Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Almost like a broken record—thank you, Member for Melbourne Ports. But the reality is this road is about people’s livelihoods, their lifestyles and their sanity. I am very happy that that commitment has been made and that the minister responsible made it the No. 1 priority not in Queensland but in all of Australia—for that I thank him very much. I campaigned on the issue of the cost of living—of how difficult it is becoming for ordinary people; on housing affordability; on dental health; on broadband; on general health issues; on Medicare; on education and skills; on infrastructure, which I dearly love as a portfolio area; on Work Choices; on people’s work lives; on their family lives; on climate change and the environment, just to name a few—all great things to campaign on but, even more importantly, great things to work on into the future to make people’s lives better, which is why we are here in the first place.

I said I do not have the time tonight to deal with all the issues I would like to speak about. That would take a number of hours, but can I just note now, before my time expires, that I will take significant amounts of time in this House to highlight the injustices, the inequalities and the rampant, drunken way in which the previous Howard government wasted taxpayer dollars, the way they pillaged our economy and the way they ramped up inflation. I am also going to be looking very closely at the deception of the Australian people in the way they were always conned into believing for many years that all was fine in the house of the Howard government. But, the day after the election, we learned that things were not so rosy.

Mr Speaker, while I have the opportunity, I congratulate you on your election to high office. Already you have demonstrated your great skill as a Speaker, and I thank you very much.

Debate interrupted.

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