Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Labor government's broken election promise on urgent-care clinics and the impact that this will have on my fellow Tasmanians. We've seen the Albanese Labor government renege on a number of major policy announcements that they made during the election campaign, most notably their broken promise to save Australians an average of $275 on their power bills. It seems that making what appear to be genuine commitments during an election campaign and then delivering on those promises when elected is a completely novel concept for the Labor government. Just last month, media reports revealed yet another broken promise on a key election commitment in my home state of Tasmania. On the eve of the election, the Labor opposition's shadow finance minister promised the delivery of 50 urgent-care clinics, which would occur within the first 12 months of government, including three in Tasmania, to be located on the north-west coast, in Burnie; in the north of the state, in Launceston; and in greater Hobart. They promised that all 50 would be operational within their first year of government, yet Labor announced the expressions of interest for just three.

I would be very surprised if the government can everyone deliver one urgent-care clinic, let alone the 50 that they promised during the election campaign would be open in 12 months time. Tasmanians were promised the healthcare services in the north, in the north-west and in the south of the state, and Tasmanians deserve to know whether the government still intends to deliver these clinics in the proposed time frames. If they can't deliver that commitment that they set out in May last year to provide vital healthcare services across the state, Labor has misled the Tasmanian people.

This latest broken promise just goes to show that Labor is all talk and no delivery. The people of Tasmania deserve more respect.