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

I have the opportunity to correct the public record on the contribution that Senator Chandler made in this place earlier today. The record is very clear. We now have Rebecca White as the federal candidate in Lyons, and the Liberal candidate, who thought she should already pack her bag to come to Canberra, is going to miss out. Whatever the accusations Senator Chandler made about Rebecca White, Rebecca White is the most popular member for Lyons. She has resigned from parliament and will be an outstanding member of the House of Representatives. I would be very, very careful pointing the finger about people who are working on taxpayer money. They ought to look a little bit closer to home. People who live in glass houses should never throw stones.

Let's also go to the substance of what we will continue to talk about when we come back in March—that is, the stark contrast between what we have achieved in three years as opposed to those who had almost a decade in office. The leader they now have, Mr Dutton, has an outstanding record in undermining Australian's health and cutting health spending. He has now come to the party and said, 'We are going to cut the Public Service, but we are not going to tell you what services you as Australians are going to lose.' It's so dishonest.

Compare that to someone like Minister Butler, who has actually fixed up the mess left by those opposite, who not only failed in aged care but delivering good health outcomes for Australians and protecting Medicare. In contrast to that, we just announced last Sunday $573 million for women's health. Outstanding! I congratulate him.

Let's also go to another area that is so fundamentally important to our economy: having a highly skilled workforce. What did they do in the nine years that they were in government? They cut TAFE. We had these shonky schools—private enterprise. Most of them were shonky, and what did we end up with? We lack all our skills.

We had the contribution today that we've lost companies manufacturing overseas. For heaven's sake, I could not believe that a Liberal member or a Nationals person would come into this chamber and be so shameful, when they closed down the car industry. They closed it down on their watch. That's why we're investing in bringing manufacturing back here. But they have voted against every single measure that we have put in place to address the cost of living—which started under them. They invested nothing in housing and have done nothing in terms of providing opportunities for Australians.

They come in and they bleat about us not having done enough to give energy relief to Australians. They voted against our energy relief, so it's crocodile tears. That is exactly what it is. Under the Housing Australia Future Fund there is $10 billion to provide housing for those Australians most in need, and what did they do? They spent a whole week in this Senate chamber—with their Greens partners! Oh, that's right, we're the ones who have a green tail. It was those buddies getting together. They weren't even prepared to have a vote; they stopped us from having a vote. Then, finally, what did those opposite do? They did what Dutton always does. They voted against everything that is going to help Australians, because it is crocodile tears that they have, absolutely.

Let's talk about GPs. They rant about not having enough GPs. We know that, but we've invested. Australians know that it was Mr Dutton and the Liberals who wanted to have a GP tax, and then they froze whatever they were going to get. We know that when they come into office—if that ever happens, God forbid—they will cut Medicare, as they do. We still don't know how much that is really going to cost us. We're saying it will be about $7,200 for every Australian, but mark my words: if they ever get on this side of the chamber again, every Australian will be worse off. They will get no support.