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

I rise to remind everyone in this place and those listening that the Albanese Labor government has been and will continue to be a government of delivery—'delivery' because we are delivering for all Australians. This is in deep contrast to those opposite.

Those opposite had 10 long years to deliver historic reforms, and they didn't. They fluffed around for 10 years, mostly in disarray and decay. We had Tony Abbott, we had Malcolm Turnbull, we had Scott Morrison, and now we have Mr Peter Dutton—all failed leaders, who don't understand the meaning of leadership. They jumped around from leader to leader. It was like the New South Wales Liberals' show, and that's all it was. They couldn't stop the infighting amongst themselves. They muddled through, and they failed to deliver any major reform. After all, isn't that what a government's role is? Isn't that why we're elected—to reform, and to improve the lives of our fellow Australians? But they forgot all about that.

We, on this side, don't forget that, for the last 12 months of government by those opposite, we had a Prime Minister who was operating a secret government. He deliberately misled not only the Australian people but also his own colleagues, his party room and his cabinet, and he failed to share with them that he was holding five portfolios as the Prime Minister. He was dishonest, every single day that he held that office, for 12 months. He was a Prime Minister who was governing in deceit—deliberately deceptive, day in and day out.

In the last almost 2½ years, we, as the Albanese government, have been delivering for the Australian people. We've delivered because we believe in representing aspiration for all Australians. We've delivered for middle-income and working Australians: tax cuts, energy bill relief, cheaper child care, fee-free TAFE, urgent care clinics, cheaper medicines, 60-day dispensing, wage increases for 2.6 million Australians, domestic violence leave, more generous paid parental leave and finally, here, today, we passed really important legislation for superannuation being paid on parental leave.

And we haven't stopped there, colleagues, because we're bringing manufacturing back to this country, because we know that, when they were in government, they let it all go offshore. And their policy was to keep wages low. No wonder they vote against everything that we put forward for the Australian workers.

We have been a government that is about building up our nation—not blocking it, like those opposite continue to do. We have invested more in housing, and we want to do so much more. Thus far, we've seen delivered 13,700 new social and affordable homes across Australia. But what did they do? They voted against that; they voted against the Australian Housing Future Fund. We had the Greens stalling on it, because that's what they do.

And what have we seen this week? What have we seen in this chamber day in and day out, when we've been trying to pass legislation to help Australians buy a home, to assist some 40,000 Australians? That should be fundamentally what we all aspire to do—to own our own home. They didn't vote against the legislation; what they did was to keep voting so that we couldn't actually have a vote on the legislation. And they cuddled up nice and cozy with the Greens, who come in here and lecture us every day about how they're the only people in this chamber that really care about fellow Australians and helping those who are renting and young people. Yet, they are not doing anything to assist those young people. They are not doing anything at all. But tomorrow those who receive rental assistance will get an increase from the Labor government. Those who are on an age pension will get an increase tomorrow because we know that the cost of living is hurting Australians. We actually care. We actually believe in fairness. That's what the Labor government is delivering for all Australians. Tomorrow we'll see people who get care allowance— (Time expired)