Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is my first opportunity to put on the record here in this place my sincere thanks and gratitude to the wonderful people of the electorate of Franklin for sending me back here to this place and for their vote of confidence in me.

It has been an extraordinary year. Currently, in Hobart, we're going through another wave of COVID, and locals have raised that with me as a serious concern. But throughout the campaign they also raised a whole range of ideas and concerns with me, particularly around rising costs of living, access to health care and affordable housing. So I'm really thrilled to be part of the new Albanese Labor government and to be Minister for Housing, the Minister for Homelessness and the Minister for Small Business. As the people of Franklin would know, I'm hardworking and committed, and I am absolutely committed to delivering on federal Labor's election commitments when it comes to housing, homelessness and small business—particularly around housing affordability, which is a really serious issue in my hometown of Hobart.

Hobart has some of the lowest vacancy rates and some of the highest rental increases. We have also had some of the highest property increases. It is becoming truly unaffordable, for most people, to get into the housing market, to put a roof over their head and to find a safe place to call home. Indeed, over the last 12 months—including prior to having this portfolio—I've had an extraordinary number of people at risk of homelessness coming into my electorate office and trying to get accommodation and somewhere for them and their children to stay.

I'm really thrilled to be part of a government that also made some very significant commitments to my electorate. A $60 million upgrade to Hobart Airport will change the Hobart economy. It will allow exporters out of Hobart to have wide-body aircraft on the Hobart runway. It is the only runway in Tasmania capable of doing this, and it will allow our fresh produce, which our producers in Tasmania are so good at, to get to the rest of the world faster. Whether we're talking about crayfish, abalone or salmon, there is some amazing produce coming out of my home state—cherries, berries and all sorts of wonderful things that we want to get to overseas markets much faster. This upgrade will create a significant number of jobs in my home state of Tasmania.

We also made a commitment to Clarence headspace in my electorate—more mental health services—which I'm absolutely committed to. Another thing we did was commit $20 million to increasing ferry services for public transport on the Derwent River, which will help with some of the congestion and some of the traffic issues in Hobart. A ferry trial has been run by the state government and has been incredibly successful. So, I'm really pleased that we've made this commitment around infrastructure to allow more ferries across the Derwent, and I look forward to delivering for the people of Franklin.