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

I'm going to have a bit to say on the Voice and the referendum. I'm not going to do it in this debate, because I don't think it's really shaping up to be a particularly respectful environment in which to do that given the context of the weight of hurt and pain that many, many people in our country are feeling at the moment. But I will say, Senator Cadell, that you spoke about some of the nature of the debate and the toxicity we have seen over recent months. I would never use the word some of my volunteers were called during this referendum. The way elderly people were yelled at and how they were treated, in this chamber or outside of it, speak to a level of toxicity in our politics which is unacceptable and needs to be called out.

I think the debate here this afternoon, which seeks to further paint a picture of our democracy and promote an idea that you can't have big debates and great ambition at the same time as doing the work of government, is a deliberate attempt to dumb down what we do in this place and to undermine the value of democracy, the value of parliaments and the value of the work many of us are trying to do here. I don't think it serves anyone in this place to start with a premise that you can't have an ambition for our country—an ambition to do something different and have a conversation respectfully—and do the work of government and the business of government at the same time. I will have more to say on the referendum and the Voice, but I'm not going to do it in this context and in this debate with this tone.

The work of government continues, as it has since we came to government. We were elected on a platform of doing better for people in this country: no-one held back, no-one left behind. I don't know a single minister who's dropped the ball for a second in their work to try and deliver on that ambitious promise, that commitment to the Australian people.

We get that Australians across our community are doing it really tough. These are difficult times, with difficult economic headwinds in difficult global environments. The pressures of inflation affect people across our community and they, of course, affect the poorest people in our community the worst. These are real economic pressures that are being felt right across our country. They are at front of mind for many people in our country, and that's why we are doing everything we can to deliver targeted cost-of-living relief which doesn't add pressure to inflation and therefore doesn't further impact the most vulnerable in our community, who lose out the most from a high-inflationary environment.

At almost every step along the way in that journey to deliver this cost-of-living relief, you've tried to block it. You're a party of no, you're a party of division and you're a party that seeks to block, block, block, because you'd rather have the talking points to come into this place than actually be part of the solutions and be part of doing things which help people, such as cheaper medicines—where our reforms save patients $180 a year in the cost of medicines for some of the most vulnerable people in our community—our changes to the JobSeeker payment, our changes to youth allowance, and the HAFF. Our housing reforms will deliver tens of thousands of houses to some of the most vulnerable people in our community, including victims of domestic violence, another thing which you couldn't find it in your heart to support and which you blocked. You block, you say no and you seek to divide, and the tone of this debate has been no different today.

I actually believe you can have big conversations in this country and do the work of government at the same time. We remain absolutely focused on taking the pressure off Australians in our community who are doing it really tough right now, for many different reasons. But, of course, an inflationary environment is hardest on those doing it toughest, and that has been at front of mind for our government, including our Prime Minister, our Treasurer, our finance minister and, indeed, every minister across our government who has levers to pull here, whether it's in early childhood, access to early learning and the cost of child care or whether it's in the cost of medicines. Every single person on this side of the chamber is fully focused on doing what we can to ease these pressures, because we as a government believe you can do this work. You can do this work to deliver for people, do the business of government and have ambition at the same time.