6 per cent, whereas, in October 2025, before the bulk-billing initiative was expanded to include all Australians, it was just 78.4 per cent. We now have in my electorate of Makin 17 GP practices that fully bulk-bill, and that is an increase of 10 on what it previously was.”
“I will read directly from the minister's speech: Schedule 1 will amend the Health Insurance Act 1973 and the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to: Importantly, with these changes and with the additional information that will be provided on the Medical Costs Finder site, no patient information will be published, and the privacy of consumers will continue to be protected. I believe having that information available to people is critical in ensuring that they can make the choices they need to in order to make a decision that is in their best interests. The government is certainly trying to bring down medical costs for people across the country, and we have done so through a number of measures. This is going to add to that. I can use the measure of bulk-billing data.”
“The last part of the press release says: Studies by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, La Trobe University and Patients Australia show up to 20% of Australians are delaying or skipping specialist appointments due to cost. The Grattan Institute estimates over a million people each year miss out on seeing a specialist because they cannot afford it. Those figures confirm why this legislation is so important and welcome. It's a step in the right direction and it will help patients. In particular, I refer to schedule 1, which the minister also referred to in his second reading speech. I note the member for Brisbane in her contribution just a few moments ago also referred to schedule 1. Schedule 1 is effectively the summary of what is going to happen with respect to ensuring that people have access to the information that they need.”
“The press release says: Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, the median out-of-pocket medical fees charged by doctors including surgeons, anaesthetists and assistant surgeons has surged for many procedures. Some of the biggest price rises have occurred for: The press release goes on to say: Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data shows average out-of-pocket fees for hospital episodes have risen by 65% since 2020. It then goes on further to say: Doctors are entitled to charge fairly, but fees that double, triple and increase up to nine times in a few years are unsustainable. Patients end up facing massive bills or waiting years for treatment in the public system. Neither Medicare nor private health insurers can keep pace without pushing up taxes and premiums.”
“One of the most frequent grievances I hear from people in my electorate is about the fees charged by a medical specialist, the low rebate paid by Medicare or the low private health insurance rebate that they get and therefore the out-of-pocket costs paid by the patient. Whilst the medical specialists, private health insurers and Medicare each blame each other for the often exorbitant out-of-pocket costs, there is general agreement across the community that some medical specialists are simply charging too much for their services. With respect to that, I'll quote directly from a press release issued on 17 October 2025 by Private Healthcare Australia which I believe exposes the staggering increase in some medical bills.”
“This legislation—the Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026—delivers on the Albanese government's election commitment to ensure greater transparency in costs charged by medical specialists, rebates provided by health insurers and outlawing product phoenixing. It is also legislation that, ultimately, will assist with cost-of-living pressures that Australians are experiencing because the legislation will help people make informed decisions about their health care and their private health insurance needs. This will be done through the Medical Costs Finder website, which will publish individual medical practitioner fees and insurers' out-of-pocket data for common medical services.”
“It has been a remarkable soccer journey for a young man whose family arrived in Australia as refugees. With migration to Australia being a frequent topic of public discourse, Nestory's story is not simply one of personal determination and achievement or the opportunity that Australia has given him but just as importantly a reminder of how immigration to Australia has lifted Australia and brought pride to us all on the world stage. At 20 years of age, Nestory has a long soccer career ahead of him, and I wish him every success for the years to come.”
“I congratulate Nestory Irankunda, Australia's first goalscorer in the FIFA 2026 World Cup in Australia's match with Turkiye. In doing so, at 20 years of age, Nestory became Australia's youngest goalscorer in a FIFA World Cup, adding to his long list of extraordinary soccer career achievements. Born in a refugee camp in Tanzania of Burundi parents, Nestory came to Australia as a three-month-old baby, first settling in Western Australia and then moving to Parafield Gardens in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, where he played and developed his soccer skills, playing for local clubs Parafield Gardens, Northern Wolves and Adelaide Croatia Raiders, and ultimately A League club Adelaide United, before moving to German club Bayern Munich and currently English club Watford.”
“My question is to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services. How will the Albanese Labor government's new tax reform package help more Australians achieve the dream of homeownership for future generations, and are there any impediments to this?”
“However, there needs to be stronger measures taken because whilst the Israeli government has the backing of the USA it will continue to ignore global opinion and international law.”
“I commend the Albanese government for joining with several other Western countries in calling for: … the Government of Israel to end its expansion of settlements and administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence and investigate allegations against Israeli forces, respect the Hashemite custodianship over Jerusalem's Holy Sites and the historic status quo arrangements, and lift financial restrictions on the PA— Palestinian Authority— and the Palestinian economy. These are not the words of radicals but of the leaders of nine Western countries. I also note that Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir were sanctioned last June by the governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom for inciting extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.”
“If the treatment of the flotilla members was perpetrated by any other country, there would be universal outrage throughout the community and across this chamber, but, because it is Israel, there has hardly been a murmur. There are also allegations that dual Australian-Israeli citizens have returned to Israel and participated in Israeli military operations that are now the subject of war crimes investigations. One can only imagine the brutality and cruelty of how Palestinian prisoners are treated, and I do not dismiss allegations of sexual assault, rape and torture of Palestinians in Israeli detention centres, as has been reported time and again and which Israel continues to deny. Simultaneously, the Israeli settlements in the West Bank continue, in breach of international law and after international condemnation.”
“Recent footage of the Israeli government minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting detained flotilla activists heading to Palestine highlights the arrogance, brutality and disregard for international law of the Netanyahu government. My understanding is that there were two recent interceptions of the flotilla, which consisted of 70 boats and 3,000 participants from 100 countries, including 17 Australians. With them was a dedicated medical fleet of 1,000 healthcare professionals carrying vital supplies to support Gaza's decimated healthcare system. Credible reports, including firsthand accounts from flotilla activists, allege violence and degrading sexual abuse towards some of those detained.”
“Yes, the scheme will continue, and, yes, the scheme is indeed a scheme that I believe serves this country well, but it cannot continue in the way that it has been administered for the last 12 or 13 years. It needs to be brought back in line. Once it is, everyone, whether they are clients—the people with a disability—family members, case managers or service providers, will know and have a clear understanding of what they need to do, what their obligations are and what the scheme provides for them. It is only when you get all of the rules made absolutely clear to everyone that we can have a scheme that everyone understands and everyone will benefit from and that will continue to remain financially sustainable into the future.”
“The intention with this legislation is very clearly to ensure that those people that should be on a package are on a package, that the people administering the package are not exploiting or rorting either them or the government and that the scheme itself delivers on the intent that was originally spelt out in the legislation when the scheme was introduced and nothing more. To try and achieve all that requires the changes that are in this legislation. These changes came about not only because of reviews but also because of information that has been collected by the agency, by the minister and by others over the years that the scheme has been in operation.”
“We need to ensure that those who could otherwise be given support through other services are not necessarily put on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, as many of them have been. I know that there are concerns out there in the community from some people who have a package right now and who believe that their package may be cut or amended, or that they might even be taken off the scheme altogether. I've spoken to some of those people in my own office, and I'm aware of the concerns that they have. The intention here is not to take a package away from people that are on the scheme if they are deserving of being on the package.”
“The minister will also, I understand, have additional powers with respect to this legislation, and it will certainly be with respect to the setting of the fees. That in itself is something that needs to happen as well. We cannot have a scheme whereby there are what I would refer to as too many uncertainties. We cannot have a scheme where the rules and obligations of everyone involved are unclear, and it seems to me that that has been very much the case over the last decade or more since the scheme came into effect, I think, in 2013. We need to make the scheme much clearer in terms of who is eligible for it; what kinds of disabilities will be supported; and, for the people that are going to be supported, what kinds of disabilities they have.”
“The registration process alone, I believe, will weed out a lot of the bad operators. I'm hoping it will, but I've got no doubt that it will. One of the things that is contained within this legislation, which I also very strongly support, is the ability for the National Disability Insurance Agency to have much stronger investigative powers. It seems to me that right now the powers they have do not allow them to go in and perhaps review cases, get the information they need and then determine whether there is any malpractice going on. We need to give them those powers. That will happen with the information-gathering powers that we're giving them, as well as the civil penalties that they will be allowed to apply as part of their enforcement procedure.”
“At the moment, it seems to me that there is a lot of uncertainty, or what we'd refer to as grey areas, about who should and shouldn't be eligible. Quite often it might come down to an assessment carried out by someone somewhere, and someone else with a very similar disability who has their assessment carried out by a different person doesn't get a package. There has to be some consistency with all of that. We also need to ensure that those people that are providing services are registered in some way—at least those people who are delivering support to participants who are most at risk of abuse or exploitation. That's what this particular legislation will hopefully do. It will ensure that the people that are providing services and managing the cases for the individual recipients are registered and know what they're doing.”
“Ultimately, it's about ensuring that the scheme is much better managed, ensuring that the rorting is stopped, ensuring that the scheme is financially sustainable and ensuring that clients get the support that they need and that the NDIA has the investigative powers that it needs to ensure that the scheme is being administered the way it was intended to and that the packages are being spent the way they were intended to as well. As part of that review—others have touched on this, and there's some concern about this from some of the comments that I've heard. The changes will much more clearly define who is eligible for NDIS support and define functional capacity. At the end of the day, that is critical to determining who should be eligible to get a package and who shouldn't be eligible.”
“I was in here when the minister gave his second reading speech, and I was pleased to see that he is going to tackle each of the issues, as part of this legislation, very clearly and very deliberately. There are a lot of issues to address. It is not something to which you can simply say, 'Look, we'll bring in some legislation and do a couple of things and that'll fix it all up.' We have to address each of the problems that have been identified with the scheme.”
“As soon as you provide a package to someone—and this includes, perhaps, an aged-care package as well—and you have a selected group of people that are able to provide the services, they immediately increase their costs. Whether it's a product cost or it's simply a service they provide, you'll find that the costs immediately go up to sometimes two or three times what other people are paying simply because it is part of a government service that is being provided and it will be paid for by the government. Again, this sort of thing needs to stop. We've also seen that there are people that are now running what I call enterprises based on total malpractice.”
“I've seen that time and time again. I have also come across operators who have said to families, 'Allow me to manage your family member's package, and I will give you some money back in return.' That's the kind of shonky operator that is currently out there. Not only, I believe, is this review absolutely necessary; the changes to the legislation that we are debating in this place right now are absolutely necessary because we need to stop that kind of rorting and that kind of practice. There's another issue that concerns me. This applies to a whole range of government services, and we see it time and time again when there is the government involved.”
“What really concerns me with the whole scheme is really this: people for whom the scheme was not intended are now on the scheme—there should be other services that those people should be getting access to—and they're on the scheme with substantial packages. That's come about because, in my view, there are operators out there who are not doing the right thing. Let me qualify my comments about that by simply saying this. There are a lot of very good operators out there—and I support them and I will continue to support them—but there are also a lot of shonky operators out there, and it is those operators that I will not support. They, in turn, seem to find ways of bringing people onto the scheme simply so that they can then case manage their package and, in doing so, ensure that they get most of the funds that are allocated to the package.”
“With those additional people—that is, the 730,000 people that are now on the scheme—it obviously incurs additional costs which were never budgeted for. I heard the member for Mayo, who quite rightly made the point about the number of providers out there. To use her figures, because I haven't checked them, it's over 300,000 providers that are now providing services across Australia. That figure staggers me just as much as it staggers the member for Mayo. It's the same with the fact that—I think she used this figure—some 96 per cent of them are not even registered. Again, those sorts of issues have to be sorted out.”
“I would say to myself and others, 'How is it that the National Disability Insurance Agency cannot see and is not aware of these problems?' Nevertheless, they continued until Labor was re-elected back in 2022, and when we were we knew that we had to get the scheme back on track to where it should be. At the time that we were looking at setting the scheme up under the Gillard government, the projections were that the scheme would support something in the order of 400,000 to 450,000 Australians. Today, there are over 730,000 Australians that are on the scheme—almost double their original predicted numbers. Again, it highlights not so much that there are people with need out there but rather how the scheme has perhaps been used in a way that it was never intended to be used.”
“But, regrettably, it's been very badly administered. It was a reform that was not only long overdue but also badly needed. Whilst Labor introduced the scheme, Labor, unfortunately, lost office in 2013 at the time that the scheme was about to be rolled out. The scheme was rolled out under the administration of the coalition government. In my view, for the next nine years, it was badly administered. Yes, it was a new scheme, and I suspect that it wouldn't matter which government was in place. There would have been a need to review the guidelines and so on. But it was badly administered for almost nine years. In that period, I personally came across case after case whereby it was my view that there was something not right about the way it was being administered.”
“One of the stories I have never forgotten was from a teenage girl who came up to myself and Bill—we were there together—and said: 'I cannot go to school, because I will not leave my mother, who has a serious disability, alone at home during the day. I have to care for her, and that comes at the expense of me being able to go to school.' I know that Bill was very moved by that story. From there, the whole notion of setting up a scheme or doing something to help those kinds of families gained real momentum. And, today, we do have a scheme. We have a scheme that was put in place by a Labor government, and it was indeed one of the great social reforms that the Gillard government brought in when it was brought in. It's another one of the real social reforms that Labor can take credit for. I believe the scheme was truly well intentioned.”
“I take this opportunity to speak on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is indeed a very important scheme, but, unfortunately, it is not operating as it was originally intended to. Only people with a serious, lifelong disability—and quite often their immediate family members—would truly understand the living burden of disability. I can recall that, before this scheme was even put into place, the then member for Maribyrnong, Bill Shorten, was the Parliamentary Secretary for Disability. We held a forum in my electorate at Tyndale Christian School, and I believe it was the very first forum that the Parliamentary Secretary held to hear from families of people with disability about how they were coping. It was a real eye-opener.”
“So I commend everyone—all the ministers involved but also everyone who in some way has contributed to the development of the partnership—because it is to the benefit of our country and the world.”
“In my own electorate, in Mawson Lakes, we have a number of defence and security companies now operating. It's pleasing to see that so many of those companies are actually headquartered overseas yet have come to Australia to set up bases here. Again, that reinforces the ability of Australia to work constructively with the very countries that this partnership is looking to include. Working closely with EU countries and sharing our knowledge and resources not only makes us more secure but means that, together, we can better influence and respond to emerging risks, such as online radicalisation, terrorism, foreign interference, military development and procurement, supply chain resilience and critical mineral supply. All of these are things that we talk about in this place on a regular basis—but, again, we need to work together.”
“These are all things that we could spend hours talking about individually in terms of how we address those very matters, but this partnership embraces them all. As a middle power. Australia would not only benefit from this partnership but be able to make a real contribution to addressing the global threats facing people around the world. We've already seen that with the work that has been done between not only Australia and some of the European countries but also Australia and countries such as Canada. It's starting to emerge that like-minded countries who have shared values can have an impact on global affairs. I believe that that is a very good thing because, for too long, global affairs have been run by what I would consider the more powerful countries of the world.”
“When added to the strong people-to-people bonds Australia has with Europe and our commitment to the rule of law, democracy and peace, as other speakers have quite rightly alluded to, it makes for natural allies and trusted friends. That is what this partnership is all about—natural allies and trusted friends on opposite sides of the globe working together. It is for those very reasons that this partnership is not only important but one that we can have confidence in. The Australia and EU security partnership covers several key areas, and time will not permit me to go into them in detail. But, broadly speaking, they are defence and industry cooperation, economic security, cyber and hybrid threats, maritime and space security, crisis management and capacity building.”
“And we have seen that over the last two or three decades, where there have been plenty of efforts made by countries around the world to try and resolve some of these matters. But the truth is we have to work in unity with other countries. It is indeed only through the collective efforts of like-minded nations that we can deal with the global problems facing humanity, which is why the security and defence partnership between Australia and the European Union is so important. The majority of early settlers who came to Australia from overseas were from Great Britain and Europe. Similarly, in the post-World-War-II years of mass migration to Australia, they came from Europe and Great Britain. Much of our laws and Australian characteristics arise from connections with those very homelands.”
“I commend the member for Sturt for bringing this motion before the House, because right now, more than ever before, the world needs to act together if we are to address the challenges that we all face on this planet. We live in times when rising population and diminishing resources are leading to ever-increasing human conflict and all of its consequences to insecurity, food shortages, increased military spending and less confidence into the future. Simultaneously, greed and power—human traits that have existed throughout history—add to global injustices and civilian unrest right across the world. These are now global problems, which no single nation acting alone can rectify.”
“This is a government that does care about young people being able to own their first home, and it is taking the necessary steps to assist them in order that they can do so. The various different strategies and funding streams that the government has provided into the housing market, I believe, will make a long-term difference for this country and certainly will make a difference to the lives of those young people that are looking to get into their own house. This is a responsible budget for the times. Budgets are never easy. I can never recall walking into this chamber at budget time and listening to a government saying how easy it is to balance their budget. It's never easy. But under all the circumstances that Australia faces right now, this is the right budget for the times.”
“The Albanese government has committed some $47 billion towards housing and building houses in this country. There's a whole range of different methods, whether it's shared equity, whether it's lower deposits, whether it's investing in new infrastructure, whether it's getting the councils and the states to work together to ensure that approvals are fast-tracked and signed. Every different strategy that will assist in building and increasing supply is on the table under this package, and it is working. Of course, we cannot build houses overnight, but I can see the changes happening in my own state. I can see new developments rising everywhere. With the help of the state government and the federal government working together, I am seeing the changes, and we're now starting to see it in the market itself.”