Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It has been a long week here in parliament, so I thought that, to help us shake it off, I would bring a little cheer to the chamber. When my staff wrote this speech, I should have said no, but I hope that you're all ready for it. It has been 10 months since the election, and everything has changed. The Australian people told the Liberals, 'We are never, ever getting back together.' Their policy agenda offered sweet nothing. It truly was a blank space, except, of course, for their 22 failed energy policies. They kept talking about all the things they 'would've, could've, should've', instead of worrying about ordinary Australians. All they had was champagne problems. But, at the election in May, we got out of the woods. Australians voted for change and we were able to begin again.

All of this is me trying to tell you that the story of us—a progressive Labor government—is a story of delivering and bringing Australians together. We are taking meaningful action on climate change, and we're making child care cheaper. We're letting sparks fly by supporting manufacturing. We're making sure Australians are safe and sound at work. You can call it what you want, but—long story short—we're better off because the Australian people said to the Morrison government that they won't tolerate it.

I know for those opposite, who are sitting there in exile and trying to create bad blood between Australians, that this type of progressive agenda can make tears ricochet, but I'm here to tell you that you need to calm down. Australians know all too well that there is an invisible string between Labor's positive policies and making our country a state of grace, fairness and equality, and that's why they turned the nation red on election night.