The start of 2024 has been a big one! We’ve had our first two weeks of parliamentary sittings, with many important bills passing.
In important news, the Albanese Labor Government has legislated that on 1 July, all Australian Taxpayers will get a tax cut. Under this plan over 79% of Canberrans will receive a larger tax cut than previously planned. I’m proud to be part of a Government that is making a tangible difference to millions of Australians facing cost of living pressures.
We also passed the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Bill 2023. This amendment will end the concept of a permanent casual by providing a proper pathway for casuals to convert to permanent work if they choose to. It will introduce minimum standards for workers in the gig economy as well as giving workers the right to disconnect. Last year we changed the law to criminalise wage theft and stop the underpayment of workers through the use of labour hire. Now we’ve closed more workplace loopholes that have been undermining wages.
Under these two major changes, Labor is ensuring that Australians earn more, and keep more of what they earn.
In the last fortnight we also passed our Paid Parental Leave changes. From July 1, there will be an additional fortnight of paid parental leave available to every family, with four weeks reserved for each parent under a ‘use it or lose it’ policy. This is a big step forward for gender equality, as evidence shows that when both parents take parental leave, domestic labour is more evenly shared and most importantly it supports both parents to bond with their baby at this special time.
The Parliament also passed a motion, with Government support, calling on the UK and USA Governments to end the prosecution of Julian Assange’s case so that he can return home.
Julian’s extradition case is being heard in front of a British Court this week. The Australian Government believes that enough is enough and the United States should drop the charges.
I also took the first speaking opportunity I had this year to speak on Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza. Many constituents have contacted me to express their deep concern about the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I share their concerns. You can watch my full speech on Gaza here.
Outside the chamber there were many events I was pleased to attend.
We celebrated the 40th Birthday of Medicare, including the launch of a pop-up display of Medicare’s history that will be shown across the country.
Medicare is one of Labor’s proudest legacies and the Albanese Government is continuing this by making the biggest investment in bulk billing in its history, having tripled the incentive to GPs to bulk bill.
This is important news for Canberra where we have some of the lowest rates of bulk billing in the country.
The Parliament also heard an historic address by the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape. It is the first time that a leader of a Pacific Island nation has addressed the Australian Parliament.
As our closest neighbour, Australia’s longstanding relationship with Papua New Guinea is important for the security and development of the pacific region and it was wonderful to be there to hear Prime Minister Marape’s moving speech.
As a member of the House Economics Committee, I had the opportunity to question the Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock.
As the first female Governor of the RBA, my first question to Ms Bullock was what message she would have for young girls who are thinking about studying economics, as economics at both high school and university continues to be male dominated.
Her message is that is it fun, and important! It was my two brilliant economics teachers at Lake Tuggeranong College who made me want to study it at university, and I completely agree!
A co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Ending Poverty, Liberal MP Bridget Archer and I were very pleased to host a great panel discussion with Brotherhood of St Laurence.
It involved discussion of the lived experience of poverty with a graduate of the BSL SEED project, and insight from leading researchers in the field.
That’s all for this sitting fortnight, but please keep in touch with my office though phone at 6247 8475 or email at [email protected].
