Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) | Hansard source

The Morrison government continues to ignore the people of Brand, having not made an election commitment locally for the last two elections. That's a staggering almost nine years that the Liberals have failed to commit to an investment in the future of local children and the future of the hardworking people of Brand. The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was happy to throw away a million dollars of taxpayer money to support Clive Palmer's court case against all Western Australians, but he is not happy to invest that money in you.

I say to the people of Brand: a federal Labor government will be on your side. I am on your side. Only Labor has the plan to create jobs and boost the local economy. Only Labor has a plan for free TAFE to help provide opportunities for school leavers and workers wanting to retrain or upskill and for women wanting to get back into the workforce. Only Labor has a plan for cheaper child care. Only Labor will protect Medicare.

The best thing you can do for a young person is give them a chance at a good education and good skills training. Labor will invest in the skills Australians need to get ahead by providing free TAFE and creating more university places. Labor's $1.2 billion Future Made in Australia Skills Plan focuses on tackling skills shortages to help us all move forward through COVID-19 and drive future economic growth. For nearly a decade, the Liberal government has cut TAFE and slashed apprenticeships. Today, we have 70,000 fewer apprenticeships and traineeships compared to 2013. Labor's Future Made in Australia Skills Plan will be good for the people of Rockingham and Kwinana to train or retrain for skills that employers are looking for. Labor's skill plan will also help local businesses that need skilled workers. Labor will also deliver up to 20,000 new university places to fix shortages and fill future skills needs by training Australians in jobs—including engineering, nursing, tech and training—because Australia's economic future lies with its strongest asset, its people.

The cost of child care is an issue that local families often raise with me—and why shouldn't they? Childcare fees have increased by 8.6 per cent over the past year across Perth—8.6 per cent!—when CPI inflation over the same period was just 3.5 per cent. Since the Liberals were elected, childcare fees have gone up 35 per cent. All the while, real wages have gone backwards. Families in my electorate of Brand are trying to get ahead and, as usual, this Morrison government just leaves them behind. Labor will scrap the $10,560 limit on the childcare subsidy, lift the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent and increase the childcare subsidy rates for every family earning less than $530,000. Eighty-six per cent of families with children under the age of six will be better off under Labor's childcare policy. The Prime Minister insists that families have never been better off—a hollow statement easily disproved by the lived experience of the families right across the electorate of Brand. I ask the Prime Minister to stop insulting the intelligence of people in my electorate.

I would like to talk about a constituent in my electorate named Christy Lewis. Christy is an NDIS participant with a degenerative spinal condition. Christy first contacted my office in August last year, after her condition deteriorated and she required 24/7 care and specialist disability housing. The NDIA had advised her against requesting a new plan for this support, as it would supposedly delay the approval of her much-needed specialist housing. This was despite a history of falls and a medical condition that could cut the blood supply to her kidney if she fell unattended, a life-threatening possibility. Seven months later, Christy has neither specialist housing nor funding for the 24/7 support. Despite the best efforts of my staff, months of delays and inaction by the NDIA have left her without life-saving care she needs to survive and to thrive.

Labor created the NDIS to be the best in the world, but years of neglect, maladministration and cost-cutting by successive Liberal governments have sullied that dream. NDIS participants cannot afford another term of this heartless Liberal government. Some of them might not survive it.

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