Ms BYRNES (Cunningham) (18:07): We know that people are doing it tough. That is why the Albanese Labor government is increasing funding to support Australians in financial distress and build financial resilience over the long term.

This budget provides around $23 million over four years and ongoing funding to strengthen precrisis and early intervention support. This is in addition to the significant investments that we have already made since coming to government. From day one we have been making investing in frontline services a priority. With bill shock, cost-of-living pressures and natural disasters hitting almost every Australian at some point, we know that more people are experiencing financial distress, which is putting pressure on services that are already struggling to meet demand.

In January, the Minister for Social Services announced an additional $114.8 million over five years to assist frontline services such as emergency relief, food relief and financial counselling to meet this increased demand. This funding makes a real difference to areas like the Illawarra, which has endured two severe flood events in the past 18 months.

The budget also references an expansion of the food relief program from 1 July 2025. This expansion will encompass material aid and enable local service footprints to address service gaps, particularly in regional and remote areas. This will make a real difference to organisations like Good360, which the assistant minister visited. Good360 helps businesses donate their excess or unsold non-perishable goods to charities and vulnerable people across the country. These goods include clothing, personal care products, toys, electronics, whitegoods, furniture and so much more. Good360 is run by two amazing women from Woonona, which is where I grew up. They are founder and managing director Alison Covington AM and head of philanthropy Susan Wallis, my very good friend. I'm so fortunate to have Good360 operating in my electorate. I thank them again for their donations, totalling over $27,000 of material aid last year, to my annual community dinner in support of the Wollongong Homeless Hub. In addition to the expansion of food relief, data and evaluation activities, including on-the-ground surveys, this will help provide a clearer picture of unmet demand, such as waiting lists for services and client turnaway rates.

Strengthening frontline services and support for those in crisis has been a key focus for the minister and for our government, but it is also really important to build longer term financial capability and resilience to prevent people from reaching crisis points in the first place. There is a clear need for cohesive investment along the chain of support, from prevention and early intervention through to response and recovery. To ensure reliability, from 1 July 2025 we will restructure our financial wellbeing programs to operate under two streams: financial capability and resilience, and financial crisis response and recovery. To this end, the budget provides ongoing funding for several successful pre-crisis and early intervention programs.

The National Debt Helpline will receive an additional $1.6 million each year to enable the ongoing operation of the appointment booking system and the live webchat function. This system allows the helpline to triage clients and book directly with a financial counsellor on their behalf. For the client, this simplifies the process and reduces the stress of having to call multiple financial counselling organisations to get an appointment and risk not getting connected with support. Good Shepherd will receive $6.3 million over three years for the ongoing operation of the No Interest Loans Scheme for vehicles. This program helps vulnerable people needing to purchase a vehicle for essential use. We know this support is particularly important for women impacted by family and domestic violence, who currently make up around 12 per cent of applicants.

On 25 May I attended the One Voice Illawarra march, run by Women Illawarra, the Illawarra Women's Health Centre and Healthier Illawarra Men. I spoke with our community and our frontline staff about their needs and experiences. Addressing family and domestic violence is a priority for our government, and we are acting. The Albanese Labor government announced we will invest almost $1 billion over five years to permanently establish the Leaving Violence Program. We know that financial insecurity is just one barrier to escaping violence, and I commend the minister for the measures in the budget.