Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It feels like a long time since we formed government, and I guess that's because in the six months since the election and since we formed government we have achieved a lot. This address-in-reply contribution, apart from touching on the things we have achieved, gives me a chance to reflect on the federal election and on what was in the address-in-reply and what the commitments were from this government.

Since the address-in-reply of the federal government, we have had a state election in Victoria. As I was saying to my state colleagues on the weekend—and I do want to give a shout-out to Jacinta, Maree and Mary-Anne, all successfully returned to be Labor representatives in my electorate for their respective electorates—it was a lot calmer on the weekend for their election. At least it was calmer in Bendigo—I know it might have been different in other parts of Victoria—than what we experienced in the federal election. During the federal election, it did get quite nasty at points. There were a couple of freedom rallies that were held, but they weren't about freedom. They were about everything but freedom. There were people who came and harassed people participating in democracy. It was a shame to see that happen in our election. It was a shame to see people who were of an anti-vaccination view and an anti-lockdown view aggressively trying to push their views onto others to the extent that they were intimidating people from either participating as volunteers in the election or going through to vote early.

Despite that intimidation, despite that pressure that was coming from a very fringe group of our society—and they are a far-right fringe group of our society—it did not impact on the vote. There was a very good turnout in the Bendigo electorate. And it did not sway people to vote their way. In fact, my result in the election was the best result ever achieved by a member or a political party in the electorate since Federation. The only person to have done better in the electorate of Bendigo was Sir John Quick, who was elected unopposed in the first election at Federation. Sixty-two-plus per cent of people in the Bendigo electorate put a higher preference for me and Labor than the Liberal Party. That was a great endorsement of the Labor agenda and the positive campaign that we had put forward. People really got behind the vision that Labor had at the federal election and will, I think, be relieved and in some ways grateful that the rest of the country did the same and saw the election of a Labor government. We've been able to achieve a number of key commitments that we made at that election.

Before finishing my comments on the election, I thank my amazing electorate office and all our fantastic staff who continue to do great work in serving the people of Bendigo. My long-term office manager, Kate Sutherland, my amazing 2IC to Kate, Korey Fernando, and Erin, Flick and Alex, who are just phenomenal. A special shoutout to Erin, who will go on maternity leave in February to welcome her second beautiful child into this world. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped out. Thanks to Jacinta and Marie's office, who helped out. We had a really fun and calm election, and it showed amazing work of everyone coming together. I almost forgot a fantastic young man who has now gone to work for Katherine—a big shoutout to Jacob, who was a big part of our team in the lead-up to the election.

I also give a huge shoutout and thank you to my family. In the 46th parliament I had two children, so the difference between elections were that this time around we were trying to wrap-up early. I was glad it was a good result because I had two little toddlers who I was very keen to get home! My mum ran the food on the day, and did so again at the state election on the Saturday. She just loves elections, she loves the Labor Party—most days—and she really loves being involved. She was never a member of the Labor Party until I became a member of parliament, but she has really always had those very strong Labor values. She was very proud to see us be elected into government, and the forming of the Anthony Albanese Labor government.

A really big shoutout to Matt, my partner, and to his parents. I couldn't be a member of parliament or do the work that I do with two young children without the amazing support of my family. This is the first week that we have not travelled as a gang to Canberra. It's the first week in Daisy's life that we have spent more than 24 hours apart, and I've been able to do that not just because of COVID and the restrictions that were imposed, which meant that we did travel together so that I could participate in parliament, but also because my partner made career choices where he chose to go back to study so that we could travel here together as a family.

I could also do it because of the flexibility of child care here at Parliament House, and I raise that because it speaks to a broader problem that we have in our community around child care. As a member of parliament, we do have access to child care here at Parliament House on a casual basis, which is not the case for so many workers. When you enrol in child care, in 99 per cent of cases you're locked in for 12 months. There isn't that flexibility, and you pay whether the centre is open or not. You might get an absence from the government, but you still have to pay, and the absences count towards the days you get subsidised. Child care isn't just an expensive system; it's also a rigid system, and when we asked the Productivity Commission to look at child care we are looking at how we can make child care more universal. I'm hoping that when we look at that universal factor we'll look at the enrolment factor and the rigid nature. We want people to have access to early childhood education on a more flexible and more universal basis—not just for people who might travel and want to bring their young ones with them, or have places at multiple centres, or whatever works for their family, but also, particularly, for casual workers and shift workers. It's really hard for casual workers. They enrol their children into early childhood education. If their shifts get cancelled, they still have to pay for the day at child care. So what tends to happen is that people don't enrol their children in early childhood education if they're casual workers. They look to parents, grandparents, friends or neighbours. They look for more informal care because of the rigid nature of our system.

In Greater Bendigo, there is only one service that provides occasional care, and it's only if there's a spot available, and that's the centre that my children are at. If you are enrolled and you need an extra day, you might be able to get it if there's a vacancy—if somebody's on holidays—but it's not guaranteed, and you've got to already have your children there in care. So the system doesn't work well if you've got two parents in full-time work. It doesn't work well if you're a casual or a shiftworker. So I really look forward to the Productivity Commission review answering that question: how can we best deliver early childhood education to our youngest Australians to ensure that everyone has access to it?

The other point that I want to make on early childhood education, and on how important the reforms that we've already passed through this House were, is about affordability. Cheaper child care will make it possible for more parents, predominantly mums, to return to work or to pick up that extra day. We already know that the cost barrier associated with early childhood education is a disincentive. Mums don't return for that fourth or fifth day because they're essentially working to pay for child care. They end up going backwards. So cheaper child care will mean that more women can return to work. That unlocks so many extra hours and extra opportunities, getting skilled, productive workers back into our economy if they choose—and I emphasise 'if they choose', because some mums and some dads do want to do part-time work and be more involved in the early years, and that's their choice. But it shouldn't be their only choice, and that was what was so critical about the reforms that we moved through.

I should say too that, with the cost of child care, it's necessary that we have these higher subsidies. Next year, when you look at the average fees around Greater Bendigo, they will be about $150 per day. If you have two children in three days a week, your starting bill before subsidy is $45,000. That's a lot. How much subsidy you receive will depend on how much you earn. So we do need to urgently look at how we fund and structure early childhood education.

Next year we have three- and four-year-old kinder rolling out in Victoria. I'm really proud that our state Labor government will help deliver universal three- and four-year-old kinder. We know it makes a difference. Next year the three-year-old kinder will be the first of the COVID babies—children like my Daisy who had interrupted early years because of the lockdowns and the cancellations of many of their social activities. We're talking about a generation of little people who would have got through possibly the first 12 months of their lives without meeting another child. That's not normal. Little people, even from very young ages, learn from each other. When parents get together for their parent groups, whether they're catching up formally or informally, their little people get together and learn from each other. So we do have a generation of what we call the COVID babies who are starting to enter those critical years before primary school where the timing is perfect for this universal access that's rolling out, because it will ensure that we can catch up if there are any delays. We can work with their families to ensure that all of those kids are ready.

I've mentioned child care, but I also want to touch on Medicare. It does feel as if it was a minute to midnight when the Labor government—and it's only Labor governments that really do believe in Medicare and that fought for Medicare—was elected. Since the election we have seen, sadly, more bulk-billing services in my electorate move to a private billing model. It's heartbreaking to see that these services that had tried to survive for so long under the previous government and their many years of Medicare rebate freezes now just can't see enough patients in a day. The paperwork involved in seeing all those patients means that doctors are burning out and clinics are running at a loss, so they've had to move to the private billing model.

Labor's medium- to long-term commitment is to reinvest $1 billion into Medicare and GP services. It can't come soon enough. I am really worried about what will happen to the people in my electorate who no longer have access to a bulk-billing GP and can't afford the gap fee. I am worried about their health outcomes. I understand why clinics have done it and I do understand the stress that GPs are under, but I am worried that, because pensioners, families and those on a low income will now have to pay a gap fee when they previously didn't have to, they won't seek medical help.

That brings me to another real challenge that we as a nation have and that the government has inherited—the GP crisis. GPs are burnt out. We haven't trained enough GPs. We have to be honest about that. The majority of GPs coming through our medical schools are going to stay in the state hospital system. State governments are putting generous salaries on the table. A lot of those young doctors are choosing to be doctors in the state hospital system. Not all of them will specialise; they will stay as doctors in hospitals. Hospitals need doctors too. That is impacting on new GPs going into primary care and GP services. It compounds the problem that we have.

At least once a week I hear from a parent who has had to go to the ED at Bendigo with their child for what usually would be a GP visit—they are concerned about a cough. Once upon a time you would book into your GP. You would ring up and get an appointment with your GP. They'd checked the child out, listen to their chest to make sure it wasn't pneumonia or something more serious. Because waiting lists to see GPs are now so long—and you have to book three to four weeks in advance—when people ring the clinic the clinic is now saying, 'It's best that you go to the ED.' When you ring the nurse on call, they say, 'It's best that you go to the ED so someone can check your child's chest to make sure it's not something more than a cough or a virus.'

It shouldn't be that way. Medicare was built on the promise that it would be universal—that everyone, regardless of their postcode or income, could get access to primary health care when they need it. That's the dream we have to get back to. That's the goal we have. We need to start reinvesting in and rebuilding Medicare. We need to encourage young doctors to choose a career of general practice and of working in our primary care clinics. It's a challenge we've inherited and are stepping up to, but I do worry about the next 12 months and what is going to happen in our communities.

I'll switch topics to manufacturing. Another horrible, tragic, frustrating situation we inherited is defence manufacturing. The defence manufacturing area was in absolute chaos. In my electorate we proudly make the Bushmasters that are making such a difference for the Ukrainian people and government at the moment. We've all heard over and over again that they, whether it be their president or ambassador, now associate Australia with Bushmasters. We make them in Bendigo.

We also make in Bendigo the Hawkei, the son of the Bushmaster. On the day of the election about 600 of them were lined up on the lawns at Thales. The previous government had contracted Thales to build the Hawkeis as part of an early-stage Land 400 program. They were built in good faith, but the previous government didn't pay the bill. They did not pick them up. They just did not progress to the next stage of paying on delivery and receiving the Hawkeis. There are multiple reasons why that happened. We have since found out that there are problems with other stages of Land 400. Again it's the fault of the previous government. There are problems with delays in building and where the Hawkeis will go after coming into production. So the whole program that was managed by the previous government has been a disaster. Now we're left with a work issue on that site. Because there was no contract of work negotiated by the previous government for these workers to move into, about 30 have already been made redundant because of lack of work. The Hawkei build has finished; there's no work to do next.

I do appreciate that our new ministers that have come into the space are working with Thales and the Army to see if there's any other work that they can do whilst they try and secure export contracts with the UK and whilst they see whether there's a build that will happen for Ukraine. But those conversations take time. I am really worried about the future of this site. It's a mess that could have been avoided if the previous government had worked with Thales and done the proper planning so that we did not find ourselves in a situation where one contract ended and there was no contract to go to. It was a problem that they created across the defence manufacturing sector.

Housing is another massive issue in my electorate. We've committed to working with the states, local governments, industry and community not-for-profits to build a million homes. Those homes can't come soon enough. We have real estate agents who have waiting lists of about 100 people waiting for an opportunity to apply for a home. They don't even advertise when they've got vacancies now.

These are just a few of the urgent issues that we as a country need to address. They're not associated with my electorate; they affect many of us. These issues are ones that we need to address soon. We do have a plan and we're rolling it out. I just want to say to the Australian people and to the people of Bendigo: we understand and know what the pressures are. We're cleaning up the mess, and we're getting on with the job. I'm asking you to have a bit more patience because it will take a bit more time, but we are committed to reforming and doing the heavy lifting that needs to be done.

To the people in my electorate: given that this is probably the last time I'll speak this year, I wish you a very safe and prosperous new year and Christmas. It's a special time to celebrate and hold your loved ones close. Just remember that it is a good time to rest, relax and reflect. It's been a big year for all of us, but I particularly wanted to give a shout-out to all of our emergency workers and all our workers who'll work over this Christmas period. (Time expired)

See this speech in context