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

I don't know where those opposite have been for the last 14 or 15 months. Oh, that's right: they're in opposition. Therefore, they have no understanding of the reforms that the Labor government has introduced into this country to give a positive response to the cost-of-living crisis that we're in. They know the reasons why we've ended up here. We had 10 years of neglect from those opposite. This was the Liberal-National government who had a policy to drive down wages. That's what their policy was. At every opportunity to kick a worker, that's exactly what they did. They come in here now bleating with concern about those who are finding it tough. They're not genuine at all. Where were they when Qantas sacked thousands and thousands of workers? Where were they when they gave Qantas $2.7 billion and then allowed it to sack worker after worker after worker and outsource the other work?

Let's get on to the positive things the Albanese Labor government have done since we came into office. We have addressed energy bill relief. We have ensured that the price of energy has not skyrocketed as it had threatened to do. We've also done more for families. We have supported an increase to wages. We have increased child care. We have actually surpassed the 180,000 extra fee-free TAFE places that we promised to address the skills shortage that those opposite presided over for more than a decade, doing nothing except run TAFE colleges around this country into the ground.

This week, when there was an opportunity to support the Housing Australia Future Fund with $10 billion, what did those opposite do? What they always do. They are a 'no-alition'. That's who they are. They voted against it, because they really do not care about vulnerable people in our community. They think everyone has a privileged life, as the majority of them do. They have no idea how hard it is for a woman leaving domestic violence with her children and having no place to go. You're not going to leave that environment unless you have a safe place to land. You just won't do it. Why have we seen that the largest increase in the number of homeless people in this country is in the cohort of women aged 55 and above? Why is that happening? It hasn't just happened in the last 14 or 15 months. It clearly happened when those people on that side of the chamber were in government. But we are addressing that. We are providing social and affordable homes. We've finally seen the Greens come along and get in on the party. They have supported that legislation, and I say, 'Thank you very much.'

Those opposite did nothing to grow our manufacturing industry. We saw more industries going offshore on their watch. That's what we've seen. They didn't support cheaper child care. They didn't support fee-free TAFE. They didn't support renewable energy. They haven't supported the 60-day script, which is making medicines more affordable to ordinary everyday Australians, particularly those people who have chronic illness and have to have ongoing medication. They did nothing. When it was proposed to them when they were in government, they bent over for the Pharmacy Guild, because it was going to have an impact on pharmacies. Well, the Australian taxpayer dollar is not here to prop up businesses. What we are here to do is to make sure that Australians have access to affordable medicine. We've reduced the cost of medicine. We've now made it cheaper for people to have their scripts filled and enabled them to have fewer visits to their GP. We've opened urgent-care clinics. And I know, from the three that have already opened in Tasmania, the impact that's already having, so that people don't have to spend hours in accident and emergency.

But no: this motion put forward by Senator Smith—it just wants to eliminate. Those things haven't really happened, because when these people were in government it was Utopia. That's why the economy has tanked under them. That's why the wages of working Australians were suppressed, because that was their policy. They did nothing for social housing, and they did nothing at all for health. (Time expired)