Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Contrast that with the Leader of the Opposition. Now, the Liberal Party, when they were in government, supported the notion of a voice to parliament. Then, when the current Leader of the Opposition took the reins, the situation suddenly changed. They even established a process when they were in government: a codesign process with a number of committees. The member for Berowra chaired one of those committees. There were thorough consultations of the Australian people, and it came up with a process. That process was designed by the Liberal and National parties in government, and now they've walked away from it. It was this Leader of the Opposition who walked away from that process. He walked away from it a number of months ago.

During the campaign for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to parliament, the Leader of the Opposition said: 'Oh, don't worry. You can vote 'no' to this one because we'll hold another referendum on constitutional recognition after this one. We'll hold another referendum.' And what do we find out today? The Leader of the Opposition is walking away from his own promise. He's walking away from his own view once again.

The one thing that Australians have learnt over the course of this campaign regarding this referendum is that the Prime Minister is a man of his word and you cannot trust the Leader of the Opposition. He is sneaky. He is deceitful. You couldn't trust him as far as you could throw him. He has no policies and no solutions to this issue or the other issues that are important to the Australian people.

This government, the Albanese government, is about trying to get better results not only for First Nations Australians but for Australians more generally. We know that Australians didn't vote for constitutional change, but they didn't say no to closing the gap on Aboriginal disadvantage in this country, and that's what the government will continue to focus on. We'll work with First Nations Australians to achieve that for the good of the country, as we have been doing in other important policy areas. That's what this government really has all been about. It's about dealing with the issues and the challenges facing the Australian people at the moment and developing the policies to deal with those issues.

Let's look at some of the policies that the Albanese government has come up with and prioritised that have been opposed by those opposite. The focus of this government, which has been the focus of this government the whole way through, is the cost-of-living pressure and alleviating the cost-of-living pressure for many Australians. I speak of electricity bill relief. When we put electricity price caps in this country, what did those opposite do? They opposed it. When we introduced rebates to ensure that households had assistance to get through this difficult period, those opposite opposed it. When it comes to the issues that are affecting Australians, those opposite have no policies. Cheaper child care is a huge issue for families across Australia looking to be able to afford child care. This government came up with a policy to increase the rebate and remove the cap on hours, and as a result cheaper child care started on 1 July. It is providing real relief for families throughout the country. What did those opposite do? They opposed it. What is their alternative? None, no policy—no other policy.

We have increased assistance for the most vulnerable Australians. We have increase rent assistance and some of the other family assistance payments. We changed the qualifying period for single mums so that they can get more support from the government to get through this difficult period with cost-of-living pressure increasing. What have those opposite done? They've opposed it. We are increasing and tripling the rate of bulk-billing incentives to ensure that more people can get access to a GP across the country that is bulk-billed. Our urgent care clinics are another commitment that was promised by the government in the lead-up to the last election to take pressure off our emergency departments, and those clinics are being delivered. I am very fortunate that I have one of those urgent care clinics in my electorate. It is taking pressure off the Prince of Wales Hospital and ensuring that families can get access to the health care they need when they need it, from 8 am until 8 pm. All they need is their Medicare card. That is real action that is delivering better health care and better health services for Australians across the country, and once again it was opposed by those opposite.

We have introduced fee-free TAFE places because we know we have skill shortages in a number of places across the country. The government's policy in the lead-up to the election was to offer fee-free TAFE to ensure that we have more Australians taking up apprenticeships and traineeships in areas where we have skill shortages. We are rolling out the program, and we are delivering that program particularly for younger Australians to get access to the education they need and, importantly, so that employers get access to the skills they deserve so that they can grow their businesses across this country. We know that housing is a huge issue for the Australian people at the moment. Many Australians are struggling with the cost of housing. Thankfully, the government's Housing Australia Future Fund recently passed the parliament and will now be starting to deliver relief in the form of additional supply in the Australian market. Once again, this was opposed by those opposite. We followed that up with a national approach to housing through National Cabinet, a new target to build 1.2 million well-located homes over five years from 1 July 2024, a national plan for reforming the way that planning and zoning are done throughout the states, a $3 billion new homes bonus to incentivise state governments to make the reforms necessary to get more homes built in areas where they are needed, securing a better deal for renters throughout the country and working with the states to deliver our help-to-buy policy, another commitment that was promised during the last election campaign and has now been delivered.

But we are not stopping there. We are working with the states on the urgent issue of ensuring that we are building more social housing, and we are delivering a further $1 billion commitment to public and community housing throughout the country. These are some of the policies of this government, as well as getting wages moving again.

We know that those opposite don't want to see Australians' pay packets increase. They don't want to see that cost-of-living relief through the old hip pocket, delivered through work. No! They're opposing that as well. The Leader of the Opposition can come into this place and try to move this motion to distract Australians from the issues that they're facing at the moment. We know that Australians are facing cost-of-living pressure, and that's why we're focussed on these issues and have delivered these policies to assist Australians. I say to those opposite: what are your policies on any of these areas? I don't know what they are and the Australian people don't know what they are, because they haven't announced any! They do not have any policies to deal with the cost-of-living pressures that Australians are facing at the moment.

Opposition members interjecting—

You're all about rhetoric, you're all about causing trouble and you're all about being a wrecker! The one thing that the Australian people have worked out through this referendum is that you just can't trust the Leader of the Opposition.

See this speech in context