Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the wake of Daniel Andrews's landslide election win, we have heard plenty of commentary from conservative figures about what went wrong. But we didn't hear anything from Prime Minister Morrison. There was no statement on election night. There was no statement on the Sunday, the day after the night before, as the full extent of the bloodbath became clear. There was no statement after his so-called crisis meeting with federal coalition MPs from Victoria on Monday. It wasn't until question time on Monday that we heard what the Prime Minister took from the Victorian state election result. I knew that this Prime Minister was out of touch but I couldn't have anticipated just how out there his response would be when it came. In one of the worst question time performances since the member for Warringah took to the dispatch box, the Prime Minister told question time that he saw Daniel Andrews's election win and he saw himself in it.

I want to say this to the Prime Minister: Prime Minister, I know Daniel Andrews. Daniel Andrews is a friend of mine. Prime Minister, you're no Daniel Andrews. Daniel Andrews campaigned on a comprehensive agenda for improving Victorians' health care. In my electorate, the Andrews government pledged $1.5 billion for a complete rebuild of the Footscray Hospital on a prime site co-located with Victoria University. It committed to building 10 community hospitals, seven new early-parenting centres—centres for new parents—including a transformative $9 million commitment to that great Footscray institution of Tweddle Child and Family Health Service. It committed to increasing nurse-to-patient ratios.

In contrast, Prime Minister Morrison is a leader who is responsible for ripping $715 million from the nation's public hospitals between 2017 and 2020 and $183 million from Victoria alone. That's the equivalent of cutting 250 doctors or 500 nurses. The Prime Minister saw himself in the Andrews government's commitments. This is a Prime Minister trying to lock those cuts in for another five years, ripping another $2.8 billion from the nations' hospitals. He is the leader of a government with a six-year Medicare freeze, which has ripped $3 billion out of Medicare, forcing up the cost of seeing doctors and specialists for all Victorians. That's not the Andrews government's model of governing. What do look like the Andrews model are the commitments of the Shorten federal Labor party: investing $2.8 billion in a new better hospitals fund; reversing PM Morrison's cuts and funding more elective surgeries and essential services; ending the Medicare freeze; granting 20 new Medicare MRI licences around Australia, including in Werribee; reducing out-of-pocket costs for vital services; and capping private health insurance premium increases at two per cent for two years.

It is the same story in education. The Andrews government has delivered free TAFE. It has committed to universal free kinder for three-year-olds. It has committed to 100 new schools in the next eight years. And, somehow, Prime Minister Morrison sees himself in these commitments too, despite having ripped $14 billion from public schools and despite having ripped $572 million out of Victorian universities. Again, it's federal Labor, not the Morrison government, following the Andrews's model and committing $804 million to Victorian public schools over just the first three years of a future Shorten Labor government, should it be elected. That's the equivalent of around 2,000 new teachers or 3,400 new teacher aides. We'll also uncap university places from 2020 and see approximately 50,000 more students attend university. No, the Morrison government is far more like the Guy opposition than the Andrews government: narrow, nasty and out of touch with modern Australia.

I've heard reports from Labor booth volunteers in the south-eastern suburbs, perhaps in the member for Deakin's seat, telling me that Liberal campaigners on election day, wearing the Liberal blue T-shirt, were handing out how to vote cards, accompanied by totally normal statements, like, 'Say no to gender fluidity,' and, 'Say no to cultural Marxism'. This is Looney Tunes stuff. I spent the full day on election day at polling booths in Victoria too, talking to voters about commitments on health, education and infrastructure, things that citizens want to hear about. Do you know what the most common question I got from voters was—from citizens? It's not good news for those opposite. It wasn't: 'I can't believe how similar the Morrison government is to the Andrews government.' It was: 'When is the federal election going to be?' Victorian voters want a new federal government. (Time expired)

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