Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

On 24 November last year, voters across the country put their trust in Labor to make a difference. They had had almost 13 years under a Howard government, and during that time, it is fair to say, their trust in government, their trust in democracy and their trust in each other had diminished. We have done more in the first months since coming to office than the Howard government did in the last 11 years of its government. Since the election, we have signed the Kyoto protocol, we have made a formal apology to the stolen generations, we have introduced legislation to abolish Australian workplace agreements and we have initiated a white paper on homelessness in Australia—the first white paper of the new government. It is about the issue of homelessness in Australia and how to tackle it. We have established Infrastructure Australia, a body that will provide advice to government about infrastructure gaps and bottlenecks. In the most recent budget we set aside $21 billion to make some of that become a reality. We have established a social inclusion unit in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to tackle poverty and address social exclusion. Before the recent investment in the budget, we invested $150 million to assist state and territory governments in cutting elective surgery waiting lists. And of course there is additional funding set aside in the budget for hospitals. We have set up a timetable for eliminating discrimination against same-sex couples from Commonwealth legislation. Again, for this most recent budget, we have contributed information about—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Debate (on motion by Mr Slipper) adjourned.

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