Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I came to this House to drive change. I'm familiar with change. I was a doctor, as you know; I served for a very long time in the Public Service; and I became an activist. I chose politics because really there is nothing, as Julia Gillard has said, that compares to politics if you want to drive change at both speed and scale. I, perhaps naively, thought that great ideas in this House would garner some bipartisan or multipartisan support, because that last election was, honestly, the Australian people penalising short-termism and penalising their parliamentarians who were working in self-interest and putting self-interest ahead of the national interest. That's what that election was all about. I would have thought, following that momentous and historic win—only the fourth time a Labor government has won from opposition since World War II—that those opposite would have learnt those lessons of history and really heeded the message from the Australian people.

I've now been in the House now for nine months, and I've seen a pattern emerge—a pattern of opposition for opposition's sake from those opposite. It started with the historic Climate Change Bill. You would have thought after that election that those opposite would have understood how fundamentally important it was to get this right and to course-correct this nation from being a climate pariah and a climate change denier to a climate doer. That is exactly what our historic Climate Change Act did. But those opposite opposed it, actually for no reason. There was no credible reason to oppose it.

We know that the fossil fuel industry is in decline. We know that Australia is a petrostate, but we are pivoting this country to become an electro-state. We are going to do that, and we are going to do that through passage of this act. It has given industry and business, both domestically and internationally, certainty to do so. So we are going to achieve that goal of reaching 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030 and taking this country to net zero by 2050. But we can't do it unless we address other bottlenecks.

The key bottleneck that I speak of is industrial capability. The other lesson that was made stark by this pandemic has been our lack of sovereign manufacturing capability. There is no getting to net zero unless we can make our solar panels, wind turbines and undersea cables; lay those large-scale transmission lines, as thick as my arm; and, indeed, invest in skills in order to do that. Again, completely perplexingly, those opposite have opposed our National Reconstruction Fund, a $15 billion investment in Australia's ambition, to unleash the Australian people's talent so that Australians don't just have jobs. I didn't just have a job; I had a career. It's more than a job. That's what Australians yearn for: they want careers, because a career is what gives you longevity and that upward mobility which enables you to create wealth. That is a good thing, and that is something we on this side want for the Australian people. So our National Reconstruction Fund is there to kickstart a renaissance of manufacturing in this country.

I still remember when those opposite waved away the car industry. At the time, I didn't understand what that meant, but I do now, because a car industry is at the pointy end of technology, with massive spillover effects for the whole economy—into design, engineering, artificial intelligence and materials science. When those opposite goaded the car companies, they left, and those things atrophied.

Those workers are still there, and I am hoping that we will have passage of our National Reconstruction Fund. It's not too late to support this bill. It is not too late to be on the right side of history. I would strongly urge those opposite to do so, because in doing so you will send a strong signal to Australians that you support their future and their ambition. That is exactly what we intend to do on this side. It's not going to happen with press releases; it is going to happen with structural reforms that embed changes into this country. We want to be good ancestors. We want to leave a legacy that those who follow us will enjoy: a secure, prosperous nation that is sustainable, competitive and inclusive.