Cost of living is front of mind for most Australians, and front and centre in the Budget.

The Albanese Government is delivering responsible and meaningful cost of living relief for Australian families.

We’re providing more hip pocket help for households.

The centrepiece of the Budget is more tax cuts for every taxpayer, which will benefit 14 million Australians.

Helping Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn is a central part of our economic plan.

The new tax cuts will top up the relief that started flowing for workers last year.

They will help with the cost of living while delivering broader economic benefits – like returning bracket creep and boosting labour supply.

But there are several other significant initiatives as well that will make a meaningful difference for Australians.

We’re delivering energy bill relief to every household, even cheaper medicines, historic investments in Medicare, higher wages and a fairer go for consumers.

The families of middle Australia are the biggest beneficiaries of this cost of living help. The combined benefit for an average household will be more than $15,000 from our two rounds of tax cuts and energy bill relief over the four years to 2027-28.

Labor’s plan to help with the cost of living includes:

• A new tax cut for every taxpayer – every Australian taxpayer gets another tax cut from next year – all 14 million, not just some.
• More energy bill relief – $1.8 billion to extend energy bill relief to the end of the year for every household and small businesses.
• Growing wages – $2.6 billion for a well-deserved wage increase for aged care nurses and stopping unfair non-compete clauses that are holding back Australian workers from switching to better, higher-paying jobs.
• Even cheaper medicines – Reducing the maximum price of PBS medicines to $25 and $1.8 billion to list more life-changing medicines on the PBS.
• Cutting student debt – wiping 20 per cent off all student debts and lifting the repayment threshold for graduates.
• Strengthening Medicare – $8.5 billion to make more GP visits bulk billed for all Australians and train more doctors and nurses, as well as $657.9 million to open another 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and expand existing services.
• Making it easier to buy and rent a home – lifting the income and property price caps for Help to Buy to help more Australians into a home with a lower deposit and smaller mortgage, supporting innovative construction to build more homes sooner and delivering financial incentives to apprentices in the housing construction sector.
• Permanent Free TAFE – making 100,000 Free TAFE places available across Australia every year.
• A fair go for families and farmers – getting people a better deal at the checkout by strengthening the ACCC’s powers, fighting shrinkflation and helping suppliers stand up to the big supermarkets.
• Delivering more affordable and accessible child care – establishing the Three Day Guarantee so families are eligible for at least three days of subsidised early education and care, and building more child care centres across Australia.

Under Labor, inflation is down, incomes are growing, unemployment is very low, interest rates are coming down and growth has rebounded solidly as well – but we know Australians are still doing it tough.

This Budget helps people with the cost of living and finish the fight against inflation, strengthen Medicare and builds a stronger economy.