Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Schools) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is very clear that people in the Batman electorate are tired of politics as usual, and it is clear too that they are heartily sick of this terrible Turnbull government. They are frustrated by the drift to inequality that is happening in Australia and angered by the Liberals' determination to accelerate this trend when it needs to be brought to an end. But over the next few weeks they have a chance to change our politics and take a big step towards changing our country for the better. Ged Kearney's campaign to secure the support of Batman voters is politics with real purpose; it's not politics as usual. Ged is standing on action, integrity and real change for Batman. She knows how to fight the tough battles and also how to win them. She's been doing it for years—as a nurse, as head of the nurses' union and as head of the ACTU. She has the runs on the board.

Ged has a plan for Batman, not a running commentary on other parties. In just the past two weeks we have seen announcements for a new LGBTI health clinic in Northcote, an extension of the No. 11 tramline out to Reservoir and $10 million for a new science and technology centre in Preston—all secured by Ged, who has listened to the community and responded with real action. So I say to people in Melbourne's north that in supporting Ged Kearney you would be putting an effective, progressive voice inside a party of government, a party that will soon form government—a voice for workers, for people on fixed incomes, for asylum seekers, for a good society, for a society in which all of us have a stake and also say. You would also be supporting someone who understands the power and importance of government. To change the country, we have to change the government; it's that simple. Don't believe the Greens hype and their ultra-cynical posturing about 'old parties'. Instead, progressive voters should have a look at what has been happening in the United Kingdom and the United States with the movements around Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders—brave consistent voices committed to a politics that is genuinely transformative. They are concerned with forming governments that change how people live their lives, not how we feel about ourselves. That is one reason why this by-election in Batman matters so much: Ged Kearney stands out as someone who can make real her values as a driver of enduring change.

But there is another reason too. What I believe unites the people of Batman is a strong desire to kick out this terrible government and all the things it represents. They should remember that the Greens, under Senator Di Natale, have developed a worrying tendency to vote with the Liberals when it really matters—on progressive pension changes, most obviously. Let's make no mistake about this: they enabled the schools funding cuts which have seen Batman's schools short-changed and needs-based funding of our public schools thrown away around the country. I say this to the voters in Batman: if you want to get rid of the Prime Minister, his Treasurer and his soulless Minister for Immigration, if you want them off the government benches, you should think about who they want to win this by-election. A Greens victory would only help this terrible government feel more comfortable. That is the reality. That is why the Liberals aren't fielding a candidate: they are hoping for a Greens win. They are afraid of Ged Kearney, who she is and what she represents.

Ged Kearney can actually deliver the changes that she promises for the communities which make up the Batman electorate and right around this country. She wants to be a representative, not a commentator. She won't be complaining and asking others to do the work that is required to secure a more equal Australia—unlike the 'all care, no responsibility' Greens, who, at best, offer protests, grandstanding and, when it comes to this parliament, meaningless motions, most of which seem to be focused on critiquing the Labor Party, or offer up two-word slogans that may sound and feel good but don't address the underlying challenges. This is cynicism disguised as idealism, because it denies the possibilities of real change, rejecting the inspiration offered by Corbyn and Sanders and the strong response to the bold agenda across our nation which has been set out by the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Maribyrnong. It's this cynicism, this disingenuousness, which is politics as usual. It's time to break that mould. Voters in Batman right now can do that by supporting Ged Kearney as their representative and the election of a Shorten Labor government.