Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You'd think a former Speaker would have known that! As we know, the last 10 years have been 10 years of totally forgetting about what's actually happened, and everything is just on us today. Let's have a look at this. Ten months ago, Australians voted for change. They were sick of corruption, broken promises and the years of inaction the coalition government gave us. They voted to build a better future, for a government that will actually deliver.

Nowhere in the country is this more evident than in our communities in McEwen. Our communities were ignored and neglected through 10 years of the 'no-alition' government. Broken promises and abject neglect defined their time in government for communities across Victoria but particularly in our electorate. They promised to improve infrastructure to make our roads safer, but did they do that? No. They promised to support sporting facilities in our growing regions. Did they deliver that? No. They promised to invest in infrastructure to help cater for the rapidly growing population. Did they deliver that? No.

We were starved of funding while the coalition looked after their buddies and invested in their own electorates. Pork-barrelling and dodgy deals were rife during their time in government, so they could make sure they looked after themselves and their interests. A perfect example of this was the bright sparks of the coalition who thought giving Victoria only seven per cent of the available infrastructure funding was fair. That was despite the fact that Victoria has over 20 per cent of the nation's population.

Our government, the Albanese Labor government, is fixing the problems and filling the gaps left by the last lot. Looking at our electorate, in the October budget last year we moved swiftly to guarantee nearly $200 million of investment to our communities in McEwen. We committed $15 million to building stage 2 of the Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Precinct, which will help build the next generation of sports stars from our local area and provide huge opportunities for all members of our community, something that was overlooked in the now opposition's time in government for the nine years when they steadfastly refused to fund this project.

We committed $150 million to the Camerons Lane interchange, unlocking the economic potential of the north. Along with the $11 million allocated to fix our roads, this will make the commute to and from work and access to our regions and quicker.

The Watson Street interchange at the Hume Highway will be built, backed by an additional $130 million from the Victorian government. The member for Riverina is here, and I will pay credit to him. He came down on a terrible day—we were both there at the horrific train accident that cost two lives. He came with me, we looked at the interchange and he committed to it. Sadly, he wasn't there to actually make sure that it got delivered. But I will pay credit to the member for Riverina because he did listen and listen intently. This is a much-needed project. It needs to be done. Now that the Victorian government has committed their $130 million, we will see this project done to deliver safety for all communities in the region.

We also committed $1.5 million for fixing the mobile black spots in Gisborne and Woodend. The others left a lot of holes in the national coverage. In fact, when we had a look through the mobile black spots funding program, we'd received 2½ towers in nine years. Despite the fact that we'd met every single criteria of the government's own program, they'd still refused to actually deliver those. Those holes that were left were in areas that were affected by bushfires, floods and storms and in areas that have been dangers to our communities. But guess what? The Albanese Labor government is stepping up to fix that.

We are fixing up the mess that was left to us by the previous government. We put forward a budget in the early days of our term that started to tackle the rising cost of living. Let's remember, as to power prices, that theirs was a government that deliberately withheld power price increases from the Australian public. Nothing can be more terrible than a government going into an election and deliberately moving things to stop people from knowing what's going to happen in the future.

But we also said that we would deliver on getting wage increases moving. We're delivering on our commitments on industrial reforms, and on things like cheaper childcare to help so many families in our community who are paying more for childcare than they are for their mortgages. We will help over 6,000 families by getting this delivered. We worked, and we said that we would do and deliver things. And guess what? Unlike those opposite, we actually do.

See this speech in context