Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are a government that has faced up to enormous challenges, including a financial crisis that threatened the livelihoods of Australians right across the nation. I am proud of the way that we have faced up to these challenges. It has been done with courage, conviction and purpose. We make no apology for coming into government with a big agenda, with big aspirations for this nation and with a determination to address more than a decade of neglect of Australia’s interests under the Howard government. It was a decade where unfairness was entrenched and where the proceeds of the last resources boom were squandered while productivity stalled. It was a decade where the big issues in health and education were ignored. Under Mr Abbott’s watch $1 billion was ripped out of public hospitals and nothing was done about a chronic shortage of nurses and GPs. It was a decade where working Australians suffered the insecurity of Work Choices—a policy that Mr Abbott rules out in name but will not rule out in practice. It was a decade where the stolen generation was denied an apology and where asylum seekers were used as a football for political gain.

But I am not going to waste further time talking about the Howard years because we all know that the forthcoming election is at the core of this debate today. This debate is about what Australians want from their future government. That is why today I stand proud. Like my colleagues, I stand behind our achievements and our commitment to reform in the national interest. I know that we are well placed to deliver on our commitments. We can look forward to a bright future because we have avoided a global recession through the strong and decisive action that stimulated the economy and saved a quarter of a million jobs by investing in local communities and essential infrastructure. We are delivering on better health and hospitals, ending the blame game with the states and putting together a $15.6 billion plan, including commitments for thousands more doctors and nurses and caps on waiting times.

We are providing a fairer distribution of the nation’s wealth in ways that also support economic growth. For example, we have delivered a massive increase in the childcare rebate. It was a great Labor initiative that was good for families and good for the economy. We have also delivered a long overdue increase to the pension—reforms to make the pension more sustainable. We also have a plan to ensure that the surplus profits generated by this mining boom are shared, not squandered. We have a plan that will benefit all Australians through lower company taxes, especially for small businesses—