Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

And then they talk about the relationship with China, our major trading partner, which imports more goods from Australia than the United States, Japan and Korea combined. And, yes, I had a meeting with president Xi with no concessions—not one—and no preconditions because I believe that you can have an economic relationship with our major trading partner to defend jobs and our national economy. I make no apologies for that.

We said we would put an end to a decade of delay, inaction and disrespect, a decade of cover-ups and secrecy, a decade of wages kept deliberately low, a decade of denying climate change, a decade of goading manufacturers to leave our shores and a decade of neglecting TAFE and training in aged care and health, and that is precisely what we have done.

I am so proud of my team and what we have done in our first six months, delivering on promise after promise after promise—a contrast to their record. In their last six months, what did they do? They said they'd have a religious discrimination bill, and then they pulled their own bill. Wages were going backwards. They didn't order enough rapid antigen tests. They spent money from their Disaster Relief Fund. Nope, didn't bother to get around to that. We have been looking after communities that have been suffering from the emergencies that have continued. They hid an energy policy, they hid an environmental report, they hid information, but, most importantly, they hid who their ministers were. They had a shadow government. And, yesterday, they defended a bloke who actually stood here and said, 'I would have told you who the ministers were and that I'd been sworn into six portfolios, but no-one asked.' And they queued up to kiss the ring after the speech--they queued up! It was just an extraordinary performance of sycophancy from a political party that failed to stand up—failed to stand up for parliamentary functioning and for our democracy.

While I went to the election saying that I would bring people together, those opposite are just interested in dividing people. State premiers—ask Premier Perrottet who he prefers to deal with, the federal Labor government now or the former Morrison government. Go and ask him! He'll tell you. Go and ask the Tasmanian Premier, Premier Rockliff, who he's happy to deal with. We delivered the Marinus plan. You talked about it for six years; we've delivered in six months. We have a plan for the future. They've left 10 years of mess. We won't waste a day. They wasted a decade. We believe no-one should be left behind. Those opposite had a conscious economic plan to leave people behind by driving wages low. We want a future made here in Australia.

Yesterday, we advanced the National Reconstruction Fund to do just that. Contrast that with those opposite, when a former Treasurer stood at this despatch box and dared the car industry to leave, with real consequences for manufacturing and our capacity to have a complex economy. We believe that clean, cheap energy will drive our economy in the future. We believe that clean, cheaper energy can drive advanced manufacturing here in Australia. We believe in opportunities for those jobs through increased funding for TAFE and through increased funding for universities. But we also believe in helping our youngest Australians through our childcare package and our oldest Australians through our aged-care plans.

We have a plan for this country. Those opposite just have a sulk about how dare the Australian people, in a polling booth, on 21 May, take away what they regard as their born-to-rule mentality. I'll tell you this: they need to have a bit of a reset over the summer months and come back, be constructive, and have some plans rather than the absurd, weak opposition that we see before us today.

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