Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am more than happy to spend a Thursday afternoon standing up here talking about what this government has achieved over the last 10 months, because I have to tell you there has been a big change both in this place and outside of this place. Still, when I'm in my community and talking to people, it is absolutely the case that people walk up to me and say, 'Look, I just want to say: you guys are doing a really good job,' or, 'I just want to say, it's so impressive having the adults in charge again. I just want to say how refreshing that feels.' So that's what is happening in our community at the moment, and it's happening because this government is getting on with the job of all the things that those opposite ignored, and not just ignored for 10 months; they ignored them for nearly 10 years!

There is no clearer example of this than those opposite's drift and denial when it comes to climate change. Deputy Speaker, I cannot tell you how many times people in my community came up to me in despair under the previous government, in absolute despair about where this country was heading, in absolute despair about the future of their children, of this country and of our entire world, because what they could see was that nothing was happening—absolutely nothing under those opposite. Those opposite don't even believe climate change is real. The member for New England has made that very, very clear. So, as a result of all of that, this government came in with a very big task, and we have been getting on with it.

In the last 10 months, our government has delivered this country's first real climate change policy in a decade. That is a massive achievement. We know we haven't got it all done yet. We know how much there is still to do, but we are on the right track. We are on the track that gives this country a future, which helps build the jobs and the industries of the future, which helps make sure that we are a clean, green energy superpower.

Over the past 10 years—10 months! Not 10 years. Over the past 10 months—

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