Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It has been said by those in the know that if you change the government you change the country. I think the events of the last few months show that to be an incontrovertible fact. Since the people of Australia entrusted Kevin Rudd and his team with government, totemic changes have taken place, not least in this place.

From the first essential step on the road to recovering Australia’s environmental credibility—ratification of the Kyoto protocol—to the apology to the stolen generations, the first 100 days of this government, chalked up during the previous sitting period, were remarkably significant. We have just had the budget announcements, including two matters that are very dear to my heart and very dear to my electorate: the increase to the childcare tax rebate and the 38 childcare centres that are to be built with federal government support. These measures address the rational economic need to get highly skilled women back into the workforce and the needs of children and families in our area. These are two wonderful developments as far as the people of Melbourne Ports are concerned. It is wonderful to show that with a democratic system we can change the country when we change the government.

It is now up to us on this side of the House to implement the policies we fought so long and hard for—to simply be in the position to give effect to policies for ordinary Australians which were emphatically endorsed on 24 November. I want to thank all of the people who worked on my campaign in Melbourne Ports: my campaign director, Garth Head; the campaign office manager, Rami Stiglic; my staff—Tony Williams, Tonya Stevens, Sima Kotliar, Donna Walsh, Andrew Porter, Desmond Ko, Constantina Dertimanis, Jonathan Curtis, Sylvia Freeman, Morry Ross—and all of the other wonderful people who helped me achieve a seven per cent margin, which is the highest margin Melbourne Ports has had for the Labor Party since it was redistributed on the current boundaries in 1990. Given the fact that Melbourne Ports is now one of the wealthiest by per capita income seats in the country, that is a remarkable demographic and psephological achievement.

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