Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a difference 10 months makes. Ten months ago people were talking to me about how anxious they were that Australia would never take action on climate change. Ten months ago people were talking to me about aged care and the conditions people were facing. Ten months ago people were talking to me about their concerns about being able to follow the career they wanted because of concerns about TAFE. Ten months ago the world was a different place, and it was not a better place, because of the policies that those opposite had pursued for a decade. It was a decade of not valuing education. It was a decade of not valuing early education and recognising that the support we give our young people as their brains are developing in the preschool years is crucial. Not only that, but not supporting families meant that women weren't able to get back into the workforce in the way that they wanted to.

When I look back 10 months ago and think of the myriad of problems people were experiencing and raising with me—even I felt overwhelmed by the job that we would have if we won the election. And it turns out clearly we did win the election. I have been blown away by the determination of the ministers, the assistant ministers and the special envoys that we have. I have been blown away by the determination that has been shown to work methodically through, supported by, and I include myself in this, a terrific team of backbenchers.

I literally just looked at an email that had come through from a constituent. He's a constituent who doesn't always agree with me about things, but the words he used were: 'You've had a terrific first 10 months.' In fact, he thought it was a year, so he thinks we've been here a year. The keywords were: 'and you seem determined to press on', and that is what we're doing on this side of the House. We don't look at a problem and go, 'Oh, let's pretend it's not there because it might go away.' We don't ignore things. We don't ignore the fact that climate change is wreaking havoc on our community. Members across there know the experience I have had in my electorate and the experience my constituents have gone through, not just in the last couple of years, but back, just when they were elected in 2013, when bushfires swept through Winmalee and Mount Victoria. We know that this government was aware there were some issues, but what did they do? Absolutely nothing.

By contrast, every time we've seen a problem—some of them we knew about before the election. Others have emerged. Some were hidden from us, like the reality of what the power increases would be. That was hidden, not just from us but from the Australian people before the election. But we don't go, 'Oh, let's pretend—la, la, la—it's not really happening.' We tackle the issues, methodically working through them and collaboratively working through them. That's a word those opposite should look up in a dictionary and really embrace. We're collaborating across this parliament, wherever there is a willingness to do so. Every day you see evidence of that as we pass our legislation through this place.

I'm not going to have time, in the minute and 10 seconds that remains, to talk through all the things we've passed, but let's just take a look at a few of them. We now have a National Anti-Corruption Commission, about to start its work. In 100 days, we will have cheaper child care. That is economic micro reform. For many families that's going to transform their ability to work. We have made medicines cheaper. They are cheaper now. It's cheaper when you go to get a script filled, whether you're a pensioner, whether you're on a seniors health card or whether you're not on any of those. What's more, there are more people who have access to that seniors health card. We did it. We have 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave. It's there and operating. There's an electric vehicle discount that's been legislated. It's now law.

We have made more changes in 10 months than those opposite could even imagine. What would have happened had they still been sitting on this bench? Absolutely nothing.

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