Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:03): To the Leader of the Opposition let me say: I understand that families around the country feel the pressures of the world we live in and particularly the cost-of-living pressures on their shoulders. I understand that very, very keenly. That is why we want to work with families on those cost-of-living pressures and why we want to work with them to improve the services that they rely on and to improve their prospects in the future. There is nothing more important to the prospects of Australian families than keeping the economy strong and making sure that people have the benefits and dignity of work, which is why I am so pleased that we were able to manage the economy so that Australia came out of the global financial crisis stronger than any other developed country in the world and that over the next two years we will create half a million jobs. I am also pleased that we are able to continue our work with families to assist them with cost-of-living pressures. We have of course provided tax cuts for three years. We created the education tax refund to help with the costs of getting kids to school. We have added to that in the recent budget by enabling families to recover some of the money they spend on kids' uniforms. We have worked with families to alleviate the burden of childcare fees, increasing the childcare tax rebate to 50 per cent and, in the recent budget, moving to a fortnightly payment arrangement so that people do not need to be so far out of pocket before they see some money come back from the government. We have also assisted the lowest income Australians, those eligible for the low-income tax offset, by bringing forward some of the payments that they would have otherwise not been eligible for. This move in the recent budget means that they will better see the rewards of work. Mr Pyne: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. To be directly relevant, the Prime Minister needs to talk about the things that she has done since she was Prime Minister. The things she is talking about were done by the member for Griffith when he was Prime Minister. The SPEAKER: Order! The Prime Minister is responding to the question. Ms GILLARD: For the information of the House, I was referring to a measure in the last budget. I really find it quite offensive that members of the opposition are so cavalier about the needs of low-income Australians that they do not understand a major measure in the last budget involving the low-income tax offset and enabling people to see more money earlier so that they can better see the rewards of work. We have increased the family tax benefit for the parents of teenagers, a benefit that is worth more than $4,000 a year to families on the maximum rate. Families also rely on services. I want them to have the best of health services, which is why earlier this year I entered an agreement with premiers and chief ministers around the country which means more doctors, more nurses, more local control and less red tape. We will finalise the details of that agreement at the forthcoming COAG. People in this parliament are aware of my passion for extending opportunity. We have built on our earlier education reforms with a $3 billion skills package in the recent budget. I am very proud that that will enable people to get that all-important training place and get a better job and a better prospect in life. We have also delivered in the context of the recent budget new welfare measures to better enforce opportunity and responsibility around our country. We have done all of that, and we are bringing the budget back to surplus exactly as promised to alleviate inflationary pressures in our economy. I am very happy for the Leader of the Opposition to keep talking about what the government has done in the face of his relentless negativity and just saying no.