Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to make a contribution in response to the address by the Governor-General at the commencement of the 47th Parliament. To hear the bold nation-changing agenda of the Albanese Labor government reflected in his words was a really proud moment for me in this place.

We, as a government, have so much work to do. We took a plan to the election that will deliver considered and serious reform across Australia. Our plans for early education and care will ensure that 97 per cent of Australian families have better, cheaper access to care. We are committed to the development and implementation of an early-years strategy, to identify how best government can coordinate the various government services impacting the early years. This is about delivering real outcomes, better outcomes, for our youngest Australians—something I am deeply passionate about. We have promised to rebalance the industrial framework of Australia to provide more job security and stronger wage growth, and to close the gender pay gap.

As a proud and parochial South Australian, I have seen at close hand the impact of declining manufacturing in this country. It has affected my state perhaps more than any other. At times, during the previous government, we've seen that decline in manufacturing be aided and abetted by the decisions that they have made. The collapse of our car industry in South Australia has consequences that will be felt in South Australia for generations to come. But it's not just the car industry. It was the uncertainty given to the workers at Osborne in the submarine program, who were left uncertain, year after year, Christmas after Christmas, about the future of their jobs, about the opportunities for them in our state. Australia should be a country that makes things—great things—and our government will make it one again. Australians also deserve to have faith that, when they go to work, they get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. This is a pillar of fairness in Australia. It's part of who we are as Australians. It's something else that we will deliver.

Another pillar of fairness is Medicare, which, after a decade of coalition government, has been run down in the face of growing demand. This pandemic that we've all been living through in the past few years has been a stark reminder of the importance of a well-funded and robust public health system, which only Labor prioritises and only Labor delivers in government. I'm proud of our commitments, during this election, that will strengthen Medicare further. We built Medicare, we believe in it and we will protect it. We will make it easier to see a doctor and cut the costs of medications for millions of Australians. We have reforms to children's health care, including ending the newborn health screening lottery and providing better care for children with hearing loss.

The task of Labor governments is always urgent. Once again, we've entered government at a hugely challenging time for our nation. I am absolutely committed to meeting the moment in which we find ourselves, as a government and as a community, and I know every member of the Albanese Labor government is as well. We don't intend to waste a single day of government in facing and tackling the challenges facing the Australian people and our community.

I was elected in 2019. Since then, I've travelled all over our state, talking to families, talking to workers, talking to kids, about what they wanted out of their government and what our plan was for South Australians. From Ceduna to Murray Bridge, Gawler to Payneham, the message was clear: South Australians wanted better. They wanted more from their government and they wanted something fairer. And, particularly over the last couple of years, they've wanted change. They felt unheard, unlistened to, and they felt that the previous government didn't have their interests at heart.

Aged-care workers have told me about the desperate conditions they've faced every day at work, feeling underpaid and overworked and not being given the respect that they deserve. I will never forget the incredible privilege I had to join a group of aged-care workers in Adelaide as they bussed from their workplaces to the CBD, to protest against the government's failures on aged care. I was invited by my good friend Donna, a proud and fearless advocate for the hardworking and dedicated aged-care workers she works alongside every day, and, of course, the residents they adore, too.

As we bussed into the city and got closer to town, some of these workers started playing music on the bus. One of the songs they put on was by Sir Elton John—I'm not going to sing it, but the words are, 'I'm still standing after all this time.' It was a light moment on a serious day, but I couldn't get those words out of my mind. What apt words to describe a workforce that had been pushed to breaking point not just during the pandemic but also in the years before it, where aged care was treated with nothing short of neglect. For these workers, for the residents they care for, for the families who love those residents, we finally, under this government, have a chance to do better.

I heard from countless families and caregivers, disheartened by their inability to access affordable, quality early learning and care in the communities where they live—families weighing up the financial implications of another day of care, making huge decisions about their lives, their work and their children because costs of care are crushing. But it's not just families; it's our early-learning educators, left completely behind during the pandemic. They felt unseen and unvalued by the government, a government—in what I think was one of the lowest days we've had in this building—where we had reports of its members labelling child care as 'outsourced parenting'. It was one of the most vile attacks our early-learning educators had experienced and, of course, it was deeply offensive to the families who rely on them.

I've been really proud to stand up for our educators. We have a big agenda for early learning, but I am keenly aware that it's not everything. My ambition for early learning knows absolutely no bounds, and it's something I will continue to fight and advocate for in the years ahead, because it matters. It matters to children in care—to their opportunities and outcomes; it matters to productivity; it matters to the kind of nation that we want to build; it matters when we're looking at smashing intergenerational disadvantage; and it matters for the amazing workforce which delivers this profound service to our community in educating our littlest minds.

Before the pandemic caused such great devastation in South Australia we had another kind of devastation with the summer bushfires which struck Kangaroo Island and the Adelaide Hills. Homes and businesses were destroyed and lives were lost. These sorts of disasters are devastating and they're only going to get worse; they're set to get even more severe and more frequent because of the effects of climate change. My community in South Australia knows that; South Australians want action on climate change. They're sick and tired of the climate wars. They voted for us because they want these wars to be over. I am so proud that in the other place we've seen that work start today. And we have more to do: we're going to end these climate wars, we're going to get the action that we need and we're going to do it in a way which brings business, which brings workers and which brings environmental groups together on a journey to meet our responsibilities and do what we know we need to do for our planet and our environment.

I've also heard from young South Australians, over the past few years and still now, about the difficulties they face with housing—either buying their first homes or dealing with ever-increasing rents. That's gotten much worse in South Australia since 2020, with prices skyrocketing and rental availability going down. On top of these challenges, they had a government forcing them to drain their superannuation accounts—to tap into that limited resource when they were doing it tough. I've heard from small and medium businesses who rely on the pathway of defence manufacturing in South Australia and who are fearful for their futures with the continual delays to decisions around the future of work at Osborne. These are businesses which now have a new assurance from our defence minister, who is committed to manufacturing the nuclear submarine fleet in Adelaide.

Each of these stories paints a picture of an Australia tired of nine long years of a government with no agenda, no plans and no desire to build a better future for Australia. These people represent just a fraction of the community I represent—a community I talk to and seek to represent, help and assist in my work as a senator. It's one of the best parts of what I get to do: getting into different communities in our state, talking to people, finding out what's going on on the ground and then bringing that back into this place and fighting for change.

There's one community in particular in South Australia which has absolutely captured my heart through my time as a senator, and that's the community of Ceduna and the surrounding areas. I was shocked to learn about this community's pleas for help in replacing their local health clinic, which was dangerously run down and had been ignored for years by governments who kept passing the buck. This clinic of course is Yadu health, a clinic I've spoken about many times in this chamber. It's a clinic riddled with mould, asbestos and water damage. It's where a staff member said they had been electrocuted at their desk when trying to plug something into the wall. Another staff member talked about the roof falling in during the rains. It's a clinic where too many people walk in, say, 'Oh, that's terrible!' and just keep on walking. This clinic will now be rebuilt by the Albanese Labor government. I am so proud of this commitment, and I'm deeply grateful to the Hon. Linda Burney MP and to Minister Kyam Maher in SA for their work here as well.

Since the election, the most common sentiment I've heard from South Australians in talking about the result is relief, and it's a feeling that I felt on election night too—relief that something better, fairer and more just is on its way to Australia. It was relief that leadership and accountability is back; relief that our nation's diversity would finally be better reflected in the new parliament—indeed, it's better reflected in this chamber; and relief that progressive values that prioritise caring for one another, looking after one another and valuing people could once again be at the heart of federal government.

So many people contributed to the outcome: volunteers and, of course, all the candidates who ran. I want to acknowledge in the other place my good friends Matt Burnell and Louise Miller-Frost, who were elected at this election, and also the many candidates who put their hands up for Labor values, like Sonja in Sturt, Julie in Grey, Mark in Barker, Marisa in Mayo and Trimann, Jo and Belinda, who were all candidates for Labor's Senate ticket. All these candidates committed to our values and were committed to what we were trying to achieve, to get an agenda of fairness back at the heart of government.

I want to congratulate Tony Zappia MP and Steve Georganas MP in the other place on their re-election, and I note that I'm very proud to continue to serve alongside Senator Grogan, even though, like me, she was not up for re-election this time. I also want to acknowledge that in the ministry we have some great South Australians in Senator Wong, Senator Farrell, Amanda Rishworth and Mark Butler, all of whom I congratulate on their appointments.

In my first speech in this place in 2019, I outlined my belief that one of the greatest tasks for Labor is to make Australia better for the generations to come. We are custodians of the institutions and the levers of policy within government to make it better, to make it fairer—and we're on our way. I was proud to sit in this place during the Governor-General's address last week, where the values and goals and bold ideas of our new Labor government were read into the record. It is an incredibly humbling honour to be part of the Albanese Labor government, which I know will place fairness, boldness, urgency and unity at the centre of our plans to tackle the challenges before our nation.

Our party, the great Australian Labor Party, is the great reformer of Australian history. Whether it's the establishment of Medicare under Bob Hawke, native title or the NDIS, we do the big things, the hard things, that change our nation fundamentally for the better. I know the reforms of our government, led by Anthony Albanese, will lead to a fairer and better Australia for the next generation and those to come.

I am especially humbled by the task ahead, with the referendum on a voice and, indeed, the broader implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, which Labor is committed to delivering—voice, treaty and truth. In Garma, we saw the Prime Minister set the road map for the path ahead. This is the start of the public discussion. This is the start of the process, which I hope will lead to a voice. If we get there, I know that that voice will make a practical difference. I believe South Australians are ready for voice, treaty and truth. They want to walk in unity towards that path. As a senator, I'll take my leadership responsibility to walk with Australians towards that goal and do that in a way that is collaborative and respectful. Ultimately, I hope that is something that this parliament, the 47th Parliament, can achieve and be proud of achieving together.