Mrs SALLY QUINNELL (Camden) (17:17): I make a contribution to the public interest debate because the people of New South Wales have spoken about the Coalition's ability to control the cost of living. The people of Camden spoke quite clearly about what they thought the previous Coalition Government was providing for them, which was nothing. The Minns Labor Government understands that people are doing it tough right now. We on this side hear people's concerns and we are working hard to find solutions. I could talk for ages about how the people of Camden have been hard done by, with countless transport opportunities provided in eastern Sydney and not one transport infrastructure project for the highest growth areas of Camden, Leppington and Liverpool—nothing.

Those opposite should not lecture me about what happened in our area. We talk about rebuilding essential services and confronting the housing crisis. The member for Shellharbour outlined how we need to pay down the debt that the Coalition Government left us. We have been talking about reliable and renewable energy and today we will talk about how we are helping with the cost-of-living pressures. When I was doorknocking, many people were telling me how the tolls in our electorate are absolutely crippling.

Mr Mark Hodges: Well, fix it.

Mrs SALLY QUINNELL: We will. The toll cap of $60 a week will help. One family told me that their child was not able to play sport at all, regardless of what little handout was given to them, because they were paying $180 in tolls per week, so they can put the $120 a week that they are saving in tolls towards playing sport. There are two ways that we can address the cost of living: We can lift wages, increasing the amount coming in, or reduce expenditure, decreasing the amount going out. We lifted the wages cap, which means that thousands of people have the opportunity for more money to be coming in. We secured a historic pay rise for teachers, so 95,000 teachers will have more in their pay cheque today—actually, it will be coming on Friday—to relieve the expenditure that is going out.

We have converted teachers and support staff to permanent positions. I am not sure how many members in the House have been temporary teachers, but I can tell the House that the impact it has on the ability to get any help or any loans is quite crippling, not to mention the fact that it is really hard to set up or put down any sort of roots within a community. People are unable to get a loan because banks will not give them a loan if they do not have a permanent position. The conversion of 16,000 teachers and support staff to permanent positions will enable them to get the help that they need. We gave 1,112 nurses security in their positions. They were unfunded and now they know that their positions are secure, so they can make decisions knowing they have a permanent job. We are supporting 12,000 healthcare students with a $4,000 annual study subsidy. That means 12,000 healthcare students know that they will get help to study and be able to relieve our healthcare system. We have managed to get hold of the largest pay increase in more than a decade for our frontline healthcare workers. All of those things are about getting higher amounts into people's bank accounts.

I now talk about some of the things we are doing to reduce expenditure. We have $500 childcare relief for eligible parents of three-year-olds in approved preschools, and preschool programs in long day care centres. In my area of Camden, where we have the second highest number of zero to five-year-olds, it makes a massive difference to families that they can get that childcare relief and know that they are not working just to pay for child care. But the toll cap of $60 a week is what people are talking to me about most, and that is why I have been happy to speak to this public interest debate today.