Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was an army driven by a passion for Labor values and united by a vision of a more inclusive, fairer, more prosperous future for our nation. Those volunteers were there for many different reasons but each had a common goal—to ensure the election of a Labor member to represent them. In fact, in my local electorate of Braddon in this year alone, our team of volunteers contacted over 35,000 electors and had over 20,000 conversations. We connected with people about the things that would affect their lives, the things they cared about, and the response from the Tasmanian community was amazing.

Tasmanians understood what was at risk and they chose Labor's vision for the future. They chose proper investment in health. They chose needs based funding for schools that would ensure that those most in need get the support they need to achieve their potential. They chose proper investment in renewables and concrete action on climate change. They chose the real NBN to give our communities the opportunity to attract investment and create jobs. They rejected the Liberal's vicious attacks on vulnerable Australians. They said no to $100,000 degrees and deregulation that would see regional universities like the University of Tasmania struggle to stay afloat. They gave the thumbs down to a $50 billion taxpayer funded handout to big business that would seriously damage the budget with a miniscule impact on jobs and growth. And, perhaps above all else, they categorically rejected the Liberals attacks on Medicare. In doing this, Tasmanians gave their newly instated Labor MPs a mandate—a mandate to fight for the interests of all Tasmanians, not just the rich and powerful, and a mandate to continue to prosecute Labor's positive plan in the federal parliament.

Now it is time for the government to show that they have listened. Now is the time for the Liberals to finally start delivering the fairness that Mr Turnbull likes to talk so much about but struggles so hard to deliver. Today, I call on Mr Turnbull and the Liberal senators in this place to show they respect the clear wishes of the Tasmanian voters.

Tasmania now has a strong, united Labor team who will fight relentlessly for Tasmanians to receive exactly what they voted for. We will not bow down to the vicious and regressive attacks on health, education and services levied by those opposite. We will demand that the government make good on every single local announcement the Liberals made before the election. We will fight to ensure that their promise to contribute $150 million towards the University of Tasmania's northern revitalisation goes ahead. We will not let them off the hook on their promise to deliver fibre NBN to the West Coast. And we will call on them to deliver $15 million for the Cradle Mountain public infrastructure. Because this is exactly what Tasmanians have asked us to do.