My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.
How is the Albanese government working to help regional Australians and deliver cost-of-living relief? What approaches have been rejected?
Ms CATHERINE KING (Ballarat-Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) (15:18): Thanks very much to the member for Hunter for the question. He's an incredibly strong advocate for his community. One of the things that we all love about the member for Hunter is that he'll give absolutely everything a go-although I was a little worried about his testing of the zip-line at the Lake Mac climbing tower last week! But well done, mate. That was quite an effort.
As members from regional Australia, we do understand that people in our communities are under pressure and we do know that some of them are doing it really tough. It's why our No. 1 priority every single day is addressing cost-of-living relief for every Australian. We're working hard to deliver that cost-of-living relief to ensure that Australians, particularly those in our regions, earn more and get to keep more of what they earn.
It is six days until 1 July, and that means it is six days until every Australian taxpayer will be getting a tax cut. It's six days until our 500 million to $1 billion. That means every single council across Australia will have more money to spend on local roads, reducing pressure on ratepayers across all of those local council areas because otherwise they would have to pay for them. In two years this government, a Labor government, has delivered historic increases to local road funding that the coalition was never able to do.
We know there's much more to do. That's why we are working every single day to help make the cost of living better for Australians. That is how you deliver cost-of-living relief, not by pushing up power prices with nuclear reactors all across regional Australia.
