Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Well, there is an old saying, which is, 'Don't waste a crisis,' because a crisis is an opportunity to take a step back and think about how you should emerge from the crisis even stronger. We in the opposition have been doing just that. We've examined the problems that have been identified, and in some cases magnified, by the pandemic that Australia continues to go through, and we have based our policy on how we create a better future for Australia as we emerge from this crisis—a stronger economy that lifts up living standards, delivers for working people and is more resilient going forward.

One of the things that have been identified during this crisis is a reminder that we too often are at the end of supply chains and that that makes us vulnerable to international activity. There's a lot of talk about foreign policy and engagement. The truth is that, overwhelmingly, most of the RATs, for example, come from just one country. If that tap's turned off, that creates a problem.

But the truth is we have incredible opportunity. In the resources sector, we have everything, for example, that goes into a battery: lithium, nickel and copper. We have everything that goes in. That's why we've established a National Reconstruction Fund. Just as during World War II Curtin appointed Chifley as the Minister for Postwar Reconstruction, and in that postwar period we saw the foundations of the postwar boom in Australia, we want to lay the foundations for the post-COVID boom here in Australia. We do that by understanding that industries need to transform through the use of cleaner and cheaper energy but also that we have an opportunity to have new industries emerge.

That's what our powering the nation plan is about. Something that, at the end of this fortnight's sitting, people might have noticed in the gallery is that we announced our climate and energy policy on 3 December. We announced it with a fully costed, comprehensive plan, a plan that will see our emissions drop by 43 per cent by 2030; create 604,000 jobs, with $52 billion of private sector investment and $78 billion of additional investment in total; and see household power bills reduced by $275 between now and 2025.

The truth is that change happens. The job of government is to ensure that you shape that change in the interests of people. That's why those opposite are just incapable of dealing with the future; they can't even deal with the present. During the last campaign we saw the scare campaign about how electric vehicles were going to end the weekend. We saw them say that hydrogen was snake oil—that it was nonsense. That's why, when we stand still, every other country in the world with any leadership goes past us. That is why it's a mistake for us to be frozen in time while the world warms around us and to be isolated when it comes to action on climate change.

Our vision is for new industries powered by cleaner, cheaper energy and for us to identify how we need to make more things here: make our trains and our ferries and our transport infrastructure; make pharmaceuticals; and make high-value manufacturing right here. The opportunity is here right now. And we want to make sure that Australians get those jobs, and that's why we'll create Jobs and Skills Australia, to do, for labour, what Infrastructure Australia does for the allocation of capital and investment. It is to make sure that we look and plan for what the labour market needs over the next year, the next five years, the next 10 years, and to make sure that training is there. And we will make sure that it's equitable as well, by having 475,000 free TAFE places in areas of skills shortages. We will make sure that we address areas like nursing shortages by having 20,000 additional university places. Those are the lessons that we've learnt. How do we position ourselves to emerge stronger in the future?

We also need to look at social policy. We've had a reminder of how important health is. If you don't get health outcomes right, then everything else falls apart. That's why we want Medicare to be strengthened. That's why we will always have Medicare at the centre of our health system, and we will make sure that we have policies that make sure GPs are more available; that it's cheaper to go and see a doctor. We will make sure that we support telehealth and we support IT. The expansion of the NBN is about education and health services; it's about positioning ourselves for the future. Those opposite are the copper mob. At a time when the whole world knew you needed to go to fibre, they were there saying, 'No, we don't want fibre; we'll go back to copper,' and we're suffering as a result.

But we've also seen sectors suffer—child care in particular. Childcare centres are currently closed, many of them, because they can't get workforce. We need to acknowledge that, in order to power the economy, we need mobilise women's workforce participation. We need to drive productivity. We need to drive opportunity. We need to represent the whole of the country, and that means representing women. That means adopting the Respect@Work report. That means closing the gender pay gap. That means making child care accessible for all.

And, of course, most tragically, we have been reminded about the aged-care crisis and how, in spite of the fact they had a royal commission with recommendations about the workforce, they've done nothing about increasing the pay of people in the aged-care sector. They still won't guarantee that a nurse should be in every nursing home 24-7. One would have thought that's a pretty fundamental principle. But the aged-care crisis, with more than 700 deaths, is what we've seen.

We have a plan for the economy, for social policy and for environmental policy, around the theme of A Better Future, making sure that no-one's left behind and no-one's held back. Those opposite have nothing of substance to say. That is why this week, in spite of the fact that we've seen previously they don't have anything to say about the problems of today—let alone plans for tomorrow—the Prime Minister said: 'Hold my beer. What I'm going to do is trash our national interests.' That is what he said. Mike Burgess, the Director-General of Security with ASIO, said this last night: 'I'm very clear with everyone that I need to be that's not helpful for us.' That was about this government's absurd campaign to try and divide the nation. Dennis Richardson has the quadrella. If you think about the four positions in this country, in terms of our bureaucracy and our structures, that are consistent over a period of time, they are Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Secretary of the Department of Defence, the head of ASIO, and the US Ambassador's position. He has held all four! He was appointed by the Howard government as the Director-General of ASIO and as our ambassador in Washington. This is what he said:

The creation, or the attempt to create, an artificial division where one, in practice, does not exist only serves the interests of one country, and that's China.

If you're looking for a Manchurian candidate, he sits over there, because, with the campaign that has happened this week, he has served the interests of China, not our national interests. That is what has occurred. And, if you look at the comments from respected commentators, like Paul Kelly, Greg Sheridan and others, they all know.

Last Friday I met with the US Secretary of State and other allies. I have been engaged with the US since I was a guest at the state department there for six weeks more than 30 years ago. Since that time I've built up friendships with people in the United States, and relationships, and trust. I've never been to a rally for Donald Trump. What we're seeing here this week is the importation of Trumpian rhetoric, where truth doesn't matter and facts don't matter. But this is what the US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs said about the meeting with us:

We came away reassured that these principles that we hold dear and our vitally important alliance transcends politics and any one party.

We came away absolutely confident that whomever the Australian people select as their new leadership, as their next leadership in the upcoming election, we are confident that the US-Australia alliance will endure and remain as strong as ever.

In order to engage in foreign policy you need to engage with respect, not engage in the trash talk that those opposite have engaged in this week.

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