Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You're a very good Acting Deputy President. Our country deserves so much better, and that's why the Australian people voted Mr Morrison and the Liberals out—because they were incompetent. It was a chaotic and unprincipled government. They voted you out of office. I know it still hurts being in opposition, but you'll get used to opposition, believe me. It was a government of inaction on policy reform but heavy on incompetence and division, a government with one ministerial scandal after another.

Let's recount what happened during their term in government. Let's talk about the robodebt. Let's talk about those people who took their lives because of the coalition's policy action. Let's talk about the sports rorts. Let's talk about the community grants rorts and the car park rorts. It was a government that was a steward to the crisis in aged care and any meaningful action on climate change. The cost of living was left to fester, and many of those opposite just stood by and allowed that to happen. We know that Australian jobs went offshore. We know wages were left to stagnate. In many circles, dehumanising women and girls was a product of Mr Morrison's government. When Mr Morrison said he didn't hold a hose—I have to say that has been one of the most repeated comments that I have heard in relation to Mr Morrison. That's why he got defeated—because he would not take any responsibility. He was a bulldozer who would do whatever he had to do to stay prime minister and keep control of the Liberal Party.

I can assure you that an Albanese Labor government will never, ever undermine our democracy. We will try only to strengthen it. After a decade of incompetence, Labor has started to clean up the Liberals' and Nationals' mess. After almost a decade in office in my home state of Tasmania, we will be—and we already have demonstrated we are—better off with an Albanese Labor government. Tasmania will get a fair go once more. My community and I are looking forward to when the Albanese Labor government—as we have already committed in the October budget—will deliver on our election commitments in my state of Tasmania. Tasmania, we will deliver on them. These were commitments to create secure local jobs, to ease the cost of living, to create better health outcomes and access to palliative care, cheaper child care, better access to TAFE and training, better-quality aged care and disability care, and jobs in hydrogen and local manufacturing. And what did we have this week? Those in that other place, under Mr Dutton, have voted against bringing manufacturing back to this country. They voted against Australian jobs. That's who those people on the other side represent: the big end of town. They're not interested in moving the economy and growing the manufacturing industry. They learnt nothing at all during COVID and the crisis that we faced by not having the capacity to manufacture the things that keep our economy going because they allowed jobs to go offshore.

From day one, the Albanese Labor government started the job of action and important reform. We have moved away from the wasteful 10 years in practice of the former government. We have ended policy paralysis in this country, and we will reform our country for the better, to create a better future for all Australians. There are significant issues facing our country, including addressing the cost of living, insecure employment and housing stress. What did they do for 10 years in housing? Why is homelessness one of the biggest social issues that we have been combating? We have been left with all the time bombs that those guys left behind. Why is it that the growing cohort of homeless in this country are women over 55? It's because, for 10 years, those guys did absolutely nothing.

We are not ashamed of what we are doing and the social agenda that we're bringing to this parliament. We want Australians to be able to have access to GPs and good health care. We will always fight for more jobs in this country and bringing manufacturing back to Australian shores. The Albanese government is moving forward and we're doing what we can, as we do it methodically, putting pressure on the cost of living to make sure that Australians are supported during what is a global phenomenon after the COVID epidemic and also with what's happening in Ukraine.

Those on the other side are very fond of trying to rewrite history when they come into this chamber, but the reality and the facts speak for themselves. We supported the Fair Work Commission's decision to raise the minimum wage by $40 a week. What did those opposite do when they were in government? Nothing. They allowed wages to stagnate. That's what they did, and they are sitting over there very proud of their record. They're proud of their record.

We supported a wage increase for aged-care workers. Aged-care workers were some of the most underresourced, underrespected, underpaid workers in this country. We've addressed that because those opposite failed when they were in government for 10 years to address that issue.

This government is committed to keeping unemployment low, boosting productivity and ensuring Australia can provide locally made supply chains as we go forward with the changing world that we live in now while unfortunately Europe is facing the hardship and difficulties of war in Ukraine.

What does the future hold and what have we achieved in our first nine months in office? In 2023, so many of our reforms will become reality. Cheaper medicines took effect on 1 January. Cheaper child care will benefit 1.2 million families from 1 July. There are 180,000 fee-free TAFE places. We know over the last decade not only at the federal government level but in my home state of Tasmania the Liberals have tried to defund and run TAFE into the ground. That's why we have a skills shortage in this country—because they don't want to support workers and they don't want to support training and skills and having jobs and manufacturing back in Australia.

Work will begin on new renewable energy projects that will create jobs, boost communities and make sure Australia has a secure, reliable energy supply. I am glad that there has been no interjections from my Liberal Senate colleagues, because they should know how important this is to their and my home state of Tasmania.

Every Australian will have the opportunity to celebrate the privilege we have to share this continent with the world's oldest continuous culture and to vote for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament.

We know there is more work to be done. We are staying focused on building an economy that works for people, not the other way around. Our new year's resolution is the same principle that has driven us since we were elected: don't waste one day; make the most of every day. We have achieved so much in nine months, including cheaper child care for millions of Australian families, cheaper medicines, an increase to the minimum wage, six months of paid parental leave, a policy for net zero by 2050 and paid domestic and family violence leave. These are critical issues to the Australian community. This is about the Australian people.

We're delivering better protection for threatened species, flood relief and the Disaster Ready Fund. That's so important. We're having fires, we're having flood after flood, and they impact not only those individual families but the entire community. They need to be supported. That's what the Albanese government has done. That's why our flood relief and Disaster Ready Fund have been crucial. I'd like to here make comment and congratulate Minister Watt on his contribution since coming to government, which has been driving that relief. It's fantastic to actually have someone now in that area of responsibility that gets it. He gets it, and he's getting on with the job. He's not wasting one day.

We will legislate for a national anticorruption commission, unlike those who for 10 years did nothing and have tried to block that legislation going through. They have not been willing to sit down and have proper consultation and dialogue with us as the government of the day now. But we will always fight for more secure jobs and better pay.

In 2023, we will keep up the good work. We will continue to build the nation so that every Australian has the opportunity in life to get ahead and to succeed. That's what makes up Labor members of parliament and Labor senators. Those are the values which have driven me every single day that I've been in the Senate, and they are why I first joined the Labor Party as a very young person. I believe in the values; I believe that we should walk together, not alone. (Time expired)